10 Nov 2017

First Line Fridays #14: A Hobbit, A Wardrobe and A Great War




So I was planning to do another book, but then I saw the note about Veterans Day (or Remembrance day, as its called in the UK), which is of course tomorrow. Finding a book is a struggle, as I don't read a lot of stuff set during the World Wars. A couple of novels this year, and I have been approved for one releasing in January. 

I just don't fancy doing one of them: something set during another war in the far distant past? In the end, I've chosen to use a non-fiction title I listened to on Audiobook a few months back about the experiences of the famous authors J.R.R Tolkien and C.S.Lewis in the First World War, and its impact on their lives and writings.

Although I disagree with the subtitle of the book and some of the claims made in it .C.S.Lewis if anything, I supposed to have lost his faith during the War, far from having it strengthened, and the two men did not even meet until 1928. 
 Yet, Joseph Loconte does a good job making the subject matter interesting: and bringing to light some interesting passages in the Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings which reflect the experiences of the authors in that terrible conflict.  Its even believed that Tolkien penned some of his early work set in Middle Earth during the conflict. 




My passage today does not come from the actual first line, but from part of the introduction to the book.
"Both authors have been accused of escapism. Their choice of literary genre, the romantic myth, was by some estimations "essentially an attempt to liberate themselves from the ugliness and moral impasse of the modern world". Yet neither Tolkien nor Lewis took their cues from works extolling escapist fantasies or the glorification of war".

Readers, I hope will also forgive me for including a meme with another quote, appropriate to the commemorations, spoken by the character of Faramir, Captain of Gondor in the Lord of the Rings; The Two Towers. 



Join me again next week, and click the meme below to see what books other members are including this week.

https://hoardingbooksblog.wordpress.com/tag/first-line-fridays/


9 comments:

  1. “The Sun skimmed the horizon in the eastern sky, bathing the far hillside in a pink morning hue.”
    — The Heart of an Agent by: Tracey J. Lyons

    I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I only have this book with me: My first line (well, really first two lines because they are so good) is from Runaway Romance by Miralee Ferrell:

    “Ann Stanway sat in her television producer’s office trying to still the butterflies doing battle in her belly. No, not butterflies, more like buzzards.”

    ReplyDelete
  3. My first line is from a book I'm going to be reading soon Hope Travels Through by Loni Kemper Moore.....

    The first time Dad picked me up at the Evansville airport in his 1976 Corvette, I should have recruited a fairy godmother. Not that I believed in such things.

    Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  4. This book sounds super interesting. I love both of those authors, so I will have to check this text out. In fact, I studied C.S. in Oxford, England when I was in college. Happy Friday!

    ReplyDelete
  5. My first line: My first-ever night away from home, I struggled with sleeplessness, having abruptly left with two other Amish girls. From: The Proving by Beverly Lewis.

    perrianneDOTaskewATmeDOTcom (no google account)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Happy Weekend!

    BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
    SEPTEMBER 1943

    Esther's father halted the lazy swaying of the porch swing. - While We're Far Apart by Lynn Austin

    ReplyDelete
  7. An intriguing title! I'm not a big non-fiction reader, but this does sound good.

    I'm currently reading The House on Foster Hill by Jamie Jo Wright, which looks like it's going to be full of suspense. Here's the first line:

    Death had a way of creeping up on a soul, and Ivy Thorpe determined that when it visited her, she would not be surprised.

    And I'm sharing from The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay over on my blog.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Happy Friday!

    I'm showcasing The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck by Bethany Turner on my blog this week. So, here I will share a line from the book I'm currently reading, Deadly Proof by Rachel Dylan. I'm just starting chpt. 15, so that's the line I'll share:

    "On Monday morning, Kate heard her email ping and saw the message was from the Northern District of Georgia. Her heartbeat sped up as she clicked to open it."

    ReplyDelete
  9. Interesting book! My current read is An Inconvenient Beauty by Kristi Ann Hunter
    Eton College, Berkshire, England, 1797
    "The line between boy and man was never murkier than when a father died too soon, leaving his son to walk through the foibles of youth while shouldering the responsibilities of adulthood."

    ReplyDelete

I like to hear from readers, so feel free to leave a comment!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...