Saga Book Club: The Saga of the Volsungs Review

This is my review of the June Saga Book Club pick, The Saga of the Volsungs, which is also known as Völsunga Saga. This Saga was written anonymously, and the translation that I read is by Jesse L. Byock - it's easy to read and modern, unlike the William Morris and Eiríkur Magnússon, which is much more archaic (though that does add a certain charm to it too).

In this video, I talk about the appearances of Odin, Women and Witchcraft, things that inspired or have parallels with J.R.R Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, revenge and the theme of inescapable fate.

The Best Books I read in 2021

While I didn't read as many books as I had hoped to in 2021 in fact I changed my goal from 75 to 50 to 45 to 40 to 30 and still failed lol! But everyone always says its quality over quantity and I must admit that I did read a few really great books, so without further ado here are the 8 books that I loved in 2021.

Reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time: Part 2 - The Two Towers 👁️

Just a heads up, this review is rather chaotic…

Reading The Two Towers curiously took me longer to read than The Fellowship of the Ring, not for any book-related reasons but for the fact that I hit a bit of a weird patch. You know the kind of mood where you can’t seem to focus on anything, you try and watch TV, but you're just not feeling it, you pick up a book, read a few sentences and think…meh…I can’t be bothered—that kind of mood.

And then, straight after that, the other kind of mood where you becomes slightly obsessed with something and think that maybe you’ve found your calling in life and you can’t focus on anything else until you come back to reality. But weird really, I get this sometimes, but it’s safe to say that I’m back to normal now.

Real footage below of me getting back to normal:

So what did I love…everything. Lol, at this point, I am such a Tolkien fangirl. I love his prose. The way he describes everything in such rich detail, except maybe Shelob, that description did make me gag slightly!

Tolkien’s whole love affair with nature and trees speaks to my soul, and I feel like the whole story could be read as a fable on climate change. You have champions of good, the elves, the men and the hobbits etc., who live in harmony with nature and then you have Saruman and Sauron agents of darkness whose dwellings are the foul centres of industry. It works as a thematic way to read the LOTR, much like Dune can be read as an anti-imperial / anti-colonial work.

Treebeard and his non-hastiness made me chuckle, and tbh I wrote an article for work about an ancient tree in Surrey called the Crowhurst Yew because I was in that whole vibe. Ents and trees are just awesome, and I love the quote from Legolas in the Fellowship when he says ‘I am at home among trees’ because I would have to agree with him; there’s just something magical and soothing about them.

As I’m on the subject of Legolas, I think I love book Legolas more than movie Legolas! He is funnier, slightly sillier and totally on the same wavelength as me, lol. Like when he can’t think of a logical way the hobbits could have disappeared, he makes up a weird story about them flying off, and when he finds them again, he cares not for how they came across pipeweed like Gimli but says ‘ I would sooner learn how they came by the wine’. Like Legolas is a whole mood, and I love him.

I think the Voice of Saruman was much better in the book than in the movie, and I am curious to see what he does next as Peter Jackson killed him off, yet in the book, he still lives! That’s a crazy difference that I really didn’t see coming, and I’m intrigued to see what he does next…though I don’t expect any good to come out of the actions of the evil wizard.

Another surprise is how the book was formatted. Of course, in the movies, we flick between all the characters all the time, so for the books to be just focusing on Gandalf and co for the first half and then the second half with Frodo, Sam and devious little Gollum was rather interesting. And I guess that will be very much the same for Return of the King as Frodo and Sam are pretty much almost there in terms of how it was in the movies anyway; perhaps there’s some other crazy stuff that gets in the way of them leaving the orc lair and getting to Mount Doom that Jackson didn’t include in the movies!

