Okay, Jenny wanted to know what I got from Amazon, so here’s the pile. A CD called American Angels, Jo-Ann Mapson’s newest book, The Owl & Moon Cafe, a biography of Patrick Dennis, the man who created the famous Auntie Mame. A history book about a terrorist attack on lower Manhattan in 1916 (no, it’s not fiction, but really happened), a cookbook for baking that I’ve heard good reports of, and a look at how the American Revolution affected the rest of the world–geared more for children than adults, but hey! Interesting is interesting, right?

Well, I think it’s interesting, anyway!

1. Have you read Lord of the Rings?
   Oh my, yes. You saw the pictures last week, right?
2. If so, how many times have you read it? Just once? Or so many you can’t count?
   So many, I can’t count. I lost count at about 15, back in high school, and then lost track of the estimate when I was around 20-25 reads, and since then, I’ve read it at least four or five more times . . . I will say, though, that LOTR is the one I love. I haven’t read the Hobbit in years, and while I’ve read the Silmarillion two and a half times, along with other, miscellaneous Tolkien kinds of things. It’s Lord of the Rings that I truly love. My best friend and I used to write notes to each other in high school in his dwarvish runes . . .
3. If not, why not? Not your cup of tea?
   Clearly, this question does not apply!
4. And, while we’re on the subject, did you see the movies? What did you think?
   I did see the movies and thought they were excellent. They weren’t entirely accurate to the original, but they captured the look, feel, and essence of the books perfectly. (Really, the look? Everything was almost exactly the way I’d pictured it–except, I never thought of Orcs being quite so slimy.) There were some little changes that bugged me, as a purist, but mostly, they made the movie stronger. That’s the biggest flaw in the Harry Potter movies–especially the first. They’re so very strictly kept in line with the books that the movie doesn’t flow properly. Differene media have different rules. And frankly, I didn’t miss Tom Bombadil, and if they gave Arwen more to do, well, fine . . . My only real objection was the scene where Faramir brought Frodo and Sam to Osgiliath (or wherever), just in time for a Nazgul to hover right there, and yet be confounded by the simple act of Sam tackling Frodo. Um, they went all the way to the Shire to look for the Ring, but, that close to Mordor, it’s all “out of sight, out of mind?” Not to mention that that little stop would have taken Frodo and Sam way out of their way and messed the timeline up . . . but really, that’s not the point. The movies were great . . . but the book was better.

Okay, so I’m a geek. What can I say?

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