i finished last night. it’s over. for twenty-one days i have lived in middle-earth. i’ve dreamed of saruman and his wolves. i’ve seen myself in hobbit holes. i’ve cried with samwise gamgee as he dumped his cooking pots into a crack of mordor. i love this book. (and, as the incredibly informative introduction in my edition told me, it isn’t three books, but rather one epic novel in three parts.)

and i can’t stop thinking: it’s the hobbits that carry the ring. the littlest people. living on a forgotten edge of the world. the small things that collapse mountains and rebuild worlds.