The Lord of the Rings Reading Logs 4

I've started on The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings, Part 2 by J.R.R. Tolkien. It pretty much continues from The Fellowship of The Ring and they even continued the page count. Book 3 (the three books are divided into 6 parts) starts on page 413.

    The plot according to the back of the book: The Company of the Ring is sundered. Frodo and Sam continue their journey along down the great River Anduin — alone that is, save for a mysterious creeping figure that follows whenever they go.
    My copy is the HarperCollins 2020 edition. If you haven't read The Fellowship of The Ring, there is a synopsis in the beginning of the book which I thought is kind of nice for people who forgot what they read in the previous book. (The other logs: logs 1, logs 2, logs 3)

Here are my thoughts on the first part of The Two Towers with spoilers.

01 - I really like what Aragorn said in respond to Gimil's, "His foresight failed him." "The counsel of Gandalf was not founded on foreknowledge of safety, for himself or for others. There are some things that it is better to begain than to refuse, even though the end may be dark." (page 441)

02 - Everyone here chants or sings and I should expect this and yet I'm still find these a bit annoying. I don't know. I guess I have less patience for them than the first book.

03 - What's with Gimli and Lady Galadriel? Does he have a thing for her? Why does it sounds like he worships her? Since I didn't finish reading, I suppose there is some explanation later on but it's still weird since they seems to not have known each long but Lady Galadriel does have some hypnotic powers.

04 - Evilly - I find that word a bit silly but they used it in speech. I didn't mark the page but I remember something like, "He has gone evilly" - doesn't it sound a bit, I don't know, childish? I guess I expected more of a sophisticated language spoken by these people. So I'm nitpicking even though it was used only twice.

05 - I like Treebeard and the Ents, tree people they are called. His people are not into rushing through things. "I almost feel that I dislike you both, but do not let us be hasty." (page 463), Treebeard to Merry and Pippin.

06 - Silly me, I thought Sauron and Saruman are the same person but no, it's two people. I guess since they just mentioned them at the same time and didn't elaborate much, that might have made me confused.

07 - I think I prefer to witness Treebeard and the Ents with Merry and Pippin fighting the Orcs and Saruman's men than Gandalf and Aragorn and company's battle with the Orcs. (I did enjoyed it when Gimli and Legolas competes who can slay more orcs.) So maybe Merry and Pippin doesn't do much fighting but I like to see how the Ents fight since they are like giants. But we do get an account of what happened from Merry and Pippin which is still a second-hand report. I suppose the book would be longer if readers get to witness every single event in the book.

Have you read The Two Towers or the entire The Lord of the Rings?

Do Blogs Need Readers?

Just some thoughts on being a blog reader.

01 - Do blogs need readers? The answer is probably no because a blog can exist without readers. But why would you create a blog if not for someone to read it and respond to it? Long-time bloggers, new bloggers, they all want readers, right? I know I do because I don't want to be talking to myself on my blog (which I probably am most times.) So I welcome readers. I welcome comments, good or bad, long or short. Getting responds/comments is the best thing about blogging. It shows we're not posting in vain.
    
02 - Maybe after blogging for so many years, I'm too lazy to work on building an audience and I'm tired of trying to get readers to come to my blog. Often, I find having hundreds of readers versus just a few, makes little difference. Or maybe I don't care as much as I used to or maybe I'm just lazy.
    
03 - Often times I find most bloggers fear losing readers especially when they go on a hiatus/blog break. I have the same fear but then again, I go on a hiatus every week. But I do understand why some bloggers apologize for their absence or lack of posts when they do go on a hiatus. Readers can forget about your blog if you don't post regularly but I believe as long as you're blogging and as long as you're commenting on blogs, you will have readers. But then again, that might be foolish thinking. Readers can come when they want to. Readers can leave when they want to. No one's in control of readers except readers.

04 - I really like the 'you comment on my blog and I return a comment on your blog' method of blogging but I don't think you have to comment for the sake of returning a comment and I don't think you should match (the amount), comment for comment either. I hope that people return comments because they sincerely want to and not because they are obligated to do so. And sometimes it's just nice to return comments.