And what didn’t I like…that I cried when Sam tried to wake Frodo up ‘it’s your sam’ fucking chokes me up every time! And then he tries to get ready to go on without him. Man, tears they were streaming down my face, I feel like Fix You by Coldplay could be the anachronistic soundtrack moment that Peter Jackson just missed out on. Just imagine it, pure cinematic excellence…

Ok, I didn’t mean for this review to get quite so ridiculous but we’ll just roll with it. This is what happens when you blog without a plan. Lol what am I talking about this whole blog is unplanned, I just ramble about books, movies and random stuff and I really wouldn’t have it any other way. But, back to my main man Tolkien. He is brilliant, the book is brilliant. BRING ON THE RETURN OF THE KING!!!!

Reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time: Part 1 - The Fellowship of the Ring 💍

I have watched the movies a billion times, but this was my first reading of the first novel in the trilogy. I tried many years ago, but I found the print too small, and I would get a headache nearly immediately. I didn’t realise that I needed glasses at this point. Fool of a Took!

After I got glasses, I was then put off because I was worried that I wouldn’t enjoy the books, as if the hype of J.R.R Tolkien and the brilliance of the movies might not come through in the books. An example of this is Blade Runner and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I had watched the movie (several times) long before reading the source material and found that I hated the book, it was dull and boring, and the huge deviations from the plot that Ridley Scott had made in the film made it so much better, so so much better. Could Peter Jackson have done the same? Perhaps, was all that was on my mind, so a few more years passed until I finally picked up the book this past month.

And I can wholeheartedly say that I absolutely loved it! Much to my relief. However, a part of me felt sorrow that I hadn’t read it sooner. But I know for sure that I will re-read this book many more times throughout my life. Moreover, perhaps if I have children (very unlikely) or in my role as an Aunt to my (almost certain) future nieces and/or nephews, I will read these books to them.

The magic that Tolkien weaves is not only in the fantastical plot and the cast of characters (elves, wizards and dwarves) but also within the way he crafts the story and describes the settings. I want to visit The Shire, Rivendell and Lothlórien because of how beautifully realised they are and Tolkien’s keen love for nature really shines through in his descriptions of these places. Furthermore, It is easy to see how much work and time went into creating his middle-earth, a lifetime really and its magnificent. The scope and mythology permeate every line, and the charming (though often disliked) song interludes only add to this.

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Narratively, The Fellowship of the Ring is a solid beginning to the adventure, and it’s obvious that the trilogy was originally intended to be one whole book, and I kind of still view it that way, same for the movies; the extended editions feel like a whole mini-series rather than three separate movies.

Tonally, I love how Tolkien writes. There is a seriousness and gravity to the story, but there is also great lightness and humour, especially at the beginning; I found myself chuckling aloud at the drama of Bilbo’s dealings with the Sackville-Baggins family. Another thing that felt better in the books was the passing of time. In the movies, the fellowship’s journey doesn’t seem to last anywhere near as long as it does in the book, and that’s because those epic aerial shots in the films don’t last anywhere near as long as Tolkien’s descriptions. And rightly so, different mediums have different ways of telling a story, and a film can’t dwell on the small details for as nearly as long as a book can.

However, one thing I will say against the book is that I kind of found Tom Bombadil a bit shit. There I said it. In my opinion, Jackson did well to leave him out of the movies as he doesn’t really serve much purpose to the wider story thus far anyway (does he even come back again?). I know there’s a divide between Lord of the Rings fans about Bombadil, and I must say that I am on the side that sees him as a non-entity. Maybe that’s harsh, but I also feel in further re-reads I’ll probably skip his chapters! Perhaps, it’s his selfishness that irks me, as it’s clear that Bombadil is too wrapped up in his own life to worry about what might happen if the ring gets into the wrong hands. Even stoic and eternal Elves, ancient Ents and the majestic eagles help despite their ‘oldness’, so to have Tom Bombadil sit out the most important fight for middle-earth just exposes him as an absolute arsehole. That's the tea ☕

As for the rest of the characters, I love them all, though not equally. Samwise is so bloody wholesome, Aragorn is equally as charming and valiant as he is in the movies, but perhaps a little graver, and I have to admit that since I was like 8, I’ve had a massive crush on the character (of course, who wouldn’t when he is portrayed by the dashing Viggo Mortensen lol).

