Fred's Updates

Fred is 71% done with Resurrection

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 09:06:45 -0700

Fred is 71% done with Resurrection.
Fred wrote: "'Poor sweet thing! How can she have changed so much?' thought Nekhlyudov, remembering Natasha as she had been before she got married and feeling a tender love for her...
At that moment Ragozhinsky [her husband] came into the room, with his head held high as always and his broad chest thrust out...Everything about him was glistening - spectacles, bald patch and black beard." (364)

LOL.

Fred liked a userstatus

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 09:02:33 -0700

Fred liked Eleanor Garvey's status update

Eleanor Garvey is on page 120 of 219 of Public Library and Other Stories

Fred liked a readstatus

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 09:02:23 -0700

Fred liked Eleanor’s status update

Eleanor Garvey started reading One Day

Fred liked a review

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 09:02:20 -0700

Fred liked Katie Lumsden's review of The two heroines of Plumplington and other stories:

"A great collection. Reading Anthony Trollope is always such a joy."

Fred is 71% done with Resurrection

Wed, 30 Apr 2025 08:56:28 -0700

Fred is 71% done with Resurrection.
Fred wrote: This book comes and goes. Tolstoy is an extremely funny writer - and when he uses that humour to make social comment (like the hilariously awful Orthodox religious service (156-7) Dmitri witnesses), he is phenomenal. But in other parts he will just lecture at you (356-7), and they are less effective. When his writing is more aesthetic - then, ironically, his social commentary is more effective!

Fred added 'Mockingjay'

Sun, 27 Apr 2025 23:50:16 -0700

Fred gave 4 stars to Mockingjay (The Hunger Games, #3) by Suzanne Collins
There is so much good stuff in the Hunger Games trilogy. I think the first one was my least favourite! Catching Fire and Mockingjay make a fantastic - if haunting - conclusion. This trilogy is a moving love story and an utterly disturbing political dystopia. And a very depressing one.

I gave four stars to every book. I have the same complaint about all three of them. They should have all been double the length! I am constantly wishing that Ms Collins would slow down, would dwell more on the quieter character moments, rather than rushing past huge and major plot points. Maybe that is slightly truer to life. In a war environment, you have to move on quickly and be prepared for the next calamity coming your way. Fair enough. But even still, you’re begging for a small amount of introspection in these books - especially in Mockingjay. I felt the need to write down what was happening after every chapter, otherwise the amount of plot was disorienting. Major characters would die and Katniss would barely acknowledge it before the next thing took place. If you zoned out for even a couple of lines, characters were already in completely different locations from when you last saw them. I agree with some of these ŷ�� reviews that the book needed to dwell more on Finnick and Prim’s deaths.

Catching Fire was my favourite in that regard because it had the best quiet character moments in it. That novel did slow down to an extent. Particularly in moments between Katniss and Peeta. That is what makes this novel particularly heart-wrenching because Katniss and Peeta’s relationship is so gorgeous in Catching Fire, and then you watch them totally torn apart in this novel.

Another thing I appreciated here is that although this book is about rebellion, oppression and activism, it is a warning to the political left, not an incitement. I appreciated how District 13 were not angels. They behaved like evil little bellends as well. That is realistic. You can’t expect your own side to be angels just because you don’t like the Capitol. If you don’t have a proper plan, you can easily replicate the other side’s evils. You see Gale - previously a sympathetic character - become increasingly dangerous, and everyone can see it except him (until it is too late). I think Katniss made entirely the right decision at the end with President Coin! If she had remained alive, the Hunger Games would have repeated themselves with the exact same logic, just dressed up in progressive language now. With Peeta’s help, Katniss realises that this is messed up. (And the fact that Coin basically killed her sister with Gale’s weapon doesn’t help. I had forgotten that twist. That is truly awful and philosophically tragic. It puts the nail in the coffin for Gale's character.)

