The November books list. Not too many this month. Between work and classes, I haven't really had time to read.

( The books list )

Seeing as I'm going to have to start double shelving soon now (there are about five more than fit on the shelf) if it keeps growing, I thought I'd do a count of my Tolkien book collection and break it down, adding some opinions along the way.

Edited to add:
I've got the shelf fitting all the Tolkien books now, and even sorted, with room to add a few more books. For now, at least.
The newest book is the Early English Text Society edition of the Ancrene Wisse, edited by J.R.R. Tolkien. Published in 1962. Now at the beginning of August, the newest book is a copy of .
( List of the books )
The grand total is 83 volumes by or about Tolkien and his writings
Last time I did a count, it was only around sixty or so. Can someone check my count please? I didn't think it had grown this much in the last year. LOL

The game is set up so that every correct click in the game will donate ten grains of rice to food programs at the United Nations for the hungry. Ten grains isn't much but the rounds progress quickly and if enough people play, the numbers build up. Apparently in about a month they've donated a billion grains.

The method of the game is multiple choice and the goal is to choose the correct definition for a word. Some are pretty simple, but a lot are difficult.

The url is http://www.freerice.com/index.php.

I've been starting and abandoning numerous books this month. These are the ones I've actually finished reading:

( Read The Book List... )

This popped up in my inbox this morning and was too good not to share.

( How To Give A Cat A Pill )

Amusing, annoying and addictive.

Story three in the series is making some progress again. After nearly three months where I couldn't seem to get what I had in my head on paper, I added a couple hundred words to it today. One of the problems with the series is that I have to try and figure out why I did things in the earlier stories, such as the break-in. At the time I needed an excuse to keep the characters together. Now I'm trying to figure out who it was that was behind the break-in and developing surveillance.

Then I need to sort out what the characters should do about it.

Just got back from seeing the movie. WOW!

The costuming was great, the scenery and sets were incredible. As was the music. There were some really well done sequences and speeches such as the one she gave before the army. The special effects were good too, and not overdone.

No massed armies/battle scenes which was a nice change for a historical epic. Just the massed ships. I thought the end of the storm/naval battle was well particularly well done.

I can't say much on the historical accuracy as it's not an area I'm overly familiar with however, but I don't think it was too far off.

Now I've got to find the first Elizabeth movie and see that.

I also found out today that there's a movie of The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper. I remember liking those books a lot, although it's been years since I read them. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see that one as well.

I mentioned a while ago about the poetry contest. Well, I went ahead with the anthology and the book arrived today.

I've been doing a fair amount of reading this month.

September:
( The books )

I've gone back to working on the third story in "In The Open". For some reason I couldn't get anywhere with it for a while, but I'm starting to make progress now, if slowly.

I've written another of the arda100 stories. It can be found here: http://community.livejournal.com/arda100/6062.html

August Monthly Book List

( August Monthly Book List )

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,22261278-5012895,00.html

Some of these have to be read to be believed.

I wrote a new article for the site Bits of News. This time it was on the new Etruscan tomb discovery. The article is at: http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/5971/.

Got this from shirebound.
<td>Pholph's Scrabble Generator

My Scrabble© Score is: 12.
What is your score? Get it here.</td>

<td>Pholph's Scrabble Generator

My Scrabble© Score is: 13.
What is your score? Get it here.</td>

Results for both the names I use.

Found while doing my daily search for "Early History News":

Archaeologists Recreate Ancient Irish Beer
IndiPRWire
Billy Quinn and Declan Moore, two archaeologists with Moore Archaeological & Environmental Services (Moore Group) in Galway, believe that an extensive brewing tradition existed in Ireland as far back as 2500 BC. In an article to be published in Archaeology Ireland next month, they detail their experiments and research into the enigmatic site that is the fulacht fiadh...
http://www.indiaprwire.com/pressrelease/environmental-services/200708104056.htm

I couldn't help but think of Methos when I read it.

July:

( The list of books )

I've written another article for "Bits of News". This one's on the new discoveries at Alexandria. If anyone's interested, the URL is: http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/5895/.

I've been asked to write for the online magazine . I wrote my first article today on the discovery of Scone Abbey which was announced this morning. The article is at, if you're interested: http://www.bitsofnews.com/content/view/5876/