The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien's three-volume epic, is set in the imaginary world of Middle-earth -- home to many strange beings, and most notably hobbits, a peace-loving "little people," cheerful and shy. Since its original British publication in 1954-55, the saga has entranced readers of all ages. It is at once a classic myth and a modern fairy tale. Critic Michael Straight has hailed it as one of the "very few works of genius in recent literature." Middle-earth is a world receptive to poets, scholars, children, and all other people of good will. Donald Barr has described it as "a scrubbed morning world, and a ringing nightmare world...especially sunlit, and shadowed by perils very fundamental, of a peculiarly uncompounded darkness." The story of this world is one of high and heroic adventure. Barr compared it to Beowulf, C.S. Lewis to Orlando Furioso, W.H. Auden to The Thirty-nine Steps. In fact the saga is sui generis -- a triumph of imagination which springs to life within its own framework and on its own terms. - Jacket flap. Frodo and the Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in the battle with an evil spirit in the Mines of Moria; and at the Falls of Rauros, Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force.
Stats for nerds
2recommend
12mentions
12people
2013–2025years
17% recommend67% neutral17% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- Really interesting that my favorite sci-fi book, Pandora's Star is in the middle of a void in the center of a large sci-fi cluster.
It explains why I couldn't find anything like it.
Also very explanatory the fact the Tolkien's The Two Towers is right by its side, because I also love that book.
And now I'm already downloading the other "outliers" close to Pandora's Star.
- Such lovely, whimsical paintings. Tolkien's work is such a gift to the rest of us. I recall picking up The Two Towers in 6th grade and was totally hooked by the first sentence.
My 6th grade teacher had been reading "The Hobbit" to the class a page at a time, and was shocked to discover me reading TTT. Of course, I didn't know it was a trilogy at the time.
- This is not entirely correct. The hobbits were very good with slings and spears and bows according to Tolkien.
Before the events of The Lord of the Rings, hobbits maintained a tradition of archery and other martial skills, partly due to past conflicts such as the Battle of Greenfields (1). By the time of the Scouring off the Shire, Merry, Pippin, and other veterans of the War of the Ring organized quickly taking up arms. According to the appendices, they managed to eliminate nearly two-thirds of Saruman’s invading force , displaying both tactical coordination and surprising courage. (Treebeard also notes this in The two towers) It’s a powerful reminder that, in Tolkien’s world, even the humblest people are capable of heroism when defending their home.
- My father’s philosophy textbook from university (A Modern Introduction to Philosophy, edited by Arthur Pap and Paul Edwards, 2nd ed., 1965). As a young teenager, I leaned on it to argue to my mother that God did not exist and therefore she should stop forcing me go to Mass with her
When I was 15, I went to the library of the nearest university, and stumbled upon a book - IIRC, it was Vickery’s The Literary Impact of The Golden Bough (1973) - which introduced me to Algernon Swinburne’s The Triumph of Time-and from there I discovered I liked many more of his poems
When I was 11, I read a large chunk of The Lord of the Rings - I got bored near the start of The Two Towers, switched to reading the chapters of The Return of the King in reverse order, then gave up and to this day have never finished it. But I fell in love with the Appendices
- "The Algorithm Design Manual" by Skiena to prep for algo interviews, in case hiring picks up again.
"The Two Towers" by Tolkien, I last read them in high school and wanted to revisit Middle-earth.
"Python Distilled" by Beazley - I'm using it to iron out some of my knowledge gaps with the language. It's well-written and informative!
- The other books reviewed in the NY Times:
* The Two Towers, by Donald Barr (I don't know of an Auden review):
http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/01/02/11/specials/tolkien-t...
* The Return of the King by Auden:
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/01/02/11/s...
Also, this website claims to have a CS Lewis review of Fellowship of the Ring, but doesn't say where it was published:
https://www.theonering.com/the-gods-return-to-earth-c-s-lewi...
Related
The Lord of the Rings
59 recommend · 277
The Hobbit
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The Fellowship of the Ring
5 recommend · 58
The Dark Tower
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The Silmarillion
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The Return of the King
7 recommend · 49
Harry Potter
55 recommend · 271
