Comments on: Living in a Winter’s Dream…

By: Christopher Cook

Christopher Cook — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 07:32:52 +0000

In reply to Patty.

Hey, Patricia. Very nice to hear from you, glad you enjoyed the trilogy. Congrats on semi-retirement and your plans to travel. Yes, Prague would be a fine destination to put on your itinerary. Lovely place to sight-see. May-June and September-October are perhaps the best times; best weather and fewer tourists.

Ciao ciao,

Christopher

By: Patty

Patty — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 07:06:40 +0000

Christopher, found you while looking at Edinas work on FB. Thought I’d say hi to you, if you guys remember me, we met in San Miguel a few years ago.

I just saw The Hobbit. I know some were let down after waiting so long for it. I liked it, largely the enhanced 3D effects helped.

It did inspire me to reread the trilogy too,

Officially semi-retired I can’t wait to see more of Europe. Prague will have to be on that path

Salud. Patty

By: Christopher Cook

Christopher Cook — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 22:51:21 +0000

In reply to Gary DuTeau. I've read some of those but not all. More for the "to read" list. Thanks, Gary.

By: Christopher Cook

Christopher Cook — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 22:48:16 +0000

In reply to Sonny C.. Gollum is awfully creepy, Sonny, that’s a fact. I reckon he is intended to be, representing as he does the twisted nature of greed. It’s as if he has a bottomless pit inside himself and nothing will fill it up except for the thing he obsessively wants to possess. Like you, I especially like Tolkien’s ability to entrance us and take us along for the ride, wherever it goes. I also think he has a special talent for describing nature, landscapes, trees and flora. I love his ancient tree characters, the Ents, and their great leader, Treebeard.

By: Gary DuTeau

Gary DuTeau — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 22:09:53 +0000

In the ‘for what’s worth’ dept…While certain considerations make it settled history that “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” recognized as “the greatest history ever written in any language AND the wittiest of all English Literature, I can only recommend that Chapters 15 and 16 are a must to understand why it was immediately banned when it was released in 1776. But for the easily attainable 2nd best or greatest history, I nominate “The Conquest of Mexico” by William Prescott. This was the first best seller of American writers and he was mostly blind when he began his writing career, writing in Boston at the end of the ‘Little Ice Age’, a combined feat which us modern writers cannot and do not want to match. Prescott wrote with the same parallel sentence structure used by Gibbon and the beauty of the writing is equal to the impossibility of the feat of Cortez. I have never found another book to compare in total effect, although his ‘Conquest of Peru’ is also great, as is Ferdinand and Isabelle, for writing, but not for epic spectacle. Other great epic histories are “Peter the Great” by Robert Massey and then “The Dream and the Tomb”, by Robert Payne. Payne, who wrote “Eyewitness to History”, was there at the Spanish Revolution, met Hitler, Mao and other ‘players’ and wrote biographies of Hitler, Stalin and Gandhi. Another truly great, great history is ”The Blue Nile” by Alan Morehead: the story is quite beyond compare and spans over a century of mystery and discovery. If you buy from Amazon, be sure to get a later date hardback which has many beautiful color plates and a beautiful dust cover, suitable for framing. Morehead also wrote “The White Nile” which is not as great a story but close. After a lifetime of history reading, these are my best suggestions for long reading periods during winter…for those with the time and luxury. Add wine, tea and a fireplace and you really got it going on…

By: Sonny C.

Sonny C. — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 15:46:02 +0000

Well done, Christopher. Nice study, by-the-way. Tolkien rocks. I was especially impressed the way he can change scenes completely on the next page or even the next paragraph. Much as you did in “Robbers”. The character, Gollum, really scared me. I am haunted by him to this day. I trust him about as far as I can throw him. Oh, that’s right, its fiction, thank goodness.

By: Christopher Cook

Christopher Cook — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:58:57 +0000

In reply to Jan Collins.

Sounds like a lovely trade to me, Jan. Looking forward to the quilt!

And by the way, The Hobbit is a book you could read to your grandchildren. They would love it. And having you read it to them… well, it’s something they (and you) would never forget.

By: Jan Collins

Jan Collins — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:43:15 +0000

Hope I get around to reading some of these books. Have never read Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. In the mean time, you write and I’ll quilt. Then I will read what you wrote and you can sit in your comfy chair and (eventually)cover yourself with the quilt.

By: Christopher Cook

Christopher Cook — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 08:41:31 +0000

In reply to Fred. Muchas gracias, Frederico. Yes, you, too, can be a hobbit... no matter where you are!

By: Fred

Fred — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 02:51:11 +0000

I am so envious ! I wanna be a Hobbit ! I wanna be a Hobbit !
Excellent writing about reading…..and writing .
Enjoy your hearth.But then write write write ,because I want to read read read !