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Vansa

Vansa

Joined September 2016

To paraphrase that ABBA classic, “Mother said I would read long before I could talk!“
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Vansa
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I don't know how clear this is, but these are two absolutely delightful pages of writing.Tolkien manages a perfect tone throughout,which must be so hard. Great writing.
#LotrChapterADay #FellowshipOfTolkien

JazzFeathers What chapter is it. I can't make out anything 😞 Besides, Tolkien's prose is always delightful 😏 3d
Vansa @JazzFeathers The end of the Road to Isengard chapter! I loved how he managed the change in tone,from the battle, to the journey and now the meeting of old friends (edited) 2d
15 likes2 comments
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Vansa
Atomic Spy: The Dark Lives of Klaus Fuchs | Nancy Thorndike Greenspan
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#WondrousWednesday @Eggs
🍎.Its when I take my annual vacation!
🍏Right now, extremely frazzled,stuck in a terrible traffic jam,and frightfully late to work!
🍏The tagged book, inspired by watching Oppenheimer. I can't recommend it enough.

Eggs I‘ve been on a bit of an Oppenheimer tangent as well… 1w
12 likes1 comment
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Vansa
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#Two4Tuesday @thespineview
1.Breakfast! I love a lavish breakfast spread,with baked goods and eggs and there has to be filter coffee!
2.I had never heard of the tagged book, or author,and absolutely loved it. Her descriptions of her meals are deeply evocative

TheSpineView Thanks for playing!❤️🍽☕️ 1w
12 likes1 comment
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Vansa
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#TLT @dabbe
Movies:This is Spinal Tap,Withnail and I,Girls trip
Tv: Yes Minister,Fresh prince of Bel-Air, Blackadder
Books: Tagged books,Leave it to Psmith, Cold comfort farm

dabbe I have a lot to look into with this list! The only show I've seen is FRESH PRINCE OF BEL-AIR! 🤩
Thanks for playing! 🧡💜💛
1w
12 likes1 comment
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Vansa
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More late posts! #WondrousWednesday @eggs
1.Elizabeth Jane Howard, Elizabeth Jenkins,Stella Gibbons, Nancy Mitford (though she would probably hate me!),Arundhati Roy,Mahasweta Devi
2. The swinging 60s in Chelsea!!
3.I keep museum tickets, gig tickets and use them as bookmarks!

Eggs Wonderful! Thanks for playing 🥳 1w
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Vansa
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#LotrChapterADay #FellowshipOfTolkien I read this entire chapter completely teary eyed, and was in floods of tears by the time this came about

JazzFeathers After reading so much about WWI, l imagine Tolkien knew exactly what he was talking about. 3d
Vansa @JazzFeathers oooh that's true, that never struck me! 2d
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Vansa
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#LotrChapterADay #FellowshipOfTolkien This was always my favourite chapter,and nothing has changed over the years.Its even more poignant to read it now,when the depredations visited on earth are even more devastating.

JazzFeathers I lived Treebeard chapter more than l usually do, this time round. 3d
Vansa @JazzFeathers it definitely made me cry a lot more this time round! Even more today when I saw the photos of the felled sycamore tree at Hadrians Wall 2d
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Vansa
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Such unbelievably beautiful descriptions #LotrChapterADay #FellowshipOfTolkien

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Vansa
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Pickpick

Late prompts! #Two4Tuesday @thespineview
1.Cant play to save my life,some of my worst childhood memories are associated with forced sporting activities at school😱😱I absolutely love watching,reading and talking about sports though!
2.The tagged book is one of the best I've read,as all good sports writing does,combines sports, history, sociology and humanity

TheSpineView Thanks for playing!🌞🤩😊 1w
12 likes1 comment
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Vansa
Deadlock | Sara Paretsky
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@goodwilllibrarian VI Warshawski is a detective,former attorney, and the other characters are involved with the shipping industry, none of which are jobs I would like though I like reading about them!

Ruthiella I read all the VI Warsharski books back in the‘90s and loved them. I‘ve long meant to go back, reread and then finish off the series… 2w
Vansa @Ruthiella I heard of them just last year and love them! BBC has fine radio adaptations of quite a few of them that are available on YouTube if you want to listen to them instead! They're very good! 1w
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Vansa
The Pursuit of Love | Nancy Mitford
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So funny..and so true.
So all my well read Littens, what are your opinions on the surprisingly dark ending she gives to this book?She doesn't end her other Radlett-Montdore books on a note of such sadness, why do you think she chose this ending for this one?