05 - I'm a picky, moody reader who habitually doesn't leave comments even when I want to. If I don't comment, it's not because I've stopped liking your blog. There are times I write comments and then delete them without posting them for reasons I don't always know. I think most times, I say irrelevant things unrelated to the post I'm commenting on or perhaps I think what I say might offend the blogger. I have lots of excuses for not leaving a comment but most of them are frivolous. Sometimes I think whatever I say means very little.

06 - I don't know why a reader would just stop coming around. A few reasons that I can speculate is I didn't comment on their blog or I didn't comment enough on their blog or I offend them somehow (I'm too timid to say anything offending but who knows what can offend someone) or they have forgotten to come by or simply they are no longer interested in what I post. I can go on and on but who needs a reason to stop doing something?
    
07 - What keeps me from being a loyal readers is readability, content and if something offends me. If I have trouble reading your blog, it's likely I wouldn't return a second time. I'm sorry to say white or color text on black or dark background has been hard for me to read so I avoid blogs set like that but once in a while, I'll attempt to read blogs with this setting but not a lot. I also find if your header or  blog background is too jarring for my eye, I don't visit as often either.
    If what you post (your content) doesn't interest me or if you talk about things that I prefer not to read about, then I don't come back. So maybe my interests are pretty narrow but I often find most blogs I read don't just post about one thing so I always find something that interest me. Being a loyal reader shouldn't require hard work to get interested in your content.
    There has not been a blog that offended me yet (not that I can remember). There is a blog or two that has a header that I find, not offensive, but maybe a bit on the not family-friendly side. I'm a prude, I suppose. If you curse (use profanity) on your blog, I have no issues with this which I suppose it's contradicting to being a prude but cursing is sometimes required when talking about certain things.
    I don't want to say I'm a loyal reader because I don't always comment, I don't always return visits and I don't always remember what I had said on a blog but once I like a blog/blogger, I'll stick to them until they stop blogging or until they decide to change their content to something I don't like.
 
Do you think blogs need readers? If you're a blogger, do you try to gain readers or do you let fate or whatever decide for you?

May Books & Shows

I don't want to say May was a stressful month but it was but mostly from work but let's not dwell on that. Does anyone else feel like time moves way too fast these days but still you got nothing done even though you keep doing things?
    I have started on The Lord of the Ring (read the logs here, here and here) but I won't say much about it here until I finished. I did read more than two books and saw more than one show but I'm just talking about the ones that I want. For some reason, the more I dislike a book/show/movie, the more I have to say.

Books I Read in May 2022:

