As I said, this story takes place before 'The Lord of the Rings', sixty years before, to be precise. Bilbo Baggins comes from the well-off Bagginses of Bag End in Hobbiton. He lives in his comfortable hole and is a very respectable, non-adventurous Hobbit. Some of his relations on the Took side are a bit more unexpected and thus less respectable, but Bilbo took after his father. His main concerns are the preparing and eating of food as well as smoking a good pipe when he's relaxing.

    One day, the wizard Gandalf comes to Hobbiton, looking for someone to share in an adventure. He's hard pressed to find anyone for Hobbits, as mentioned, are not fond of adventures at all for they disrupt their orderly lives. He invites Bilbo to go with him but is immediately, though politely, refused. Bilbo thinks hat is the end to of the disruption to his life, but the following day, at tea time Dwarves start coming. He is soon introduced to all thirteen of them: Dwalin, Balin (the Dwarf who went to reclaim Moria and was found dead there by the Fellowship), Kili, Fili, Oin, Gloin (Gimli's father), Ori, Dori, Nori, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur and Thorin. The poor Hobbit is running ragged trying to feed all the unexpected guests while wondering what in the world they are doing in his house. For Bilbo is fond of entertaining but he expects to always know his guests before they cross the threshold of his hole.

    After their first danger, Gandalf leads them to the Last Homely House in Rivendell, home of Lord Elrond, one of the High Elves. They are received well and spend two weeks in the Elves' company, enjoying their stay. Bilbo is so entranced, he feels as if he could live there forever. Elrond is of much help here as he is able to read their map of the Lonely Mountain, deciphering the secret entrance on its side. And then they are off again. They face goblins and barely escape with their skins on. Bilbo wanders their tunnels and there, in the depths of the Misty Mountains, next to an underground pool, he meets Gollum. He finds a ring on the ground and quickly pockets it, not knowing exactly why. With this he sets many things in motion and changes his and many other lives - it's a turning point in his career.

       The first part, once again, is dedicated to the Company, where we see Gandalf urging Shadowfax to hurry because everything is at stake. With him is Pippin, who has touched the palantir at the end of the second book. Headed to Gondor, they see its beacons are lit and a shadow passes over them. Sauron has sent a Ringwraith to Orthanc because he believes Pippin to have the ring, hence the mad dash away from it. When they get to Minas Tirith, a city that to Pippin looks as if it was "carven by giants out of the bones of the earth" Gandalf doesn't receive a warm welcome from the Steward of Gondor, Denethor. He knows about the death of his son Boromir and wanting to somehow pay off his life debt, Pippin pledges himself to Gondor. (If you remember, Boromir died trying to save Merry and Pippin from the Orcs.) Here we find out that the blood of Westernesse, of Numenor, flows through Denethor and Faramir's veins, yet it did not in Boromir whom his father loved best. He was only interested in legends and battles and wished to achieve his own glory; he was weak and selfish. His brother Faramir, on the other hand, is a wise, learned man who nonetheless was ferocious in battle despite being gentle, thus less reckless than Boromir, and who was beloved by all the Guard of Gondor. Denethor sends Faramir to Osgiliath, which has been taken over by Orcs, and he comes back seemingly dead. Only then does the Steward realize he loves his son and, wanting to save himself, he builds a pyre for the two of them. Stopped by Gandalf, with Pippin's intervention, Denethor dies and Faramir is saved. Throughout all this, Minas Tirith prepares for battle for the Orcs will attack soon.

 So, the time has come for me to read one of the most famous works of fiction in the world. (Well, depends on who you ask: Tolkien fanatics would probably tell you it is the most famous work in the world.) My first introduction to Tolkien was through movies - I cannot now recall when exactly I've seen the adaptations first, and whether it was only the first movie or the whole lot. It was on TV, so some time must have passed since the theatrical release, but I believe I was still in primary school. All I remember of it was liking Legolas. (I prefer Aragorn now, so I suppose it is true what they say about girls and these two.) But I have watched them numerous times in recent years and have come to love them dearly. And now, I've got the books under my belt too.

    As of the time of my typing this I have finished the whole trilogy. My opinion is much better for it as the books improve, and I may not be as sharp and critical as I was when I had first finished 'The Fellowship'. Having watched the movies prior to reading definitely did not help. In my opinion Peter Jackson took the best from the books for his adaptations, and anything cut from it could have been cut from the book as well, for all its relevance and the enjoyment it brings. I minded the writing, some of the characters, the pace, the way the plot was set up... But let us start slowly, before I get myself wound up.

    The first thing that I will say - and this goes for all the books as they're set up in the same way - is that I hated the division onto 'books'. Each novel of the trilogy is divided into two books and those carry different points of view. 'The Fellowship' starts off with the Hobbits: Bilbo's party, Frodo inheriting the Ring, after a decade Gandalf comes back - having been investigating the origins of the ring - to tell Frodo he must leave the Shire by the end of summer, then Frodo and Sam leaving, with Pippin and Merry assisting them on their journey, the Black Riders, The Prancing Pony in Bree, meeting Strider, setting out with him, meeting the Ringwraiths on Weathertop, then an Elf carries the wounded Frodo away to the Elves. The second book deals with Elrond's Council, the formation of the Company, setting out, the treacherous road through Moria, Gandalf's death at the hands of the Balrog, their stay in Lothlorien, Galadriel's test, setting out again with Elven boats, Boromir's madness, Sam and Frodo going on their own, the Orcs' attack. Ta-da! This works for the first novel, as the timeline is linear, but it somehow felt as if Tolkien stretched the first part so he'd have the some number of chapters as in the second. Can you tell I very much dislike the first part of 'Fellowship'?

