New academic year, new project...

... as if I my plate was not full enough!
Still, this is something that I started doing and failed to complete five years ago (then, however there was no blog involved, just the reading). On this occasion, I want to succeed. Starting next 22nd September I will re-read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings for the nth time and write a blog about the experience, only that I will be reading just the part of the story coinciding with the date on which I am reading it. (September 22nd this year falls on a Thursday, just as September 22nd in the book! Isn't that sweet?) One obvious exception has to be made, otherwise I would have to spend years waiting to go on reading: the time that separates Bilbo's Birthday party and departure from Frodo's leaving Bag End will have to be read in one single day, despite the 17 years covered in these chapters. Therefore, on 22nd September I will be reading... hold, on... As I'm writing this I am reconsidering... I can start right now! After all, September 22nd only dawns six pages into the first chapter. Before that, we have the gossip in Hobbiton, the preparations, Gandalf's arrival with fireworks, and no particular details concerning time are given, only that the month is September. We have temporal references such as "That very month was September," "A day or two later," "Days passed and the Day drew nearer," (but we don't know how many days), "The next day," "Before long," "One morning," and so on. The first precise temporal reference is found almost at the end of the 6th page (page 38 in my edition): "Then the weather clouded over. That was on Wednesday the eve of the Party. Anxiety was intense." So I gather I will be reading only those three sentences on Wednesday, September 21st, 2016. I know from previous experience that this will not be the only case.

On the other hand, I will have to concentrate in one single day the rest of "A Long Expected Party", "The Shadow of the Past" and a few pages from "Three is company", until Frodo and the rest are ready to go on the 23rd. And sure enough, my September 22nd 2016 is packed! So I'll get up early to do my reading.

My reading spot, five years ago

 I don't know whether this is the case with everybody, but it certainly is true with me: re-watching a film, re-reading a book, listening again to a song which I haven't listened to for a long time, always brings me back to thinking about the person I was then and the person I am now, the people who were with me then and who are no longer here: little Wicca, Paps, Stöffel, Minus, Fanny, Johnny and Princesse. As I start my journey today, I remember how five years ago The Lord of the Rings accompanied me to Switzerland. I was attending the wedding of Fabienne, one of Matthias's nieces, Stöffel and Adi's eldest daughter. I was left alone with Luna, their cat, for a few hours and I read surrounded by the windows in the dining room, with their magnificent views on the countryside and feeling very much as if I were looking from Bilbo's windows. It was a happy evening.

The view

Luna

 I suppose I could have decided just to do the reading and not keep a blog, but this is also a way of making this experience public, sharing it with anyone who drops by. It makes me happy to start a new project and I definitely will start reading now. 


Today is a month since our lovely Princesse passed and a moon since Blusqui followed her. In the weeks before, as I took care of Princesse - Blusqui's passing was unexpected - parts of Annie Lennox's song "Into the West" kept on coming to my mind, to be more precise "What can you see on the horizon?". I took those seven words as an attack and shook my head off whenever they intruded, wanting to get rid of them, because I was not ready to say goodbye. I am never ready to say goodbye, so I will never say it, just "Till we meet again". After all, the song also says "You and I will meet again". So with this hope, I start my journey, already savouring the opening: "When Mr Bilbo Baggins of Bag End ..."