I think Katniss is slightly happier at the ending than certain reviewers give her credit for. Towards the end, it becomes a rather unexpected fable about appreciating the small human moments in life. Katniss puts together a book of small memories. She does this to remind herself of life’s quiet, good moments. This is when she is living with Peeta (a haven for those moments - obviously).

“Lady licking Prim’s cheek. My father’s laugh. Peeta’s father with the cookies. The colour of Finnick’s eyes. What Cinna could do with a length of silk. Boggs reprogramming the Holo. Rue poised on her shoes, arms slightly extended, like a bird about to take flight. …[we promise] to live well to make their deaths count. […] Strange bits of happiness…what I need to survive is not Gale’s fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself. What I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again. And only Peeta can give me that.�� (452-3)

How moving. A wonderful trilogy. Depressing, demanding, and dismaying that they’re all so short. But I’ll remember them.

Fred started reading 'Resurrection'

Sun, 27 Apr 2025 11:07:45 -0700

Fred started reading Resurrection by Leo Tolstoy

Fred liked a quote by J.R.R. Tolkien

Sun, 27 Apr 2025 00:52:40 -0700

Fred liked a quote

�� It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule. �� J.R.R. Tolkien

Fred liked a quote by J.R.R. Tolkien

Sun, 27 Apr 2025 00:52:30 -0700

Fred liked a quote

�� I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil. �� J.R.R. Tolkien

Fred added 'The Return of the King'

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 12:11:22 -0700

Fred gave 3 stars to The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3) by J.R.R. Tolkien
Tolkien is an ingenious world-builder and a hopeless storyteller. The story of The Lord of the Rings is so wonderful - hence why this series made such iconic films! - but I cannot get on with Tolkien’s writing style.

The Return of the King is a book with all the wrong priorities. Extraneous, dull detail is given to the elements that do not need it, whilst utterly crucial plot moments are glossed over. The destruction of the Ring and the fall of Sauron - what we’ve been waiting for for two and a half novels? It is over almost before you know it. Frodo’s ascension to the Undying Lands as a reward for his duties? You have to read between the lines and do a bit of guesswork to deduce that that is even what is happening. But of course, Tolkien did not hesitate to provide a ridiculous amount of detail about Faramir trying to woo Eowyn (as if we care), or - heaven help us - the Appendices. I skimmed the first Appendix and then stopped. I am not wading through that.

He compares very interestingly with J.K. Rowling’s novels, where you almost have the opposite situation. Whilst Harry Potter is not very original and clearly borrows several elements from The Lord of the Rings, Rowling’s writing is so much more compelling. She, like Tolkien, knows everything about her world - but she doesn’t tell us everything. All we need is the confidence that she knows everything! What’s more important for us is a compelling story, good writing, readability, etc. And she delivers beautifully. She would never end one of her books with a dull encyclopaedia, that’s for sure.

(Those Appendices - shudder. They would have made even Tolstoy blush.)

Having said all of that - The Return of the King is the instalment I enjoyed reading the most. Despite Tolkien’s overindulgence in detail, there remains something irresistible about this novel. One has been with the characters for so many pages that one cannot avoid the nostalgia of coming to the end of the journey with them. And of course, one develops a soft spot for the main crew: Frodo, Samwise Gamgee, Gandalf, and Gollum. (Not Aragorn - he’s so dull! They improved him in the films, making him sexy and more human. In the books, he’s always saying the right thing, always choosing the wise path, never erring, always ready with a profound quotation about the world…no flaws. So dull.)

Ultimately, this is a story about heroism and sacrifice. They are universal themes that can transcend even the clunkiest of writing. My favourite moment in the whole trilogy was Gandalf’s sacrifice in the Mines of Moria. What a guy. He gave his life to save his friends and allow them to continue. He fought the Balrog knowing he would not survive it, and still managed to kill it despite falling into the depths of the Earth. The hero who dies to save their friends (and is then reincarnated in Christ-like symbolism) is a bit of a cliché these days, but Tolkien does it irresistibly here. One can never resist Gandalf.

