I used to live in Hall Green, Birmingham, England and walk around Moseley Bog and Sarehole Mill, the childhood playgrounds of JRR Tolkien, who lived nearby. The site inspired the 'old forest' in The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings - when I read the books I imagine myself back in that magical area.
I could not be persuaded to continue on with DQ. Someone said, ‘the last chapter makes it worth it’… and my eyes nearly rolled back into my head. Ha! I’ve been more convinced DQ might be over-hyped, and I’m perfectly content to be a person who shelved it. Too many other wonderful books to enjoy in this short life!
Lady Hardcastle is delightful! Your comments about LOTR makes me want to listen to them. I have read them but have not listened. Have a great weekend, Susan!😎
I picked up Still Life by Louise Penny from a little free library in December. I had heard her name often but didn’t think I’d like to read mystery, wow was I wrong…I loved her style of writing. I love the character building, setting and conclusion. And yes, the abyss has opened. I like to read in order so here I am still reading Louise Penny in March. I have read middle grade March the last few years but haven’t found anything I am interested in for this year. 😊 some Mark Twain might fill that need. I am in the mood for sci fi but again nothing is reaching out to me.
Hey Susan! I want to be able to say I have read Middlemarch but I ‘m struggling so I’m with you. We can do it and finish the other half of a book we don’t want to read but have to! 💪🏻😅😂 In French it’s Don Quichotte, it’s funny to see how it’s translated to English… Have a great Sunday!
Susan! I'm so glad you're enjoying LOTR!! I totally get what you mean about enjoying the book up until the adventure starts haha. I'm actually not a fan of action sequences, so I prefer slow paced, quiet fantasy. (It's probably why I prefer older fantasy to newer fantasy. Maybe other classic fantasy would work for you too 🥰). I'm SO excited that you want to dive into Tolkien's life!!!! I'm containing myself not to say anything because I love throwing Tolkien facts at people 🤣 But I won't spoil your experience in getting to know him 😆 It makes sense that you felt that the book was incomplete, because Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings as one book, but the publisher split it into a trilogy because a single tome was too long. Some of my favorite things about LOTR happen in book 2, but book 3 is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE! Haha omg I would tell you to DNF Don Quijote 😅 Book 1 totally counts. I think I read like ten chapters and considered that it was enough to get a sample of it 🙈. To be honest I prefer knightly medieval literature to post-medieval satire about knightly medieval literature 😝
What you said about Don Quixote!! 😂😂😂 When I finish the LOTR trilogy, you’re going to be my Tolkien resource for sure. But for right now, I’m just a LOTR novice and loving it!
Definitely keep going with The Two Towers!!! 😅 I'm so glad you're loving it!! Call The Two Towers and Return of the King your mammoth. I'm mood reading....
I'm in a weird headspace right now, so it's history for me at the moment - Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir. LOTR is so amazing, each book is equally wonderful! Just wait until you meet Eowyn!
I haven't seen those videos where people react as they're reading a mystery and try to figure it out, but I do think it's a great idea! I did think about doing videos as I read something, then piecing them together but haven't done it yet!
Just started Mary Dearborn’s biography of Carson McCullers. One of the tidbits I find fascinating is regarding her mother Bebe.She had a near photographic memory and according to Dearborn “would recite the first chapter of War and Peace to whomever would listen.” Is that a copy of Peter Ackroyd’s biography of Dickens over your shoulder ? Do you recommend? Happy reading! 🥰📚
Oh to have a photographic memory and be able to recite entire chapters!!!!! And, yes, that's Ackroyd's Dickens, but I've not read it yet. That'd be a good mammoth at some point. Just now now. ENJOY your Sunday, Joni!!
I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy several years ago...like ten. I did not listen, so now I'm thinking I'm might grab the audios. I watched the movies too, and loved the total of it all. Great, great literature. I don't usually participate in any of the month challenges, but I so love nonfiction November. It's about the only time I read that genre. Love your videos!
Thank you so much for watching and commenting, Donna!! And I hope your March reading goes well, whatever it might bring! (I'm thinking of watching the first movie in the LOTR trilogy today. But if not today, soon.)
I am participating in Middle Grade March as my main focus, but will read at least one mystery as well. I don't know what to tell you about Don Quixote - I read it decades ago - but I seem to remember that the second half had a different tone to it, so it might be worth going in a few more chapters to see what you think. And I agree with you about The Hobbit - you should absolutely read it before the Lord of the Rings.
ENJOY Middle Grade March!! And hopefully you'll be able to squeeze in a mystery! We'll see about Don Q. - I kind of feel like it hangs over my head, so in that regard, I'd just like to get through it. Maybe it will be just be a right read at the right time to get through it. Thank you for watching! Happy Sunday!
