A Little Touch of Tolkien for Tolkien Reading Day

Posted on March 25, 2021 by wordcloud9
Originally posted in 2017

2003 – Tolkien Reading Day was first organized by the Tolkien Society, now held annually on March 25, the day of the downfall of Sauron

March 25 should also be noted in Tolkien lore because:

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Maybe you’re too busy today to read all of The Lord of the Rings, or even The Hobbit, but do not despair.

Gathered here are some Tolkien poems and quotes to savor so you can still celebrate with the rest of the world-wide fellowship of Tolkien-lovers. 

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“West, North, and South the children of Men spread and wandered, and their joy was the joy of the morning before the dew is dry, when every leaf is green.”

― The Silmarillion, Of Men

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The Road Goes Ever On

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet,
And whither then? I cannot say.

All That is Gold

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

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“We have a long way to go, and there is time ahead for thought.” — Treebeard

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About wordcloud9

Nona Blyth Cloud has lived and worked in the Los Angeles area for over 50 years, spending much of that time commuting on the 405 Freeway. After Hollywood failed to appreciate her genius for acting and directing, she began a second career managing non-profits, from which she has retired. Nona has now resumed writing whatever comes into her head, instead of reports and pleas for funding. She lives in a small house overrun by books with her wonderful husband.
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14 Responses to A Little Touch of Tolkien for Tolkien Reading Day

  1. Terry Welshans says:
    March 25, 2017 at 2:53 pm

    I read the Hobbit years ago. I started on the Ring trilogy, but gave up once I discovered Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. If you have not read that series, you must add it to your reading list.

    • wordcloud9 says:
      March 25, 2017 at 3:10 pm

      Terry –
      I’ll trade you – if you’ll finish The Lord of the Rings, I’ll read the Dark Tower Series.

      • Terry Welshans says:
        March 25, 2017 at 3:29 pm

        That is a reasonable trade. I started Dark Tower at book three, not knowing it was a series. There are seven books in the original series with a new one added recently that I have not read. If you have not already discovered the series, it is in the style of JRR’s writing. The time line and characters gets a little crazy, time travel through a doorway being the method. It is difficult to tell when the story line takes place – cowboys on horses and rusting fuel tank trucks in the same scene. Then, off to modern day New York….
        I have the Trilogy in my library, I just need to dust it off.

        • wordcloud9 says:
          March 25, 2017 at 5:07 pm

          I’m almost finished re-reading Kim Harrison’s Hollows series – an alternate reality storyline where a plague nearly wipes out humanity, and it’s suddenly discovered that all the creatures of myth are real, because they’re the ones that are immune – witches, vampires, werewolves, pixies, and so on. Set in Cincinnati, 40 years after ‘The Turn.’ It’s hard-boiled detective noir mixed with myth and lore – great fun, but with characters that have depth and substance too.

          Will have to pick up Dark Tower – which book is first?

          • Terry Welshans says:
            March 25, 2017 at 5:18 pm

            I have not read any of Kim Harrison’s books. I don’t usually read books with witches and vampires, but my wife really enjoyed Jim Butcher’s books. She had a stroke a few years ago and had to stop reading due to vision issues. Audio books don’t work for her as they put her in a sleepy mode.

            Like everything King does, the series is a little crazy.

            The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger
            The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
            The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
            The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass

            The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (the new book, fits between book IV and V)

            The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla
            The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah
            The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower

            The whole set is available in paperback at Amazon

  2. wordcloud9 says:
    March 25, 2017 at 5:24 pm

    I’m not normally a fan of stories with vampires or werewolves either, but I love hard-boiled detective stories, so when I read the first couple of pages of ‘Dead Witch Walking,’ I was immediately hooked.

    So sorry about your wife – losing the ability to read is one of my greatest fears.

    Thanks for the list for Dark Tower.

    • Terry Welshans says:
      March 25, 2017 at 6:29 pm

      The good news is that I get to read to her!

      • wordcloud9 says:
        March 25, 2017 at 8:23 pm

        Good for you – my mom reading to me is what got me started – she introduced me to Charles Dickens among many other greats.

  3. Gene Howington says:
    March 25, 2017 at 9:17 pm

    I’ll second that recommendation of “The Dark Tower” series. Roland Deschain of Gilead is as epic a hero as one could want and Walter o’Dim (an incarnation of Randall Flagg) as the emissary of the Crimson King is an absolutely horrifying villain. I can’t wait to see the film based on the series that will be released in July. Idris Elba as Roland and Matthew McConaughey as Walter is brilliant casting. The series may be King’s best work next to “The Stand”. In scope, it surpasses “The Stand” and easily stands next to Tolkien on the shelf. The world it builds is as impressive as the inhabitants.

  4. pete says:
    March 27, 2017 at 2:12 am

    I read The Dark Tower; The Gunslinger when it first came out, without realizing it was part of a series and that none of the others had been written yet. Waited for each book to come out, then after the third ( I believe it was the third) Stephen King was hit by a car and didn’t write for a few years.
    When he started writing again I went back and reread the previous books to get fresh on what was happening.
    Really like the books, didn’t care for the ending. Not sure if I read The Wind Through the Keyhole, I’ll have to check.

    Read the Hobbit back in Jr high. Started reading the trilogy, got about halfway through and decided I never wanted to hear about a hobbit again. I may have watched part of one of the movies.

    • wordcloud9 says:
      March 27, 2017 at 5:33 am

      Awww too bad –

      I don’t know if it’s true, but there’s a story about Tolkien when he was working on Lord of the Rings – he was part of a writer’s group at Oxford, and bringing in his work as he was writing it to get feedback – during one of Tolkien’s readings of his latest chapter, one of the other scholars in the group leaned over to the one next to him, and whispered “Oh God, not another f**king elf!”

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