I would love to read it together on a Zoom, but I think that would be hard. I could do a Thursday night or a Saturday night. I live near Salt Lake in the Mountain Time zone and have access to setting up a Zoom so I would do it at 6 pm MDT each Saturday if others want.
I think we read say chapter 1 and discuss. For example, one of the things I really noticed in reading chapter 1 for the first time that I remember I say how there were three meals for Bilbo's and Frodo's BDay party; lunch, tea and dinner (or super). at lunch and tea all the guests were sitting down formally and the rest of the time people ate and drank. Not sure why I picked up on that. I also loved the description of the fireworks, from the green trees with trunks of dark smoke and their leaves opening and unfolding . . . fountains of butterflies that I connected to the time Bilbo climbed the tree and saw all the butterflies in The Hobbit. Also, earlier how Bilbo was rather free with his money and though some thought him queer or different, he actually was kind and considerate for the most part. Last, and I have seen this before in reading, but I l really enjoy how Frodo, after Bilbo vanishes realizes that he loved the old hobbit dearly. I think that is often the fact. We don't realize until someone we love dies, moves away or is no longer in our daily life how much we value, treasure and love them.
I also like how Bilbo realizes that Frodo is content with where he is at, with the Shire and all that goes with it. Bilbo is ready for more, Frodo is not and Bilbo grants that to Frodo. I have learned as the parent of now a 27 year old (my first grand-daughter/child turned 1 a month ago and I LOVE being a grandpa) and a 26 year old how important it is for me to realize where they are at and to accept them where they are at. For me I also loved how Bilbo gives up the ring voluntarily, though with a struggle. Not sure why, but I can relate to Bilbo at least in the sense of letting go of things I think or have thought really matter and just focusing on things that really do.
Frodo's interaction with the Sacville Baggins made me laugh. Lobelia just can't get enough of the items out of Bag End! I love how she hides things in her umbrella. Finally I enjoyed the commentary that as Gandalf walked away from Bag End, Frodo thought he was "unusually bent, almost as if the was carrying a great weight." Little did Frodo know what that implied or the other foreshadowing that is hinted at that this all would come to no good. It comes to good but at very heavy price and that is one thing I love about this story. You don't know the cost until the end. There is always a cost I believe even when you do the right thing and endure great trials and struggle. There is a cost and that cost is not known until after we endure that trial or struggle and if we make it through it. We lose something or multiple things I think, though we gain some things. Anyway, just my observations.
_________________ 1. " . . . (we are ) too engrossed in thinking of everything as a preparation or training or making one fit -- for what? At any minute it is what we are and are doing, not what we plan to be and do that counts."
J.R.R. Tolkien in his 6 October 1940 letter to his son Michael Tolkien.
2. We have many ways using technology to be in touch, yet the larger question is are we really connected or are we simply more in touch? There is a difference.
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