straightforwardly (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
straightforwardly) wrote2014-07-21 12:40 pm
straightforwardly) wrote2014-07-21 12:40 pm
0026 | in which I talk about school and fangirl about Lord of the Rings
The last time I updated was when I was getting ready to head back to school. Now I've been here about two weeks, have settled in nicely, and have quite a bit to say about what I've been doing these last two weeks. (I've actually been meaning to write this entry for over a week now, but I keep putting it off, oops.)
► The first thing on my list of things to talk about is school. Specifically, the Tolkien class I'm taking! I signed up for this one as quick as I could when I saw it listed among the summer classes, and spoiler alert: I am so, so glad I did.
Here's what we've read so far in that class, in vaguely chronological order:
Between this class and the other one I'm taking, I have done so much reading. And all those essays. I've written four essays so far, and need to write seven more in the next three weeks. Just. Agh. It doesn't help that my other class turned out to be surprisingly dull.
However! Despite all this, I'm actually enjoying this summer session quite a bit, and it is mostly due to that Tolkien class! The readings are just so interesting, and the discussions engaging, and asdfghjkl; as I said to someone else a complete of days ago, I basically spend the majority of my time in that class in a fangirly haze.
► Perhaps unsurprisingly, that class has also awakened a new fandom for me: Lord of the Rings. It's kind of funny. While I've never seen the movies, I have read the books before— The Lord of the Rings twice prior to this summer (with the first time being when I was in the sixth grade), and The Hobbit once. And don't mistake me; I did enjoy them both times when I read them, but... I never really understood the passion people had for them?
Like, I loved Aragorn the first time I read it, and have always been really into Legolas and Gimili's friendship, but otherwise... it was just another fantasy series for me. I appreciated what it did for the genre, but didn't really get other people's reactions to it. I know there are people who reread it every year, and I remember just being baffled by that. Once every few years, sure. But every year?
Needless to say, I completely understand it now.
There's just such depth to the world. I remember being overwhelmed by it the first time I read, but now I really enjoy it. It's mostly how it feels so utterly entrenched in its own history, I think, but it's also the cultures, the languages, even the sense of place. I'm one of those people who generally ignore the maps when I read fantasy novels, but this time I'm finding myself poring over maps of Middle-Earth as I read and completely enjoying myself. I can't wait until my class gets to The Silmarillion, because I am just so hungry for every detail of that world.
And it's not just the world; it's the characters too. Even when you exclude my afore-mentioned favorites, I'm finding myself falling for the characters and their relationships in a way I never had before.
I'm not as interested in The Hobbit as I am in the actual Lord of the Rings, but the deaths of Thorin and Fili and Kili were surprisingly heartbreaking, and Bard was wonderful. I'm also finding myself surprisingly fond of Boromir, in a way I never had been before, as well as his relationships with both Faramir (I just finished reading the part of the book where Faramir talks about him with Frodo and oh my poor heart), and Merry and Pippin. I don't fangirl Aragorn the way I did in sixth grade, but I think I understand him a whole lot better now— and like him all the better for it. And while Éowyn is a character that I, of course, always found fantastic, even she seems imbued with a new light.
Then, of course, there are my favorites— Legolas and Gimli. Their friendship has always been the highlight of the books for me, but I don't think they've ever made me quite so giddy. I confess that I'm shipping them really, really hard, but even their platonic friendship gives me equal feelings of joy. Just, the way they overcome their prejudices and their banter and how they grow so close— it just overwhelms me with how good it is.
It's funny, how something I thought I was familiar with could become so new.
► Not to detract from my Lord of the Rings flailing, but I did watch the second episode of Sailor Moon Crystal last night, and I wanted to jot down some quick thoughts about it. Unfortunately, the animation quality bothered me a whole lot more than it had with the last episode— even Luna looked really odd at times, and Ami kept switching between looking great and looking uncomfortably off.
But outside of the animation, I really enjoyed it! The relationship between Usagi and Ami was great, that quick flashback to the Moon Kingdom really intrigued me, and I have discovered that I do, apparently, have some Usagi/Ami feelings. Maybe not strong feelings, but... yes, I was definitely shipping them at least a little bit in this episode.
► And I need to get back to my schoolwork, so I think I'll end this here, for now.
► The first thing on my list of things to talk about is school. Specifically, the Tolkien class I'm taking! I signed up for this one as quick as I could when I saw it listed among the summer classes, and spoiler alert: I am so, so glad I did.
