A Quest

It's that time of year again: time for my annual rereading of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I've been doing this since first and third grade respectively for the two books, and it's one of my favorite traditions-I-do-all-on-my-lonesome. But this year, I'm not so alone!
As many of you know, every Labor Day I throw a giant LotR marathon party. As she did with me, my mom has told my little sister that she can watch the movies as soon as she has read the books in their entirety. Obviously, Lizzie wants to be ready by the marathon, which means I'm going to attempt to READ ALL OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS IN ONE MONTH. This wouldn't be a problem if it was just me, but I'll be reading them aloud to my sister, which is significantly slower. Can it be done? Honestly, I don't know. There are three long books in the trilogy. 1,008 pages. Dense pages--42 lines and 503 words on the first full page alone. Whew! But there are also 62 chapters. Divide that in half, and you get exactly one month. So at the semi-reasonable rate of two chapters per day, it can be done! Labor Day being on September 5th even gives us some wiggle room.
If you're like me, this is starting to sound exciting. Would you like to join in our quest? We shall be the Fellowship of the Ring! Wouldn't it be cool if a whole bunch of us had read (or reread) LotR right before the marathon? If you're interested, I have created an easy-to-follow reading schedule, which you will find below. (If you're not convinced, read through the chapter titles. That should do the trick.) If the task is a little daunting, how about reading The Hobbit as a shorter prelude to the marathon?
And so we begin.

"When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton...."



The Schedule By Chapters

The Fellowship of the Ring

August 1: "A Long-Expected Party" and "The Shadow of the Past"

August 2: "Three is Company" and "A Short Cut to Mushrooms"

August 3: "A Conspiracy Unmasked" and "The Old Forest"

August 4: "In the House of Tom Bombadil" and "Fog on the Barrow-downs"

August 5: "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony" and "Strider"

August 6: "A Knife in the Dark" and "Flight to the Ford"

August 7: "Many Meetings" and "The Council of Elrond"

August 8: "The Ring Goes South" and "A Journey in the Dark"

August 9: "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm" and "Lothlórien"

August 10: "The Mirror of Galadriel" and "Farewell to Lórien"

August 11: "The Great River" and "The Breaking of the Fellowship"

The Two Towers

August 12: "The Departure of Boromir" and "The Riders of Rohan"

August 13: "The Uruk-hai" and "Treebeard"

August 14: "The White Rider" and "The King of the Golden Hall"

August 15: "Helm's Deep" and "The Road to Isengard"

August 16: "Flotsam and Jetsam" and "The Voice of Saruman"

August 17: "The Palantír" and "The Taming of Sméagol"

August 18: "The Passage of the Marshes" and "The Black Gate is Closed"

August 19: "Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit" and "The Window on the West"

August 20: "The Forbidden Pool" and "Journey to the Cross-roads"

August 21: "The Stairs of Cirith Ungol" and "Shelob's Lair"

August 22: "The Choices of Master Samwise" and

The Return of the King

                                                                              "Minis Tirith"

August 23: "The Passing of the Grey Company" and "The Muster of Rohan"

August 24: "The Siege of Gondor" and "The Ride of the Rohirrim"

August 25: "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields" and "The Pyre of Denethor"

August 26: "The Houses of Healing" and "The Last Debate"

August 27: "The Black Gate Opens" and "The Tower of Cirith Ungol"

August 28: "The Land of Shadow" and "Mount Doom"

August 29: "The Field of Cormallen" and "The Steward and the King"

August 30: "Many Partings" and "Homeward Bound"

August 31: "The Scouring of the Shire" and "The Grey Havens"