the discussion about various types of madness was both right up my alley and went completely over my head. also I'm sure it has absolutely no bearing on the rest of the story and will in no way become relevant later Richard, my man, why is your solution to everything lying trying to read this in public and then Bunny comes out swinging with slurs, thanks Bunny

so I tried to read this last year when I was still full of hubris and dreams of being the sophisticated intellectual type of college student and then dnfed it around 40% when I became instead the disaster type of student as I was always destined to be but here we are, a year older and wiser and still a disaster and perhaps still full of hubris, but we shall see if I succeed this time around

"...that in this matter it would be well to trust rather to their friendship than to great wisdom." this line coming after a thirty plus page chapter full of 'so us wise folks failed' and 'so Saruman the wisest of all us actually sucks' really makes it hit more. reason #230 why it's sometimes the smallest and most ordinary things that are most important I imagine trudging through the snows of Caradhras to be rather like that time last semester when a blizzard hit my school and I had to walk from my dorm to the cafeteria through a wind that kept pushing me around and smacking snow so hard into my face it hurt while trying not to slip. fun times those were the sheer audacity of Legolas to tell Gandalf he's gonna go find the sun and then run past Boromir and Aragorn toiling through snow taller than I am is stunning