vivdunstan

Have booked me an online ticket for Oxonmoot 2025 in September. Buying early because I can get a chunky early bird discount. I also get a discounted online ticket as a Tolkien Society member. I have been watching Oxonmoot online, mostly on catchup after, since they offered streaming in 2020. They are very very good at doing the technology side of things, and it works extremely smoothly. And there is always a fascinating range of talks and events to enjoy, even at a distance, and even if like me watching it potentially months later! Anyway booked.

I'm rereading Lord of the Rings, starting with Fellowship. And gobbling it up. Until I got to the Council of Elrond chapter, which was estimated by my Kindle to take 45 minutes of reading. To be fair I was extra sedated at the time, so this was even more of a mountain to climb than usual. But I can also remember young me, e.g. teenage years and earlier, boggling at this lengthy over-wordy section of the book.

I'm now nearly through it, and will press on quickly with the rest. At the same time, I'm looking forward to Oxonmoot in a few weeks, the Tolkien Society annual convention in Oxford. In recent years it has offered online viewing too, watching live as things happen, and later on catchup through Christmas. I sleep through most live talks, so find catchup invaluable. And yes, I have another online viewing ticket, bought very early on, when it was extra low cost, helped by my Tolkien Society member discount.

After Worldcon I have also been picking up a few treat things, as substitutes for not being in the Dealers' Hall in person this time! Today I picked up a low cost ebook version for my Kindle of Luna Press Publishing's Adapting Tolkien collection of essays from a Tolkien Society seminar. Some while ago I picked up a print copy of their Translating and Illustrating Tolkien collection of another Tolkien Society seminar’s essays.

I'd also like to pick up something decorative in my not-at-Worldcon catchup. Must resist a plush dragon, though the call is strong, and not for any dragon in particular! I may wait to see what's on offer from the dealers at Oxonmoot, and possibly pick up something Tolkien-y. Though going to browse the Weta Workshop site just now might not have been my best move! Not just Lord of the Rings and Hobbit stuff, like a balrog, Smaug and even Radagast* (I'm telling my husband, very unsubtly, about that last one, given my birthday soon!). But they also sell other great things, including a scene from the Escher-like castle, and Sir Didymus and Ambrosius, all from The Labyrinth movie. Also Hoggle and Ludo figures ...

* I greatly disliked the Hobbit films of Peter Jackson. But Sylvester McCoy's Radagast was fab.

I just posted a brief review of Babel by RF Kuang on the Discord of a Booktuber I enjoy/support. Here is the non spoilery version:

Some more thoughts from me about Babel. Note I haven’t watched Christy’s video about it yet. I found it a really compelling page turner of a historical novel, raising so many important issues about colonialism. But also about language, and words, and movement of ideas. It felt almost Dickensian for much of the plot, but in a much more dynamic way than Dickens usually is. There were also academia elements that felt familiar from even Harry Potter. The worldbuilding was superb, and the characters were well defined. I really liked some of the narrative tricks, including at times looking back and foreshadowing. To get a little more into spoiler territory <REDACTED HERE>.