Lord of the Rings and Meetings

On this trip, I've started reading The Lord of the Rings.  I've seen the first two movies, and I've read all of The Hobbit aloud to the Boy when he was in fourth grade.  His teacher recommended I read it to him, so I did.  I loved Bilbo, the reluctant hero, who at times would rather have been at home drinking tea and sitting in front of a fire instead of on an adventure.  Me too.

I started reading The Lord of the Rings aloud to the Boy.  I didn't go fast enough, so he decided to read it himself.  Planning a trip to NZ made me pick it up again.

I am in The Fellowship of the Ring and I just finished the chapter "The Council of Elrond." I have to admit I was afraid to read this book because I am just not into things like Orcs and Wargs and whatnot.  I am too rooted in present, real day problems.  And then what does Tolkein pull out of his hat?  A chapter on a meeting.  Seriously.  A chapter where a dozen or so people sit around and talk about a decision to be made.  And what have I done for most of my profession and volunteer life?  Attend meetings.  I've been to a gazillion.  And here in one of the most read books ever written, an entire chapter was dedicated to a meeting.  I was delighted because meetings are often the stuff of drama, but few authors include them.  And by meeting I mean a committee meeting, not meetings like the one between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett.  (Those meetings are good, too.)  In group meetings, people get mad, argue.  They are silent, or brood.  Eyes roll.  Alliances change.  Decisions are made.  Many of the meetings I've attended get a post-mortem.  "And then so-and-so said...  Can you believe it?"

In the Council of Elrond, a group of peaceful people see an evil power rising.  The Council has something Sauron wants, but what to do?  How do they get rid of it?  Should they get rid of it?  Why?  What is the best way?  Who will do it?  Those are the questions.  And they are discussed in a meeting.   I am probably the only person in the world who liked this chapter because it was a meeting.  What other book has meetings like this?  There are courtroom dramas -- Twelve Angry Men and To Kill a Mockingbird are the first that come to mind, but a bona fide meeting?  This is great.

Granted, not all meetings are exciting.  Meetings that are "exciting" are often fraught with anxiety and challenges.  I've been on several committees where the problems don't have an easy or obvious solution.  If they did have an easy or obvious solution, there wouldn't need to be a meeting.  One solution might be great, but it costs too much.  Another solution might only solve half of the problem, so which do you choose?  Yes, this is the stuff of literature and drama.