    What don't I like? Oh boy... Well, I mentioned the writing before. As I said, I'd heard it was difficult to read and expected some tangled complexity I'd have to read several times over to get to the gist. It was not so. The writing was just - drab. I'm sorry, but Tolkien was not the best of writers. His imagination was beyond compare, to that I will admit anytime, but I stand behind my words that his writing ability does not match up. In a lot of places I felt as if I was reading history, geography and anthropology texts in turn, with such dry writing and handing out of information. I was wondering what of that I was supposed to memorize, as if I was going to be quizzed on it later. Another thing that bothered me were the endless poems/songs. The Hobbits are always singing, they have a song for every occasion: bathing, eating, walking, traveling... I was beyond sick of it by the time I finished the book. I did say before that the songs are a part of the creation of the world, each culture has their own, but they did not help this book's case. I liked the intention, but the execution not so much. (And don't forget Tom Bombadil, he did get them out of some nasty situations, but I found him annoying.)

    I am not a fan of Russian writers. I never read Dostoyevsky, for example. I started Tolstoy's 'Anna Karenina' but abandoned it half-way through because of its overlong and tedious paragraphs upon paragraphs of descriptions. Well, Tolkien put me to the test by doing the same thing here: describing every nook and cranny, every tree and blade of grass, every person and their garb, the landscape, the weather, the endless miles the characters walk... I persevered, I somehow did (maybe I should try Tolstoy again), but I did not enjoy it and it served only to pull me out of the book. I know its intention was to ensnare you, to make the world so vivid you'd almost believe you were walking with the company, but for me it just had the opposite effect. I'm sorry to the late Tolkien and to all his passionate fans, but this didn't work for me. I appreciate the sentiment and the intention but it fell clunky and overlong. I could somehow see that he was a scholar in his writing, with all this attention to minutiae and the long-windedness. He really needed a real writer to help out and a heck of an editor to trim this down. There are so many accompanying books he's written about Middle Earth, a lot of this could have been moved into one of them.

   Children of Blood and Bone was very hyped when it came out, back in 2018. I saw it all over bookstagram, tumblr and even Goodreads was pushing it down my throat. And I caved - I bought it. I was intrigued by the premise and I really wanted to read more books set on the African continent, sprinkled with their mythology and legends. And this book has it in spades. Its sequel Children of Virtue and Vengeance, the second book in the planned trilogy, has come out as well.

    The novel is told from three perspectives: Zelie, Amari and Inan. All three live in Orisha, a country that used to have magic, with its wielders being the maji - ten tribes of them with different abilities to be correct - but now is devoid of it. King Saran - Amari and Inan's father - has killed all the maji in the Raid eleven years ago, having been burned by their power and fearful of what else they could do with. Now only the children remain - recognizable by their white hair and silver eyes, whom Saran left alive because they had not yet reached their power. Now they are known as diviners, and their lives are incredibly difficult, with having to pay enormous - and always raising - taxes just for existing, and the people helping them are being punished as well. If the taxes are not paid, they go into the stocks where they're supposed to work until they pay their debt off. But with the taxes always rising the day of freedom never comes and the slaves remain there for the rest of their days.

    I was on the hunt for something relating to bookstores or libraries when I stumbled upon this gem. The title and the cover drew me in and I assumed it would be a fluffy, cozy book to curl up to on a cold autumnal day. I was not entirely right there. The book is cozy. And it's set in a second-hand bookstore, so bibliophile points are going up. There are many references to other books. The heroine spends her free time reading as much as she can. She has book quotes tattooed on her body. And yet... there is a depth and a tragedy to this book that I did not anticipate. It made my chest constrict and reminded me somewhat of 'Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine', a book I loved a ton.

    The unnamed protagonist of the book - who is after her marriage known only as Mrs de Winter, is somewhere in Egypt with her husband and wakes from a nightmare. Thus she begins recounting the past, what led her to Manderley and what led her away from it. At the tender age of twenty-one, she was in Monte Carlo, working as a companion to a Mrs Van Hopper, an overbearing, and frankly embarrassing, social climber. There she is introduced to Max de Winter, a newly widowed Englishman who decided to get away from home for a fresh start. 

    The forty-two year old is aloof, though polite, but the young woman is instantly charmed. They sneak away, they go on rides, they lunch together - and she makes the most of Mrs Van Hopper's being indisposed due to the flu. Everything seems fun, she is finally having an adventure, not just reading about them, when Mrs Van Hopper suddenly gets better and wants to go back to America to see her daughter. Seeing the distress on her young companion's face, she tells her she's heard of her going around everywhere with de Winter and that she really shouldn't think that he loves her because he'd never get over Rebecca. Wanting to say goodbye, she goes up to Max's room but he won't let her leave and proposes marriage instead. Mrs Van Hopper warns her that she'd getting in over her head, that he won' be easy to manage, and Manderly even less so, but the words go unheeded.

    The first time she sees Manderley - Maxim's (for that's how he tells het to call him) estate - she is intimidated. She finds it beautiful but also wishes they were regular people who didn't have roles and expectations thrust upon them. The whole staff greets them (I'm reminded of Downton Abbey) and this is when she sets her eyes on Mrs Danvers for the first time - "a black figure stood waiting for me at the head of the stairs, the hollow eyes watching me intently from the white skull's face". Mrs Danvers immediately dislikes the young Mrs de Winter, who is out of her depth, unused to such large houses and unsure of her new role on the estate.