Book Burn 2016 #1: Lord of the Rings

Distraction is an enemy. Possibly my fiercest and most resilient.

I have habits I like. I have habits I hate. Most of the habits I hate - like binge-watching shows on Netflix or playing video games - are, like many things in life, just fine in moderation.

Sometimes I forget that I love to read, and instead I play Fallout 4 for days or just keeping slamming the "Play Next Episode" button for West Wing or Supernatural or whatever series I'm letting my inner completist go crazy on that week.

Reading, to me, is like a nutritious, filling, healthy gourmet meal. Video games and TV shows (with some notable exceptions) are junk food. And that's fine. But I need more real food than garbage.

This year, I wanted to combat my tendency toward distraction and one of my tactics was to keep a "Book Burn 2016" list. The list is on a legal pad. The pad is snapped to a clipboard and hung on my home office wall.

Now, I don't think reading is something to brag about. But, I have to admit that while I don't think reading is something to brag about, my feelings don't always agree. I figure if stroking my ego helps battle this distraction, then I'll stroke like, well, like I do it professionally.

So, I'm going to review every single graphic novel, prose novel, nonfiction book, short story collection, poetry book, or play I read this year.

I was originally going to do this as one long post at the end of 2016. Like, I would just keep adding to the post and saving it as a draft until the end of the year. Yesterday, a good friend asked why the hell I would do something like that. Who would want to read a post that long of Hulk knows how many reviews?

So, I'm not going to do that. I'll review them one-by-one. And many, like today's, will hardly even be reviews. Just a couple paragraphs. A few thoughts. A couple jokes. And a picture. Because pretty.




The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

A few years ago I decided to start a tradition of making Lord of the Rings the first thing I read every year. On one hand because these were the books that made me realize I wanted to be a writer. On another, because I just wanted a tradition. I don't have many; at least not deliberate ones. You could say I have a "tradition" of losing socks and scissors, but that's not something I really schedule.

I don't have a precise count, but at this point I must have read Lord of the Rings beginning-to-end 6 or 7 times. Every time I get excited as the Fellowship approaches the gates of Moria, easily my favorite part of the trilogy. Every time I tear up at Sam's final quote. Every time I tell myself I won't skip the songs this time and I get maybe a third of the way through Fellowship before I say, "Fuck this, I'm skipping the songs." Every time I see something I didn't see in a previous reading. This time I realized that Sauron is, actually, the bad guy.