Goodbye, hobbits
I finished reading LOTR and its appendices (spoilers follow). I reiterate: The book is excellent so long as the hobbits take center stage. The rest is fine if one already likes Beowulf and such; but I was glad when Mordor, Gondor, Rohan, and Rivendell finally dropped out of view and Frodo & Co. set about restoring peace and homeliness to the Shire, expelling the non-hobbits. (Ultimately, though, the four little heroes and old Mr. Bilbo would all depart to live out their days with elves or man-kings: some in the last chapter, others at the end of Appendix B.)
Karin doesn’t want to call our new son “Frodo.”
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Speaking of ol’ J.R.R., I also finished the fourth installment of Anthony Powell’s Dance to the Music of Time, and it occurred to me that we might not be living in some Wild West regarding when to put a space between a person’s initials; there might be a rule, after all. Dance features a character, J. G. Quiggin, a writer, whose initials are spaced when grouped with the surname and unspaced apart from it. So, on Quiggin’s books’ covers, the name appears as “J. G. Quiggin”; but his friends (or, rather, frenemies – he’s that sort) use the familiar unspaced “J.G.” Well, they say the letters out loud, but that’s how the narrator transcribes them.
This topic interests me because I’m sometimes referred to by my initials; although, because of the hyphen, the letters of my name shouldn’t ever be spaced: they should always be written “J.-P.” (Or “J-P” if the writer does without the periods.) I actually prefer “JP” – less fussy – but who am I to decide my own name and its cognates?
(Not that society has made up its mind on this. Trump’s running-mate’s homepage calls its subject “JD Vance,” but the Google search result says “J.D.” Wikipedia says “JD,” deferring to Vance’s personal preference. But I wonder if the editors shouldn’t overrule him. Isn’t that what Wikipedia is for? There’s the precedent of this book cover, too.)
Karin doesn’t want to call our new son “Frodo.”
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Speaking of ol’ J.R.R., I also finished the fourth installment of Anthony Powell’s Dance to the Music of Time, and it occurred to me that we might not be living in some Wild West regarding when to put a space between a person’s initials; there might be a rule, after all. Dance features a character, J. G. Quiggin, a writer, whose initials are spaced when grouped with the surname and unspaced apart from it. So, on Quiggin’s books’ covers, the name appears as “J. G. Quiggin”; but his friends (or, rather, frenemies – he’s that sort) use the familiar unspaced “J.G.” Well, they say the letters out loud, but that’s how the narrator transcribes them.
This topic interests me because I’m sometimes referred to by my initials; although, because of the hyphen, the letters of my name shouldn’t ever be spaced: they should always be written “J.-P.” (Or “J-P” if the writer does without the periods.) I actually prefer “JP” – less fussy – but who am I to decide my own name and its cognates?
(Not that society has made up its mind on this. Trump’s running-mate’s homepage calls its subject “JD Vance,” but the Google search result says “J.D.” Wikipedia says “JD,” deferring to Vance’s personal preference. But I wonder if the editors shouldn’t overrule him. Isn’t that what Wikipedia is for? There’s the precedent of this book cover, too.)