Frodo is perhaps less annoying than he is in the movies; Legolas is as cute as always and more interesting as in the movies he’s kind of just there to look cool and state obvious things. Gimli is just Gimli; Merry and Pippin are perhaps not as mischievous as they were in the movies? And Gandalf, you ruddy legend, though his ‘you cannot pass’ doesn’t hold the same gravitas as ‘YOU SHALL NOT PASS!’.

Lastly, Boromir, he’s a bit of a twat, a broken record if you will, and I must say in the movies, I preferred his brother Faramir, but of course, we won’t meet him until later in the trilogy. But his purpose of demonstrating the weakness of man in the face of the one ring is still very much pertinent and just as brilliant as Sean Bean portrayed it in the movies.

Overall, I have loved reading the first part of The Lord of the Rings, and I can’t wait to pick up the next book and continue the journey. This story is so familiar to me because of how many times I’ve watched the movies, but I equally like the surprises of how the source material differs from its cinematic adaptation.

I also feel like I’m on a journey with firm friends, and it’s lovely to read a story in such uncertain times that sees the slow and arduous triumph of good over evil. It’s a comfort book that makes me feel all cosy and warm inside, and wishing I could be reading it on a chaise lounge in the middle of Rivendell. Wouldn’t that be something?

January Books

It’s been a slow start to the year in terms of reading, but I have nevertheless enjoyed all of the books I read this month, which doesn’t usually happen!

A Handful of Dates by Tayeb Salih

I read this super short story…like really super short (it’s 5 pages!) by Salih because I fell in love with his writing style last year after reading Seasons of Migration to the North, a powerful post-colonial novel set in Sudan. Again, he manages to evoke a sense of setting and lifestyle quite vividly, even in just 5 pages! Can’t wait to read The Wedding of Zein and any other translations I can get my hands on

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

I listened to The Bell Jar on audible, and I must say Maggie Gyllenhaal’s narration is perfection. I so was immersed in the story, and I really enjoyed her intonation and how she performed this very conversational and confessional text. As for the narrative itself, wow, it was dark…and uncomfortably relatable in some places. I’ve been through some dark times in my life and the toxic thought patterns and destructive behaviour that Esther partakes in felt a bit too close to home! But overall The Bell Jar is a powerful story and is perhaps overshadowed by the tragedy of Plath herself, she, unlike Esther, succeeded in taking her own life. Is succeeded even the right word here?

The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson - Book Club Pick

Norse Mythology has interested me for years, and it’s almost ridiculous that I have only just read it now. The main and one of the only surviving collections of Norse myths! Because Vikings, like the Greeks and other “ancient” civilisations, had a largely oral tradition, it is often many years later that the stories are written down. Such was the case with The Prose Edda; the believed author Sturlusson was a Christian and writing perhaps 400 years later! This makes the reading of Edda rather intriguing…or is that just my English Lit brain firing up again…ooh authorial intent…what can I infer from this.

It’s also worth noting that this text has inspired so much from J.R.R Tolkein’s legendary Middle Earth books (fun fact many names like Gandalf and Thorin (from The Hobbit) are taken from The Prose Edda!) to the wonderful American Gods by Neil Gaiman (and its fantastic TV adaptation which is currently airing its 3rd season on Amazon Prime). And, of course, you can’t forget Marvel, which with its hilarious and playful spin on the original mythology, has made Thor, Loki, Odin and Heimdall household names.

I enjoyed dipping in and out of The Prose Edda (which was the first Book Club pick, February’s selection will be announced soon!) while bundled under a blanket with a fire crackling…on my tv screen and sipping coffee. To borrow from the Danes, reading this book has been a wonderful dose of Hygge these past few weeks.

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Let me know in the comments section what books and short stories you’ve read this month.