Ruthiella Maybe because Linda was based on her sister Diana and it was a more palatable fictional outcome than in real life Diana‘s marrying the leader and founder of the British Union of Fascists? 2w
Vansa @Ruthiella bit of a composite of all the sisters, the Communism was very Jessica and Nancy herself, though the leaving a family was Diana! Possibly, though.Just seems like a very sudden dark turn, maybe because of her own miscarriages? 2w
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Vansa
The Pursuit of Love | Nancy Mitford
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Nancy Mitford is so insightful

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Vansa
Frankie & Stankie | Barbara Trapido
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Vansa
Frankie & Stankie | Barbara Trapido
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Barbara Trapido is a genius. When she writes well she writes So SO well. So insightful

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Vansa
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#FellowshipOfTolkien #LotrChapterAday onwards!Have been waiting to start with this, and what a banger of a starting chapter

JazzFeathers True, eh? The first chapter sure delivers 😜 l'm so behind. Life keeps interfering. 3d
17 likes1 comment
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Vansa
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#Sundayfunday no, the setting is Yorkshire during the late 70s and early 80s, when the Yorkshire Ripper was active! The book was a huge disappointment, sadly.

BookmarkTavern That‘s disappointing! Hope your next read is better! 2w
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Vansa
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I love this prompt!! It reminded me of my beloved Ladybird books that introduced me to reading.I used to have all of these!
#SundayFunday

LeahBergen I love 🐞!! I still own many of these. 3w
Cuilin I absolutely love and remember these exact covers. 💕 🐞 3w
17 likes1 stack add2 comments
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Vansa
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https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cw7diUZoH7T/?igshid=YTUzYTFiZDMwYg==
Since a lot of readers are finishing up the section in Mória now, this might be an interesting video, if you haven't seen it already!
#FellowshipOfTolkien #LotrChapterADay

JazzFeathers It's beautiful, isn't it? 🤩 3d
18 likes1 comment
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Vansa
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#FirstLineFridays @shybookowl
It's Proust, so it's a very very long first line!

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Vansa
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#FellowshipofTolkien #LotrChapterADay
What unbelievably vivid writing. I feel like I'm seeing all of these myself

JazzFeathers Tolkien's writing is among the most vivid l've ever read. When he describes plac s, sure. But not only. 2w
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Vansa
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So moving. I'm practically in tears at the elegiac tone of this.
#FellowshipOfTolkien #LotrChapterADay

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Vansa
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This is very very true of many countries right now. Including mine.

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Vansa
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#Booknotes @alwaysbeenaloverodbooks
Right now I have the absolute perfect song to go with this line, from Enya's glorious album in the 90s, Shepherd Moons
https://youtu.be/u6aHtdoXPiw?si=pVIJk94Yomej3pmE

Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks 👏🏻🎶📚🎵 1mo
16 likes2 comments
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Vansa
Return to Paris | Colette Rossant
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#WondrousWednesday @eggs
1.Going to the movies is such a song and dance,but some really deserve the large screen-Barbie and Oppenheimer,for instance.
2.None at all!Super lazy person here😀
3.Since June and till October,eating at home to save money for a big splash out during my 2 week holiday in October!

Eggs How fun 🤩 1mo
16 likes1 comment
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Vansa
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Pickpick

@alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
Some of my favourite memoirs.Absolutely lovely, moving books. Full review of tagged book about the artist's adolescence in Turkey here
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5170687206

Q84 Absolutely loved Persepolis! I'll have to check out the others sometime 1mo
17 likes1 comment
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Vansa
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#Two4Tuesday @thespineview
1.I have never heard of Colette Rossant,and this memoir was a lovely introduction to a really interesting woman,who was coming up with “fusion“ cooking before hipster places!
2. I loved her very unique perspective as a child growing up in a Jewish family in Egypt - you don't get such interesting voices usually.

LeahBergen I loved this book! 1mo
TheSpineView Thanks for playing!🤩📖📚 1mo
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Vansa
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#LotrChapterADay #FellowshipOfTolkien
I remember this section in Moria so vividly, and it's still edge of the seat riveting ,reading it now. I am turning pages as fast as I can because it's so gripping!?