I will also say that Kate Howe has a video posted listing all of the mystery series she has started and I found some treasures from her list. Happy mystery month!
🤣 I’m so happy you’re loving LOTR, and yes, it is one book divided into 3 tomes. Very tempted to re-read it all. It’s never too late to discover great books 😋 Stop reading Cervantes - if you don’t enjoy it. I’m deep in mammoths. Just finished Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. I reckon you’d like Hobb’s writing and character development (start with Farseer - Assassin’s Apprentice - disregard title, doesn’t reflect on the story). Toying with re-reading Middlemarch. Christie of the month will be The Man in the Brown Suit, one of my favourites of hers. Sayers’s Lord Peter Wimsey is so good (read all of them last year). Also finally read Foster by Keegan and want to read more. What else? Secret Garden by Burnett, maybe Winds of Heaven by Monica Dickens. Have a great month!
You are so right...it's never too late to discover books! Isn't it wonderful?! Good luck with your mammoths!! I'm cheering you on. Happy March reading!!
Oh gosh I really loved Evil Under the Sun- and ha ha how old Poirot lives! He’s eternal! Ha ha ha at end of Fellowship of the Ring. The best is the two towers but it obviously doesn’t end the story. PS Metamorphosis was a great read and now I am doing Oedipus Rex and Ulysses which the later doesn’t really tell me anything about the Odyssey to me but I just started (in section 3 so May not finish in March!)
So close with Don Q, I'd be tempted to audio book it, maybe it's available free of charge or library loan. I think I should read something I own this month. Although a younger member of my family is acting in Love's Labour's Lost so I want to read that before I go to see him in Stratford!
So glad you’re enjoying LOTR, I just love those books so much! I am currently reading through the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny. Is it blasphemy to say I believe I am enjoying them more than Agatha Christie?
Penny is such a great writer! I think I'm on book 4 or 5 in the series. So maybe I should read the next of hers this month! And is it blasphemy??? Hmmmm. Just kidding!! Nah! Not blasphemy!
The second volume of Lord of the Rings would count for March of the Mammoths, right? And I do agree, Tolkien is of a way different league than Sarah Maas! Classic fantasy is my main go to subgenre within fantasy. And my advice: close that Don Quixote book! I won’t even open it, lol
I read Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers ,and I’m definitely picking up more of hers. I may like her character Lord Peter Whimsey even more than Poirot. 😎 I’m finishing DQ this month, but I have predominately listened. I think that’s made all the difference for me.
So I should go with the DQ audio? That just may work. Thanks for the input! As for Whimsey, he's driving me NUTS so far. But for all I know, Poirot might have driven me nuts when I first met him, and now I love him so. :)
I have chuckled out loud listening to DQ and I’ve also seen the influence it had on more recent stories like The Princess Bride and Monty Python. Regardless, I hope you enjoy if you decide to finish it. 😊
Hearing you talk again about The Hobbit makes me smile... I can see how easy it would be to not know the other books were about the Hobbits too, the titles sound very different. I'm half way through "Gift Of The Sea" and I'm so torn.... I don't know if it's not the right time, or right book for me but I'm not liking it at all. I find her repetitive, and keeps coming back to women can go so far but always end up back in their same roll... and yea, I feel like it's a book I've read several times before. I have to re-watch your video about it. I want to work on "A Suitable Boy" for March, at over 1400 pages I'd say it counts !
Your "A Suitable Boy" mammoth definitely counts! That's almost two mammoths! Good luck!! As for Gift from the Sea, I wish it were *just* about simplicity and solitude. Her writings regarding that really spoke to me. But the other stuff felt dated at times. If it's not speaking to you, no shame in DNF'ing! :) Good luck with your MAMMOTH, Karen!!
I am more a mood reader, that's why I usually don't plan books, I choose what to read from my bookcase))) Now I am reading "Fairy tale" by Stephen King. I also want to read "Hobbit" in the nearest future)))
Hello Susan! I hope all is well with you and your family. In your video you said you wanted to learn more about Tolkien. May I suggest you go to the booktuber Prose and Petticoats? Her channel is about classics literature and fantasy (which focuses mainly on Tolkien). You can review her library of videos and learn a lot about him. As a matter of fact, her video for this week was about books and authors that Tolkien loved. I think you will enjoy what you watch. For the month of March, my family is going on vacation to Spain, so I plan on bringing A. Dumas' The Vicomte de Bragelonne. It is 658 pages so it should suit me well for air travel and downtime. Plus I really love his books. I look forward to your next video. Have a great day!
