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The Two Towers

The Two TowersTitle: The Two Towers
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Series: Lord of the Rings #2
Genre: Classic, Fantasy
Format: Kindle
Pages: 352
Reason Read: Buddy Read
Rating:

Also in this series: The Return of the King
My Thoughts

I’m not sure how to review THE TWO TOWERS. I have a lot of feelings about it and I’m not quite sure how to word them. I can say that some of my feelings are mixed. Overall, though, I liked it a lot.

I loved how epic the journey is. I loved how complex everything is. While I enjoy simple stories, I really enjoy complex ones that have a lot of facets to them. You can tell Tolkien really thought through the overarching story and not just the current story in the current book. As I said in my review of THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING, I really loved Tolkien’s writing style. I didn’t at first when I started THE HOBBIT, but it’s grown on me. I have to admit, though, that I was a little happy there were less songs this go around.

I still love Sam. I think he’ll remain my favorite to the end. And, I love Faramir. He’s so honorable, slow to react, intelligent, and compassionate. I loved every scene with him in it. He’s such a stark contrast to Boromir. He’s now my new favorite secondary character.

I didn’t like the way the book was split. Having two “parts” in the book is fine, but I didn’t like that the first half was just Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Merry, and Pippin, and the second half was just Frodo, Sam, and Gollum. I wanted the chapters to be interspersed. It might have made it a little harder to follow, but I think it would’ve made it more intense. And, at the same time, it would’ve cured the cliffhanger ending. I really hope I don’t have to wait until the second half of THE RETURN OF THE KING to know what’s going on with Frodo and Sam.

Why did Tolkien have to add giant, creepy spiders to the story?! Shelob totally creeped me out. I’m going to have nightmares! At least, that’s over with and I can enjoy the ending without worrying about her anymore.

I’m very excited to finish this trilogy. I can’t wait to see how it ends book-style.

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A Grief Observed

A Grief ObservedTitle: A Grief Observed
Author: C.S. Lewis
Genre: Memoir, Non-Fiction
Format: Paperback
Pages: 76
Reason Read: Recommended
Rating:

My Thoughts

I had a really hard time with A GRIEF OBSERVED. I take things very literally and I can’t often sift through others’ unfiltered thoughts, especially when they go all over the place. This book felt very unorganized, which as it turns out is how grief manifests itself, but it was hard for me to follow and understand. Good thing it was only 76 pages.

I did feel like it was insightful in showing how someone dealt with their grief. But, I didn’t feel like I could relate to Lewis because I lost my mom not my lover. The feelings he had weren’t the same I experienced.

There was one thing I did like that Lewis said. It’s at the beginning of the last chapter:

“Grief is like a long valley, a winding valley where any bend may reveal a totally new landscape … not every bend does. Sometimes … you are presented with exactly the same sort of country you thought you had left behind miles ago…. There are partial recurrences, but the sequence doesn’t repeat.”

I’ve felt very much like this since my mom passed away last year. It was nice to see that others have felt that way too, that I’m not unique in that way, and that everyone who is grieving goes through these same experiences, just a little differently.