In the second chapter of The Princess Bride, Prince Humperdinck is ridiculous. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read The Princess Bride.
In the first chapter of The Princess Bride, we are introduced to both Buttercup and the wonderfully strange writing style of S. Morgenstern. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read The Princess Bride.
In the (sort of) introduction of The Princess Bride, William Goldman discuss the affect that S. Morgenstern’s “classic tale of true love and high adventure” had on his life, and why he just had to abridge the story for us. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read The Princess Bride.
SHIT YEAH IT’S THE PRINCESS BRIDE.
In the prologue of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien sets up the entire book, and there’s a lot of really adorable shit in here. I swear. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read The Lord of the Rings. For the last time. :: sob ::
It seems there’s quite a bit of this book left, so I’m hoping that I can squeeze another post out of these appendices. It’s more apparent to me now that Tolkien had imagined a world so large that massive parts of the story had to appear in appendices. Like, holy shit, my brain can’t even process that. THIS UNIVERSE IS IMMENSE. WHAT IS HAPPENING.
This is, honestly, not something that I do once I finish a series. I generally just move on to the next series or one-off within a few days, but The Lord of the Rings is a unique book. A whole lot of background and ancillary information is in these appendices. Actually, that’s just what I’m told. I don’t actually even know what they talk about. OMG SPOILER FREE FOREVER.
I never properly got a day after finishing Harry Potter to have people send me fandom-created brilliance so I could see what I missed out on. I don’t want to diminish what I’ve read before for Mark Reads, but finish The Lord of the Rings truly feels like a gorgeous, beautiful journey, and I felt just as sad/weepy during the ending as I did when I wrote that ridiculous play about the ghost Hogwarts Express. (No, for real, I wrote that in between work at my old job, and, at one point, I was crying so hard I had to leave the office and go walk around the block.)
In the ninth and final chapter of The Return of the King, the hobbits settle down in the Shire after a long and chaotic journey, but the sadness is far from over. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to finish The Lord of the Rings.
In the eighth chapter of the second book of The Return of the King, no. No, what are you doing? This book was basically over, Tolkien. What do you think you’re doing to me? If you’re intrigued by this, then it’s time for Mark to read The Lord of the Rings.