Spain?! Oh wow!! Have a blast with your family and your Dumas!!! Thank you for the 'Prose and Petticoats' recommendation!! I will definitely check her channel out. Thank you for watching!
Very few (if any) readers care about middle-grade March or Mammoth March or other reading challenges, so I don’t see why you would bother, especially if you’re not feeling either one. Just go with your own theme (Mood-reading March) and enjoy! I am past reading anything that I am not enjoying 😊
Don’t be so hard on yourself about LOTR! I’m clueless about it too because it’s not my genre at all and it never interested me. I’m not a middle grade reader either. By the way I took your suggestion and signed up for Hulu 30 day free trial so I can watch Fued but I started Only Murders in the Building first 😂 I already know I’m going to keep Hulu because I found a ton of things to watch. I say DNF any book that you aren’t enjoying! 😊❤
I absolutely LOVE Only Murders in the Building!! ENJOY!!! (Hanging out with those actors is just fun. I don't even care much about the plot. Plus visually it's beautiful.) Thank you for watching! Happy Sunday!!
@@RoadReads I agree! I love these characters and the humor! I watched one season of Murders and am loving it. It’s living up to all the hype. Not only do I have a lot of books to read now but a lot of shows to watch too! 🤣 I will never be bored. Happy Sunday to you too! 🌷
I used to live in Hall Green, Birmingham, England and walk around Moseley Bog and Sarehole Mill, the childhood playgrounds of JRR Tolkien, who lived nearby. The site inspired the 'old forest' in The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings - when I read the books I imagine myself back in that magical area.
You are SO LUCKY to have lived there!! I'm very jealous!!!!
I could not be persuaded to continue on with DQ. Someone said, ‘the last chapter makes it worth it’… and my eyes nearly rolled back into my head. Ha! I’ve been more convinced DQ might be over-hyped, and I’m perfectly content to be a person who shelved it. Too many other wonderful books to enjoy in this short life!
I hear you, Margot, and largely agree! 😁
Lady Hardcastle is delightful! Your comments about LOTR makes me want to listen to them. I have read them but have not listened. Have a great weekend, Susan!😎
The audio of LOTR (so far) has been so much fun!
I'm looking forward to Lady Hardcastle.
Happy Sunday!!
I picked up Still Life by Louise Penny from a little free library in December. I had heard her name often but didn’t think I’d like to read mystery, wow was I wrong…I loved her style of writing. I love the character building, setting and conclusion. And yes, the abyss has opened. I like to read in order so here I am still reading Louise Penny in March. I have read middle grade March the last few years but haven’t found anything I am interested in for this year. 😊 some Mark Twain might fill that need. I am in the mood for sci fi but again nothing is reaching out to me.
Penny is an excellent writer!
Happy March reading!!
Hey Susan! I want to be able to say I have read Middlemarch but I ‘m struggling so I’m with you. We can do it and finish the other half of a book we don’t want to read but have to! 💪🏻😅😂 In French it’s Don Quichotte, it’s funny to see how it’s translated to English… Have a great Sunday!
Happy Sunday, Julie!!
Good luck to us, come what may for your Middlemarch and my Don Q!
Susan! I'm so glad you're enjoying LOTR!! I totally get what you mean about enjoying the book up until the adventure starts haha. I'm actually not a fan of action sequences, so I prefer slow paced, quiet fantasy. (It's probably why I prefer older fantasy to newer fantasy. Maybe other classic fantasy would work for you too 🥰). I'm SO excited that you want to dive into Tolkien's life!!!! I'm containing myself not to say anything because I love throwing Tolkien facts at people 🤣 But I won't spoil your experience in getting to know him 😆
It makes sense that you felt that the book was incomplete, because Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings as one book, but the publisher split it into a trilogy because a single tome was too long. Some of my favorite things about LOTR happen in book 2, but book 3 is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE!
Haha omg I would tell you to DNF Don Quijote 😅 Book 1 totally counts. I think I read like ten chapters and considered that it was enough to get a sample of it 🙈. To be honest I prefer knightly medieval literature to post-medieval satire about knightly medieval literature 😝
What you said about Don Quixote!! 😂😂😂
When I finish the LOTR trilogy, you’re going to be my Tolkien resource for sure. But for right now, I’m just a LOTR novice and loving it!
@@RoadReads I’ll gladly be your Tolkien resource haha! 😍
Definitely keep going with The Two Towers!!! 😅 I'm so glad you're loving it!! Call The Two Towers and Return of the King your mammoth.
I'm mood reading....
ENJOY your MOOD reading, Penny! I'm right there with you!!