01 - The Snow White Files (The Twisted Files #1) by Sonya M. Black > link
What's it about: private investigators, magic, magical being, romance, mystery
[Spoilers - quite long] This mostly follows the Snow White tale: Stepdaughter Lily (Snow White) is placed under a sleeping curse (no apples involved but they put her into a glass coffin anyway) and then she is kidnapped, possibility by the stepmother, then she meets her prince (Brendan) (well, she is sorted of handed to Brendan like a piece of jewelry and that's not a metaphor) and then she wakes up with a kiss from Brendan and then she doesn't get the prince but as she is a siren, she gets to suck the life force out of people, maybe for fun, but we don't know. Lily doesn't get to choose anything or do anything really. Okay, she might have done one thing but Lorelei could have fulfill that little deed and it would still work. If we replace Lily with a cardboard cutout, it still kind of serve the same purpose.
    As I always find the prince to be the dull character in most fairytales, this is no exception. Brendan is so ordinary, he is bland. Brendan is a mage and is a former magic addict. I only know he is a former magic addict because they say so. I don't know anything about addicts but should he be doing the one thing that makes him an addict? The way Brendan uses magic constantly without any issues or hinderance or any hint that he has a problem makes me think this magic addiction is just something to add drama to a bland character.
    Then Brendan's estranged relationship with his father - it didn't seem very estranged to me. His father is quite willing to help Brendan with whatever he needs and seems like a caring father. In the end of the book, they are perfectly un-estranged without any steps in between. And Brendan also have a brother he doesn't get along with who probably have a name but I forgot but readers don't even have to remember because he is like Lily, just there to used by others and there's no brothers union or anything later on, heck, we don't even get to see the talk or be awake because he seems to able asleep in that one scene. Though they didn't mention the mother but maybe she ran off because we can't have a hero with a family member he gets along with because we might actually think he likes his family.
    Even with all this, Brendan seems bland to me. I think because his character is basically the prince character, the hero but his role could be filled by another and it wouldn't really change the story. All his conflict with his family is just bland. His last name is Hunter and he's an investigator which is mildly amusing. Not to say Brendan is a player but if he feels nothing for Lily, why did he allow her to kiss him and then cradle her like he's her lover and then goes into the arms of another woman in the same hour? Sure, we can accept that he allowed her to kiss him so that she can see there's nothing between them but I think allowing the kiss gives her hope which is a dumb way to let someone down.
    I did liked the magic even though I don't understand it. Brendan uses magic in a way that can been by others since almost everyone is a magical being, so if one to cast a spell, people will know because it creates some type of visual, or a sense or a vibe. But at the same time, it seems like he can do spells without being seen also if he keeps his hands in his coat pockets? Yeah, whatever. I guess I can understand more if I read the book again but I won't.
    What irks me is everything that happened is one siren's plan - Lorelei, Lily's aunt (also included in this plan is Lily's dwarf godfather and somehow for whatever family-drama-induced reason, Brendan's father), all because Lorelei saw it in a vision because she is also a seer. So in a way, all the characters didn't do what they want, they are forced into doing it just because of Lorelei. So whatever Brendan and company did, all the investigating, all the running around, totally meaningless. Lorelei created the problems and the paths.
    The stepmother, Melania, the villain, only wants power but she sort of tries to kill Lily to distract Lorelei and the others so she execute her plan to take over the city or the world or whatever, honestly, I didn't care. How Brendan defeated Melania easily is what interested me. Just because he almost died doing it does not mean it was a hard thing he did. Considering Lorelei is more powerful than Brendan, how can she get defeated by Melania so easily? I believe Lorelei pretended to be defeated so that Brendan can fulfill the prophesy that she saw because for whatever dumb reason, she believes her vision and doesn't want to veer away from its course no matter what.
    Stasia, the shapeshifter, Brendan's secretary/love interest is okay but perhaps they made her too smart. Yes, Brendan seems to know how to do things but there are these rules Stasia made up and Brendan follows on a regular bases. I just think she's the one who makes all the decisions and really should just be the boss.
    And the romance? I don't know why they bother with the Snow White theme since basically Snow White doesn't get her prince. I guess I don't like the cliche of bosses falling for their secretary. Stasia kept telling Brendan how they couldn't be together, yada, yada, they act like a couple anyway. Then there was the so-called 'true love kiss' which Brendan supposedly used to wake up Lily but he didn't even know her but through the miracle of spells (where they are bound, sort of like a forced marriage where the couple know each other's every emotion), he kisses her, she wakes up and slaps him because girl power and all. Later, Brendan becomes Snow White and falls into a coma but supposedly he died so that the binding between him and Lily no longer works so her kiss on him does not wake him but Stasia's kiss wakes him because it's 'true love kiss' and yada, yada, but they can't be together because it can't happen until book 2, maybe, (I didn't read book 2), this is why I hate romance, well, this romance anyway. [End Spoiler]
    Since the story is told only in Brendan's perspective, we get a one-sided retelling which I think what makes me not like the book because Brendan is boring. Now if they had added Lily's perspective, well, it might be even duller because Lily is sleeping throughout the book and even when she's awake, she isn't doing anything. There's Stasia but apparently in the next book, we get her point of view which I'll probably not read.
    Summary: It's a Snow White retelling with a slight twist and a slight mystery. This is supposed to have a sort of a noir vibe but I didn't get that but maybe because I don't read noir books but the cheesy-romance bits with the fairytale-like bits and detective bits just seems too bland. I did like the magic. And there are some typos that should have been easily corrected but they're not.