Here's what we've read so far in that class, in vaguely chronological order:
- Tolkien's essay "On Fairy Stories"
- Tolkien's translation of "Sir Orfeo"
- Tolkien's translation of Beowulf
- Tolkien's essay "Beowulf: The Monsters & the Critics"
- various Old English riddles, some of which are really, really dirty
- selections from the Poetic Edda (I think we'll be reading more from this, but I'm not 100% sure)
- selections from the Prose Edda
- The Hobbit
- selections from Volsung Saga (we'll be reading more from this in the coming weeks)
- selections from The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (ditto)
- The Fellowship of the Ring & The Two Towers (we'll be reading the last third of Lord of the Rings this week)
- selections from Tacitus' Germania
- Tolkien's play The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth
- and a handful of other Anglo-Saxon poems
Between this class and the other one I'm taking, I have done so much reading. And all those essays. I've written four essays so far, and need to write seven more in the next three weeks. Just. Agh. It doesn't help that my other class turned out to be surprisingly dull.
However! Despite all this, I'm actually enjoying this summer session quite a bit, and it is mostly due to that Tolkien class! The readings are just so interesting, and the discussions engaging, and asdfghjkl; as I said to someone else a complete of days ago, I basically spend the majority of my time in that class in a fangirly haze.
► Perhaps unsurprisingly, that class has also awakened a new fandom for me: Lord of the Rings. It's kind of funny. While I've never seen the movies, I have read the books before— The Lord of the Rings twice prior to this summer (with the first time being when I was in the sixth grade), and The Hobbit once. And don't mistake me; I did enjoy them both times when I read them, but... I never really understood the passion people had for them?
Like, I loved Aragorn the first time I read it, and have always been really into Legolas and Gimili's friendship, but otherwise... it was just another fantasy series for me. I appreciated what it did for the genre, but didn't really get other people's reactions to it. I know there are people who reread it every year, and I remember just being baffled by that. Once every few years, sure. But every year?
Needless to say, I completely understand it now.
There's just such depth to the world. I remember being overwhelmed by it the first time I read, but now I really enjoy it. It's mostly how it feels so utterly entrenched in its own history, I think, but it's also the cultures, the languages, even the sense of place. I'm one of those people who generally ignore the maps when I read fantasy novels, but this time I'm finding myself poring over maps of Middle-Earth as I read and completely enjoying myself. I can't wait until my class gets to The Silmarillion, because I am just so hungry for every detail of that world.
And it's not just the world; it's the characters too. Even when you exclude my afore-mentioned favorites, I'm finding myself falling for the characters and their relationships in a way I never had before.
I'm not as interested in The Hobbit as I am in the actual Lord of the Rings, but the deaths of Thorin and Fili and Kili were surprisingly heartbreaking, and Bard was wonderful. I'm also finding myself surprisingly fond of Boromir, in a way I never had been before, as well as his relationships with both Faramir (I just finished reading the part of the book where Faramir talks about him with Frodo and oh my poor heart), and Merry and Pippin. I don't fangirl Aragorn the way I did in sixth grade, but I think I understand him a whole lot better now— and like him all the better for it. And while Éowyn is a character that I, of course, always found fantastic, even she seems imbued with a new light.
Then, of course, there are my favorites— Legolas and Gimli. Their friendship has always been the highlight of the books for me, but I don't think they've ever made me quite so giddy. I confess that I'm shipping them really, really hard, but even their platonic friendship gives me equal feelings of joy. Just, the way they overcome their prejudices and their banter and how they grow so close— it just overwhelms me with how good it is.
It's funny, how something I thought I was familiar with could become so new.
► Not to detract from my Lord of the Rings flailing, but I did watch the second episode of Sailor Moon Crystal last night, and I wanted to jot down some quick thoughts about it. Unfortunately, the animation quality bothered me a whole lot more than it had with the last episode— even Luna looked really odd at times, and Ami kept switching between looking great and looking uncomfortably off.
But outside of the animation, I really enjoyed it! The relationship between Usagi and Ami was great, that quick flashback to the Moon Kingdom really intrigued me, and I have discovered that I do, apparently, have some Usagi/Ami feelings. Maybe not strong feelings, but... yes, I was definitely shipping them at least a little bit in this episode.
► And I need to get back to my schoolwork, so I think I'll end this here, for now.