LotR -- Book 1 - Chapter 01 - A Long-Expected Party

[Thinlómien]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

Of course, there are other explanations possible - maybe there is some sort of dichotomy here in that there may actually be tons of books around in the Shire, but they are all family chronicles. Maybe people also don't mind Hugo Bracegirdle not returning books that much if they don't read so much themselves. (What else could these be if not belles-lettres? Books about herbs? Treatises on pipeweed? - I bet that exists! - Atlas of mushrooms. That kind of stuff...)

This is actually interesting and made me think of this new thread I saw yesterday: Smaug Is Not a Bookworm.

Boro, you mentioned Gandalf's fireworks. They are a lovely detail and a good way to introduce fire as Gandalf's element and thus sort of foreshadow his use of fire in The Ring Goes South and the revelation that Gandalf is the bearer of Narya. (Side note, do you guys think Gandalf was able to make such fancy fireworks thanks to the ring? ) This would be a topic for a thread of its own, but I just thought about how fire is quite closely associated with Gandalf the Grey but Gandalf the White doesn't seem to have any special connection with the element. I wonder if it's an intentional choice on Tolkien's part, or if there is just no space for Gandalf's "fire magic" later in the book.