This Was So Much Fun, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                        What a perfect antidote, after that Tess Hadley book.

                                         Let me start by saying I never was a Tolkien groupie.  I read, and wish I had kept, the original Ballentine paperbacks, whose covers this one emulates, when everyone was reading this, back in the late Sixties, when I was still a teen.  They were fantastically popular with boys.

                                         Several decades later, I re-read the trilogy again, and while it did not make me want to write or learn the language of Middle Earth, I appreciated the work more this time around, and, let me tell you, if you think Peter Jackson's adaptation is perfect, then a reading of the original is required, at once.

                                          Now, lately, strange things have been popping into my mind.  You have already heard about the Lenormand cards, which I am studying gradually, and will not reveal more till I am ready, so along came my memories of "Bored Of The Rings," its strikingly clever cover, and the fact that I never, ever, read it.

                                          Well, that had to be corrected, at once.  So, David tracked down a copy of this online, and I settled back.

                                           Books seldom make me laugh, but this one did.

                                           But I have to wonder--if read today, how many non-Baby Boomers would get some of the word play?  Like the "Hartz Mountains?" Or, my favorite, the "Zasu Pitts?"

                                           Best of all, the whole thing is done in only 160 pages.  Good as Tolkien is, I thought it could have been edited.  There are very few works of literature that don't need some work.  To wit, I offer, "Atlas Shrugged."  Need I say more?   I won't!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                           I love how the cover replicates the Ballentine original, which always formed my concept of what Middle Earth was, which is why Jackson's films never quite worked for me.  But one thing the parodists fail to make good on, and I was surprised by this, is Gollum, who I just loved in the original.  Here, he is called "Goddam," and there is not a bit of humorous word play about "the Precious," like there is in Tolkien.  The original was a hoot, and Andy Serkis played this to pitch perfection in the films; for me, he was the best thing about them.  But while "Goddam" makes a number of appearances, the authors never come up with a good spiel for him, and I was sorely disappointed.

                                         But, between its brevity, and how it is played up, "Bored Of The Rings" is a laugh riot.  However, I will say, to totally get it, you have to have read the trilogy, and I know, for those who haven't, that could be a bit daunting.

                                          The rewards, however, are so sweet, at the end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!