Portfolio Tag: Banned / Challenged Books
The Geography of Arda and Middle-earth
The Years of the Lamps and the Years of the Trees Source: Wikipedia Andrey Maximov: Illuin and Ormal — Ted Nasmith: Illuin Karen Wynn Fonstad: The Spring of Arda — from Almaren and the Great Lake in the Time of the Lamps to Middle-earth and Valinor in the Years of the Trees. Aman and Valinor […]
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The Creatures of Middle-earth
Arda had a rich fauna, largely (though not exactly) coinciding with that of our world: it would be going overboard to try and list on this page every single type of animal mentioned in the legendarium even in passing; so the descriptions and commentary hereafter will be limited to those animals that significantly impact a […]
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The Timeline of Arda and Middle-earth
While there is no substantial difficulty in fixing the time periods known as the Second, Third, and (beginnings of the) Fourth Age of Arda and Middle-earth, it is somewhat trickier to determine what exactly was “the First Age”, how long it lasted and which events it comprised. For a discussion of the whys and wherefores […]
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The Weaponry of Middle-earth
Middle-earth was not a peaceful place; from the First-Age warfare between Morgoth and the Elves, and their Edain allies, to the War of the Ring at the end of the Third Age, armed conflict formed the constant background of its people’s existence — and while there were also numerous minor wars and disputes, the overarching […]
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Shiny Objects in Arda and Middle-earth
Arda and Middle-earth knew poverty, destruction, war, and hardship aplenty, but from their very own sources of light to precious jewels and metals, it also shone and sparkled with items of sheer magical brilliance, many of which were also of huge symbolic value. These are some of them: The Lights Amy O’Hanlon: Illuin and […]
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The People and Peoples of Arda and Middle-earth
Note: This is primarily a write-up for my own purposes; I am not trying to emulate or even approximate the many outstanding Tolkien resources already available on- and offline. As I prefer having all closely-related information available on one and the same page, I am keeping the information on Tolkien’s major (groups of) characters on […]
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Wars and Battles of Arda and Middle-earth
Battlefields are blood-soaked places of unspeakable horror, replete with corpses, body parts, the roar, thunder and clash of arms, the cries and whimpers of the wounded and dying, shouts of rage, often the fumes of smoke and fire, and always the all-pervading stench of death. And of course the legendarium’s universe far exceeds the various […]
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Middle-earth
Introductory post HERE J.R.R. Tolkien Author page: biographical sketch, bibliography, quotes, links (Auto-) Biographical Works Humphrey Carter: J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography Humphrey Carter: The Inklings Philip Zaleski: The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings Middle-earth The Books The Silmarillion (1977) The Hobbit (1937) – […]
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The (Mostly) Dead Writers Society Reading Projects: Birthday Challenge & Authors in Residence
(Dead) Author Birthdays This is a reading challenge associated with the (Mostly) Dead Writers Society on Goodreads; I decided to join it because it is as much an invitation to reconnect with the classics as it is one to walk down literary paths less traveled; so it ties in nicely with my own 2021 reading […]
Read MoreDiversity Bingo
Central America – Laura Esquivel: Like Water for Chocolate South America – Gabriel García Márquez: El coronel no tiene que escriba / Nobody Writes to the Colonel, and Other Stories Caribbean – Various Authors: Trinidad Noir (Akashic Noir series) North Africa – Assia Djebar: L’amour, La fantasia Sub-Saharan Africa – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Dear […]
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Around the World in 80 Books – Mostly by Female Authors
[World map created with Mapchart.net] The aim: To diversify my reading and read as many books as possible (not necessarily 80) set in, and by authors from, countries all over the world. Female authors preferred. If a book is set in a location other than that of the author’s nationality, it can apply to either […]
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Freedom and Future Library
Introduction (2018) You’d have to be living under a rock buried somewhere halfway down to the center of the earth in order not to be aware that in recent years our beautiful world has been shaken up by a number of crises the likes of which I, at least, have not experienced in my entire […]
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On Page and Screen
Bringing together great literature and its equally great screen adaptations. Note: Authors are included here if I own a screen adaptation of at least one of their works and have either reviewed / blogged about that screen adaptation or about any one of the author’s literary works. At the same time, however, for each of […]
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