JazzFeathers I know, right? And then, these are among the best chapters in the book, in my opinion 😜 4w
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Vansa
Daniel Deronda | George Eliot
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THis could be said by a character in a book written yesterday, and would ring as true

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Vansa
Daniel Deronda | George Eliot
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Incredibly modern writing

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Vansa
Daniel Deronda | George Eliot
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It is incredible to me that George ELiot, literally centuries back,wrote sympathetically about an ambitious woman, who was allowed to be successful, and not a monster.

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Vansa
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#SUNDAYFUNDAY @ozma.of.oz #LotRChapterADay #FellowshipOfTolkien
I love this description of Bilbo's perfect house!I can empathise a lot with the way Frodo feels in the beginning of the book,that there's a gathering storm and he wishes it didn't happen in his time,and he could shut it out.

BookmarkTavern Yeah! I totally get that too. Thank you for sharing! 1mo
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Vansa
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Oh,poor Bilbo Baggins. And the considerable strength of character you have shown all those years you owned the ring, and didn't let it corrode your soul of steel.

Cinfhen Your.nails are FABULOUS 1mo
Vansa @Cinfhen thank you so much!! I saw it on an Instagram post and tried it out!! 😀😀😀 1mo
dabbe Nails = 🤩🤩🤩 1mo
See All 6 Comments
RobES These nauls are gorgeous 😍 1mo
Vansa @dabbe thank you so much!! 1mo
Vansa @RobES thanks a lot! It was worth the time I took trying to get it right 😀 1mo
24 likes6 comments
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Vansa
The Turquoise Ledge: A Memoir | Leslie Marmon Silko
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This is so so important. There are several countries in the world, like included,that have a variety of different languages, but governments that insist on the primacy of just one language, which is ridiculous. A diversity of language is to be celebrated.

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Vansa
This Is Shakespeare | Emma Smith
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Pickpick

#Netgalleybingo
Got around to reading some more ARCs! And more importantly,reviewing. I cannot recommend This is Shakespeare enough.To paraphrase the tagline of Barbie: If you can't get enough of Shakespeare, this book is for you.If you've had a surfeit of Shakespeare,this book is for you.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5781346962

rachelsbrittain Well I'm convinced! 1mo
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Vansa
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Extraordinary. Proust can go on a bit. But some of his writing on how we perceive art, how the mind works are just extraordinary and you realise why he's considered such an influence. This set of pages is just.. incredible.

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Vansa
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#WondrousWednesday @eggs
1.Both these,and Spinal Tap.I can watch these 3 movies a million times and laugh as hard each time.Interestingly,2 of these 3 were by George Harrison's production company!
2.Oppenheimer! Absolutely riveting and makes you want to read more about it
3.Personally?That my family visit to Arizona goes off without a hitch!In general?That people stop voting for fascists!

Eggs Thanks for playing-loved Oppenheimer. After that I went down a rabbit hole for more info…. 1mo
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Vansa
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Pickpick

#Two4Tuesday @Thespineview
1.No, it has no intrinsic value of its own in a world where internet penetration is not 100 percent!
2.Eponymous character of the tagged book,I cannot recommend it enough.Love the Emmy Lane chronicles! Full review here
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5696446845

TheSpineView Thanks for playing! 1mo
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Vansa
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#SundayFunday @ozma.of.oz
Tagged book as part of #LotRChapterADay #FellowshipOfTolkien
Could not recommend it more!I don't think the quotes are very visible but they are absolutely beautiful descriptions.Writing of a river flowing “ out of hobbits knowledge“. What a beautiful way of putting it.

Vansa Aaargh Litsy on the web just doesn't let me tag people properly!!!! 1mo
BookmarkTavern What an excellent choice! Thank you for sharing! 1mo
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Vansa
The Missing of Clairdelune | Christelle Dabos
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#WondrousWednesday @eggs
Bit late but I like this prompt!
1.Tagged book.I would NOT recommend this series though, completely horrible.Very surprising this has got so many good reviews with terrible characterization and a really boring plot.
2.I think His Dark Materials had many interesting character names!Lady Salmakia being one of them!