I'm in a weird headspace right now, so it's history for me at the moment - Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir. LOTR is so amazing, each book is equally wonderful! Just wait until you meet Eowyn!
p.s. ditch don!
History/biography is always a great go-to, so ENJOY! :)
LOL!!
I haven't seen those videos where people react as they're reading a mystery and try to figure it out, but I do think it's a great idea! I did think about doing videos as I read something, then piecing them together but haven't done it yet!
I’m going to give it a try soon!
@@RoadReads I think you would be great at that Susan
Just started Mary Dearborn’s biography of Carson McCullers. One of the tidbits I find fascinating is regarding her mother Bebe.She had a near photographic memory and according to Dearborn “would recite the first chapter of War and Peace to whomever would listen.” Is that a copy of Peter Ackroyd’s biography of Dickens over your shoulder ? Do you recommend? Happy reading! 🥰📚
Oh to have a photographic memory and be able to recite entire chapters!!!!!
And, yes, that's Ackroyd's Dickens, but I've not read it yet. That'd be a good mammoth at some point. Just now now.
ENJOY your Sunday, Joni!!
I read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy several years ago...like ten. I did not listen, so now I'm thinking I'm might grab the audios. I watched the movies too, and loved the total of it all. Great, great literature. I don't usually participate in any of the month challenges, but I so love nonfiction November. It's about the only time I read that genre. Love your videos!
Thank you so much for watching and commenting, Donna!!
And I hope your March reading goes well, whatever it might bring!
(I'm thinking of watching the first movie in the LOTR trilogy today. But if not today, soon.)
I am participating in Middle Grade March as my main focus, but will read at least one mystery as well. I don't know what to tell you about Don Quixote - I read it decades ago - but I seem to remember that the second half had a different tone to it, so it might be worth going in a few more chapters to see what you think. And I agree with you about The Hobbit - you should absolutely read it before the Lord of the Rings.
ENJOY Middle Grade March!! And hopefully you'll be able to squeeze in a mystery!
We'll see about Don Q. - I kind of feel like it hangs over my head, so in that regard, I'd just like to get through it. Maybe it will be just be a right read at the right time to get through it.
Thank you for watching! Happy Sunday!
I will also say that Kate Howe has a video posted listing all of the mystery series she has started and I found some treasures from her list. Happy mystery month!
Thanks! I'll check it out!
🤣 I’m so happy you’re loving LOTR, and yes, it is one book divided into 3 tomes. Very tempted to re-read it all. It’s never too late to discover great books 😋 Stop reading Cervantes - if you don’t enjoy it.
I’m deep in mammoths. Just finished Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. I reckon you’d like Hobb’s writing and character development (start with Farseer - Assassin’s Apprentice - disregard title, doesn’t reflect on the story). Toying with re-reading Middlemarch. Christie of the month will be The Man in the Brown Suit, one of my favourites of hers. Sayers’s Lord Peter Wimsey is so good (read all of them last year). Also finally read Foster by Keegan and want to read more. What else? Secret Garden by Burnett, maybe Winds of Heaven by Monica Dickens. Have a great month!
You are so right...it's never too late to discover books! Isn't it wonderful?!
Good luck with your mammoths!! I'm cheering you on.
Happy March reading!!
Oh gosh I really loved Evil Under the Sun- and ha ha how old Poirot lives! He’s eternal! Ha ha ha at end of Fellowship of the Ring. The best is the two towers but it obviously doesn’t end the story. PS Metamorphosis was a great read and now I am doing Oedipus Rex and Ulysses which the later doesn’t really tell me anything about the Odyssey to me but I just started (in section 3 so May not finish in March!)
I’m looking forward to The Two Towers!! 💍😁
Enjoy your ancient classics!!
Have you read Poirot’s last book ?
@@RoadReads I do not think I have! Would be fun though
Oh no. The last Poirot book is 😢
So close with Don Q, I'd be tempted to audio book it, maybe it's available free of charge or library loan. I think I should read something I own this month. Although a younger member of my family is acting in Love's Labour's Lost so I want to read that before I go to see him in Stratford!
How cool that you have a family member performing at Stratford!!! ENJOY!!!
(We'll see about Don Q. hmmm. I'm so divided.)
So glad you’re enjoying LOTR, I just love those books so much! I am currently reading through the Inspector Gamache series by Louise Penny. Is it blasphemy to say I believe I am enjoying them more than Agatha Christie?
Penny is such a great writer! I think I'm on book 4 or 5 in the series. So maybe I should read the next of hers this month! And is it blasphemy??? Hmmmm. Just kidding!! Nah! Not blasphemy!