02 - Space Murder (Captain Liz Laika Mysteries 1) by Nikki Haverstock > link
What's it about: murder, co-worker-ship (or maybe friendship), travel, courts, aliens
This was only slightly fun. Why Captain Laika (the main character) keeps needing to be saved by everyone is just dumb. [This is not a spoiler as this happened at the end of chapter 2 and beginning of 3] Laika, with many years of training, experience and maybe wisdom, made the dumb decision to go to a crime scene when she is seriously injured (stabbed by a piece of fallen metal) and on the verge of fainting because of blood loss. And what happened? She fainted on the alien and her blood got all over the crime scene. Then she was framed for the murder but the evidence used to frame her was barely necessary because she did a great job of framing herself.
        Laika's character doesn't seem to have any positive attributes other than her strong will. They gave her a tragic past that involved a trial, dead parents and an ex-fiancé. In the beginning Laika is kind of out shape when she is running down the hallway to the murdered alien's room but later on, she fights (apparently she's well skilled in combat) with another woman and easily wins with no signs of fatigue. So she can be out of shape but still able to fight without any issue? That fight moment is the only moment that I consider Laika a worthy character to read about.
    Also I find it silly that Laika, after being turned down once by her superior for upgrades to repair her ship, would just forget it and do it her way which meant makeshift repairs that may or may not have caused her ship to explode. She wouldn't have been stabbed by a fallen metal if her ship had been properly repaired. But I guess the author needs a reason for Laika to be an outcast. Even her crew members are outcasts. As a captain, you are not only protecting your crew and passengers but the ship itself. She should have persisted even if they make her even more of an outcast but I guess apparently doing things her way is more important to her than her crew.
    There is a murder but do Laika and company go and investigate? Not really. They just get information from a reality tv show and some bits from other sources but they mostly don't do any investigating. I wouldn't even call this a mystery as everything is quickly revealed and we find out who the murderer is but not the mastermind behind everything because it's a first book in a series so they wouldn't want to tell us because readers needs to be annoyed (or enticed) to read the second book. I'm not annoyed enough to read the other books.
    They titled this space murder probably because the murder happened on a spaceship but most of the time, Laika and company do a lot of traveling in cars and trains but not in spaceships or involve planets or anything space related.
    And that's not a dinosaur on the cover, that's one of the alien crew member which I only realized after finished reading. I can't remember much of the other characters other than the AI/robot Eugene who is like a second background of the ship - he (I don't think he has a gender but Eugene is a male name) is the only character with brains but then again, he is a computer and most of the time, he is basically a box but Eugene has personality and is the most sensible of everyone including Laika.
    Summary: I wouldn't call this a sci-fi murder mystery as everything is uncovered quickly and there's hardly any investigation and main character, Laika, seems to be repeating her own history but having been accused of something (in this case murder) and then trying to prove her innocence (in court) with lots of talking. Even though this does have Laika and company running around and being chased and with sea monsters and space ships, it still seem rather dull for some odd reason but perhaps because Laika just isn't a smart enough character to carry out the job. Her character seems bland unless she is in danger which she is for half of the book. Eugene, the computer AI seems to be the only character worth knowing. Think of this book as a short tv show that is entertaining for a brief moment and then you forget what you saw it.

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Shows I watched in May 2022

03 - The Professor > trailer > watch
What's it about: doctors, murders, autopsies, reporters who are relentless
The professor is less of a detective and more of a medical examiner although he does has a habit of breaking and entering when investigating and doesn't always follow rules.
    It's a bit weird that the professor kept getting beat up. He's such a big guy, you would think he could have some fighting skills but he doesn't but I supposed not all detectives have to have fighting skills but in this case, it seems he really do need some or perhaps a bodyguard. His assistant, Fogle, is not any better at fighting. So doctors don't really do much fighting in their work but the professor works with the police so he is often encountering criminals and such. I don't know why he's not disfigured the way he keeps getting beat up.
    Also why the audience is subjected to two men's naked behind (one of them is the professor's) is beyond me - totally unnecessary nudity. And if you're squeamish like me, prepare to see closeups of opened body parts during autopsies. This is in Russian with English subtitles. It takes a while to get use to the language but after a while, it's easy to dismiss they are not speaking English.
    Summary: This was a good short series and the mysteries are intriguing but somehow I ended up disliking the professor more and more after each episode and I'm not sure why. Perhaps that tiny bit of romance was a bit annoying but that is outweighed by the mysteries.

How about you? How was your May? Are you having a good June?