One also cannot resist Frodo: he sacrifices his life and well-being to destroy the Ring. By the end, Frodo is a broken Hobbit. He is still suffering from his wound in Book One. He is very weak; the only reason the Ring is properly destroyed is because Gollum prises it from him and then falls backwards into the fire. Then Frodo has to deal with the remnants of Isengard’s forces, and even then, he’s relying on other people. Saruman has to be killed by a last-minute repentant Wormtongue. Frodo loses most of his power and agency. He has sacrificed his well-being irrevocably. One breathes a sigh of relief for him when he is granted access to Valinor. (The series also privileges forgiveness here. Frodo is allowed into Valinor despite needing all this help and nearly succumbing to the Ring at Mordor. The Valar acknowledge the extent of his self-sacrifice and suffering even though he has made these errors.)

It’s also a series about friendship, hope, and resisting the corruption of power. Frodo and Samwise are such a wonderful duo, as are Merry and Pippin. Tolkien privileges the little people. Friendship and doing good in the world on a local level (planting your own garden!) are what matter. Avoid grandiose power fantasies - even when they are intended to do good.

Yet it is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule. (206, Gandalf)

The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command. (Samwise, 235)

Sam’s reconciliation with Frodo after Shelob is quite moving:

‘Well, you have now [found me], Sam, dear Sam,�� said Frodo, and he lay back in Sam’s gentle arms, closing his eyes, like a child at rest when night-fears are driven away by some loved voice or hand. Sam felt that he could sit like that in endless happiness�� (248)

Merry and Pippin also make no secret of how much they miss each other. This series truly privileges not holding back emotionally! Tell your friends what you think of them and be open.

There are also moments of real humour against bureaucracy. Gandalf and Aragorn have distracted the Eye by laying siege to Mordor; Frodo and Sam have destroyed the Ring; they return to the Shire…try to gain entry, and are arrested for ludicrous, trumped-up charges.

‘You’re arrested for Gatebreaking, and Tearing up of Rules, and Assaulting Gate-keepers, and Trespassing, and Sleeping in Shire-buildings without Leave, and Bribing Guards with Food.��
‘And what else?�� said Frodo.
‘That’ll do to go on with,�� said the Shirriff-leader.
‘I can add some more, if you’d like it,�� said Sam. ‘Calling your Chief Names, Wishing to punch his Pimply Face, and Thinking you Shirriffs look a lot of Tom-fools.��

Needless to say, Frodo and Samwise have none of it:

We’re going to take you to Bywater and hand you over to the Chief’s Men; and when he deals with your case you can have your say. But if you don’t want to stay in the Lockholes any longer than you need, I should cut the say short, if I was you.��
To the discomfiture of the Shirriffs Frodo and his companions all roared with laughter. ‘Don’t be absurd!�� said Frodo. ‘I am going where I please, and in my own time. I happen to be going to Bag End on business, but if you insist on going too, well that is your affair.��
‘Very well, Mr. Baggins,�� said the leader, pushing the barrier aside. ‘But don’t forget I’ve arrested you.��
‘I won’t,�� said Frodo. ‘Never. But I may forgive you. Now I am not going any further today, so if you’ll kindly escort me to The Floating Log, I’ll be obliged.��

Fair play, Tolkien - that was quite witty.

Plot Recap: Book begins with a battle between Gandalf, Aragorn, and the Nazgul and Orcs. Disaster with lives lost - Aragorn arrives to save it at the last minute. They lay siege to Mordor to distract Sauron while Samwise and Frodo destroy the Ring (with last-minute, unwitting help from Gollum). Aragorn is crowned, grants reasonable mercy to the transgressors, and marries Arwen. Frodo and Samwise return home to find the Shire swarming with Isengard forces, and the Battle of Bywater takes place to overthrow them. Wormtongue kills Saruman. A pained Frodo ascends to the Valinor while Samwise and the Shire rebuild themselves through love, friendship, gardening, and humility! Usual Tolkien themes of environmentalism (love of trees), heroism, sacrifice, and small-scale goodwill like empathy and mercy persist.