The second volume of Lord of the Rings would count for March of the Mammoths, right? And I do agree, Tolkien is of a way different league than Sarah Maas! Classic fantasy is my main go to subgenre within fantasy.
And my advice: close that Don Quixote book! I won’t even open it, lol
Yes! Save yourself, Leo, and don't even start Don Q! :) ENJOY your Sunday!
I read Strong Poison by Dorothy Sayers ,and I’m definitely picking up more of hers. I may like her character Lord Peter Whimsey even more than Poirot. 😎
I’m finishing DQ this month, but I have predominately listened. I think that’s made all the difference for me.
So I should go with the DQ audio? That just may work. Thanks for the input!
As for Whimsey, he's driving me NUTS so far. But for all I know, Poirot might have driven me nuts when I first met him, and now I love him so. :)
I have chuckled out loud listening to DQ and I’ve also seen the influence it had on more recent stories like The Princess Bride and Monty Python. Regardless, I hope you enjoy if you decide to finish it. 😊
Hearing you talk again about The Hobbit makes me smile... I can see how easy it would be to not know the other books were about the Hobbits too, the titles sound very different. I'm half way through "Gift Of The Sea" and I'm so torn.... I don't know if it's not the right time, or right book for me but I'm not liking it at all. I find her repetitive, and keeps coming back to women can go so far but always end up back in their same roll... and yea, I feel like it's a book I've read several times before. I have to re-watch your video about it. I want to work on "A Suitable Boy" for March, at over 1400 pages I'd say it counts !
Your "A Suitable Boy" mammoth definitely counts! That's almost two mammoths! Good luck!!
As for Gift from the Sea, I wish it were *just* about simplicity and solitude. Her writings regarding that really spoke to me. But the other stuff felt dated at times. If it's not speaking to you, no shame in DNF'ing! :)
Good luck with your MAMMOTH, Karen!!
I am more a mood reader, that's why I usually don't plan books, I choose what to read from my bookcase))) Now I am reading "Fairy tale" by Stephen King. I also want to read "Hobbit" in the nearest future)))
I have Fairy Tale on my shelf waiting to be read. Are you enjoying it so far?
@@RoadReads I really like it.
Hello Susan! I hope all is well with you and your family. In your video you said you wanted to learn more about Tolkien. May I suggest you go to the booktuber Prose and Petticoats? Her channel is about classics literature and fantasy (which focuses mainly on Tolkien). You can review her library of videos and learn a lot about him. As a matter of fact, her video for this week was about books and authors that Tolkien loved. I think you will enjoy what you watch. For the month of March, my family is going on vacation to Spain, so I plan on bringing A. Dumas' The Vicomte de Bragelonne. It is 658 pages so it should suit me well for air travel and downtime. Plus I really love his books. I look forward to your next video. Have a great day!
Spain?! Oh wow!! Have a blast with your family and your Dumas!!!
Thank you for the 'Prose and Petticoats' recommendation!! I will definitely check her channel out.
Thank you for watching!
An Agatha Christie 3 star is still better than most books in the world!😂😂😂love Poirot❤
You are SO RIGHT, Angela!!!
You now my mammoth is JCO, lol.
Good luck! 😁
@@RoadReads almost halfway through
Very few (if any) readers care about middle-grade March or Mammoth March or other reading challenges, so I don’t see why you would bother, especially if you’re not feeling either one. Just go with your own theme (Mood-reading March) and enjoy! I am past reading anything that I am not enjoying 😊
Mood reading is the best, isn’t it!!
@@RoadReads - Absolutely!! 💯
Don’t be so hard on yourself about LOTR! I’m clueless about it too because it’s not my genre at all and it never interested me. I’m not a middle grade reader either. By the way I took your suggestion and signed up for Hulu 30 day free trial so I can watch Fued but I started Only Murders in the Building first 😂 I already know I’m going to keep Hulu because I found a ton of things to watch. I say DNF any book that you aren’t enjoying! 😊❤
I absolutely LOVE Only Murders in the Building!! ENJOY!!! (Hanging out with those actors is just fun. I don't even care much about the plot. Plus visually it's beautiful.)
Thank you for watching! Happy Sunday!!
@@RoadReads I agree! I love these characters and the humor! I watched one season of Murders and am loving it. It’s living up to all the hype. Not only do I have a lot of books to read now but a lot of shows to watch too! 🤣 I will never be bored. Happy Sunday to you too! 🌷
Dump “Don Quixote.” You’ve read Riley Sagar - you’ve suffered enough 🥺!
Oh, fangs1972, I have suffered enough!! LOL!!!!!