Eggs Thanks for playing 🥳📚🙏🏻 1mo
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Vansa
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This is so funny. Several such wry asides inserted into this very dense, deeply researched, completely informative and fascinating

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Vansa
Atomic Spy: The Dark Lives of Klaus Fuchs | Nancy Thorndike Greenspan
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#weekendreads @rachelsbrittain Reading all of these on the weekend!Finished sorcerer of Pyongyang this morning,it was interesting,if not very well written.Im also doing the #SundayBuddyRead of Lady Chatterleys Lover,but I loved the book so much,I raced ahead of the weekly schedule and have ready finished it!
Have an excellent weekend,everyone!

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Vansa
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#Two4Tuesday @thespineview
1.It usually starts in May but because of the terrible heat, it was delayed to June this year.
2.The second book of the devastating tagged trilogy is set in a boarding school during WWII.Its unlike any school setting I've ever read ,like enid Blyton or Chalet School. Completely unforgettable

TheSpineView Thanks for playing! 1mo
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Vansa
Atomic Spy: The Dark Lives of Klaus Fuchs | Nancy Thorndike Greenspan
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Great writing

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Vansa
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#LotRChapterADay #FellowshipOfTolkien I had forgotten just how action packed this work is.And profound at the same time,so clearly why it still works.I don't remember this bit about Frodo being told that fencing yourself in against evil will not work forever
@Daisey, @Jazzfeathers

JazzFeathers Right? We are often so hung up with all that is in this book that we sometimes forget how good and fun a story it is. 1mo
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Vansa
Lady Chatterley's Lover | D.H. Lawrence
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#SUNDAYBUDDYREAD It would have been so easy for Lawrence to have made Mrs.BOlton a one-dimensional character with no backstory, and existing merely as the ëvil housekeeper“archetype-like Mrs. Danvers. Or even the domestic help in Virgina Woolf, who only exist, it feels, to be incompetent and cause the female protagonist(very white, very upper class) inconvenience and force them to have to buy flowers themselves.

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Vansa
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If one is to foreshadow, #WriteitLikeTolkien. If that's not a hashtag already, well then, it should be!
#FellowshipOfTolkien #LotRAChapterADay

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Vansa
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This is interesting and must have struck others,but I'm realising it for the first time-apart from Men,the other peoples of Middle Earth have managed to resist the powers of the Rings of Power and have not fallen in with Sauron.More to the point,Bilbo has had the One Ring for SO LONG and did not turn into Gollum,or in thrall to Sauron and neither has Frodo.Tolkien was clear about the ambitions of Men!

JazzFeathers That's very true. But then, Gandalf says that Bilbo's possession of the Ring starts with an action of pity, and that greatly hindered the Ring's power over Bilbo. 2mo
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Vansa
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This is as good as an image gets on Litsy on the web! Such a powerful paragraph. #LotRAChapterADay #FellowshipofTolkien @daisey @jazzfeathers

The_Book_Ninja Looks like when my dog “ate my homework” 2mo
Vansa @The_Book_Ninja 😂😂yeah, I wanted just those sentences to stand out!! 2mo
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Vansa
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I don't think the image is clear at all,but this is such an excellent introductory note.I didn't remember how particular Tolkien was that this book it be read as a stand in for world wars,and his writing on how it would pan out if it did is insightful and stark. I love the distinction he makes between applicability and allegory - this was a man with a genuine love for words.
#LotRChapterADay #FellowshipofTolkien @daisey @jazzfeathers

JazzFeathers Truly a philologist. His love for words, their sounds, their history is so obvious in all his work. I wish l had the knowledge to see more in this field. 2mo
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Vansa
The Lord of the Rings | J. R. R. Tolkien
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#LotRChapterADay #FellowshipOfTolkien Got my more than 2 decades old copies out and dusted,all prepared to begin this journey!I couldn't wait to begin and have already started!Litsy on the web doesn't allow me to tag people, so I hope you see this @Daisey and @Jazzfeathers, thank you for leading this!

Daisey Tagging in the post works just the same to send me a notification. Loving seeing what editions everyone has. Can‘t wait to get started! 2mo
JazzFeathers A two decades old copy 🤩 l will be using my brand new one, the new Italian translation l haven't read yet. 2mo
23 likes2 comments