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Keep Alive the Memory  by Celeritas 7 Review(s)
BeatriceReviewed Chapter: 4 on 11/15/2010
Wow, this is really touching and totally reminds me of the magic I feel whenever I read the books. I honestly got a little lump in my throat towards the end of that chapter. :')

Author Reply: Yeah, Kira's starting to get sucked in, but she doesn't quite realize it yet. I still love those little passages where she's just starting to fall in love. Thanks!

VirtuellaReviewed Chapter: 4 on 11/27/2008
Hmm, I think Sandra will get into a lot of trouble about this...

The image you give of the Red Book is lovely, making it feel like a real historic artefact. I like your descriptions in general, especialyl this one:
"The sky had a greyish cast to it, which made the entire land seem half-asleep."

Author Reply: She probably will, but at least at this point she doesn't care because she still did what she wanted. If anyone else had been there she would have had to send Kira away either empty-handed or with one of the copies, and for that one moment at least Sandra believed that this was her chance to show someone else the wonderful world she knew. She didn't want to waste it with a mere copy.

I love the fleeting descriptions we have of the Book in canon, especially the handwriting which at once fits Bilbo and Frodo to a tee. It would be an amazing thing to see.

Thanks for the review, especially for the encouragement on descriptions: dialogue comes a lot more naturally to me so it's good to know I'm doing something right with the things I feel less sure of.

Agape4GondorReviewed Chapter: 4 on 10/29/2008
Wouldn't it be absolutely incredible to read Tolkien's first edition? I was blessed to touch one of the pages of his scribblings in Wisconsin at the Tolkien library and felt so blessed.

Kira had quite an adventure, didn't she, and she doesn't even know what is further in store for her.

Good chapter!

Author Reply: I'm burning with jealousy now, having never made it to that library (and touch is such a rare experience in museums and/or rare books & ms libraries these days!). There's just something incredibly intimate about being able to read something and know exactly who put pen to paper and wrote it, who must have touched it and gotten fingerprints and oil and other bits of biological residue on it.

Kira's incredibly lucky, though she doesn't realize it at the moment. And you're right; she ain't seen nuthin' yet!

ElentarriReviewed Chapter: 4 on 10/14/2008
Absolutely brilliant! I love this story. Please update soon :-)

Cheers

Tanya

Author Reply: Does a week sound fine? : ) I'd like to go sooner but I'm actually still on my last layer of revision (the only reason I'm able to promise regular updates at all, actually) and what with Reality getting in the way and all my buffer's starting to get thin!

Thanks for reading and reviewing!

DreamflowerReviewed Chapter: 4 on 10/13/2008
I am all afire with curiousity now! What was the mysterious business with Sancho that Kira's mother had? What was the "Falling-Out"? Why *did* the Proudfoots move to the Westmarch? Was Aunt Foxglove going to tell Kira something that her mother did not want her to know? Why did Sancho override Kira's mother about the book? And is he the same Sancho as in the Family Tree?

I have a feeling Kira's mother is not going to be very pleased with her daughter's fascination with reading that book!

Author Reply: The Family Tree Sancho got to some good-intentioned shenanigans during the Troubles (I'm not entirely sure what, but I currently imagine it involved tunnelling extra food into the Lockholes) and the name has stayed in the family ever since. (Thanks for asking; I've wanted to explain that!)

As far as the Proudfoots removing to the Westmarch, I imagine that after the postwar baby boom a lot of hobbit towns (especially Michel Delving, where I've historically based the Proudfoots) got a bit crowded. So receiving Westmarch helped with a lot of that strain and maybe the family felt it signified a move up in the world--Kira and her mother live in one of the early family homes with a lot of history to them but few amenities. Since then Michel Delving (I imagine that the western bits of Westfarthing were most affected by the new territory) and its population have been eased, but it's also left a bit of an odd feel, like the abandoned house whose thatch collapsed over the winter. I'm afraid that's due to personal preference more than anything--I grew up in a dying town and couldn't write a similar experience anywhere else.

The other questions either will be explained in time (however, a lot of time--Kira's too young to understand some of the goings on) or never get answered because they're not that important to the story. Sorry. : )

LarnerReviewed Chapter: 4 on 10/13/2008
I love that her curiosity is nevertheless driving her to learn more, and that she's gone on to Undertowers and been given the original Red Book to read! Hooray!

Now the spell has caught her as she reads Frodo's own handwriting. I wonder if she realizes just how blessed that chance is? Ah, but she will learn!

Author Reply: She definitely will learn! As someone who's dabbled (only dabbled, mind--none of this psychoanalysis stuff for me!) in graphology for literary purposes, I think that a work as powerful as LotR would only be intensified when written in the hand of one who'd experienced it.

Kira is going to find it increasingly difficult to stop now.

Kara's AuntyReviewed Chapter: 4 on 10/13/2008
Hellooooo!

Yes! You posted!!

Fate is absolutely determined that Kira reads the Red Book and nothing - not her mother or mere distance - is going to get in its way. I was thrilled she got a hold of it, made a new friend in Sandra, and got to take it back home.

And so compelling were the exerpts from the book, that I wanted nothing more than to be there reading it with her.

Splendid work!

Maureen :)

Author Reply: Glad you approve, Maureen. Now that she's hooked, Kira's going to find it very hard to stop. :-)

~Celeritas

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