Afternoon Tea (vol. 1)
Hello! How have you been? I wanted to pop in this afternoon to chat with you a bit about what's been happening within the Tea with Tolkien community lately... I'm calling it Afternoon Tea (volume one!).
The Catholic Hipster Podcast
I went on the Catholic Hipster Podcast to chat with Tommy and Sarah and it was so much good fun! You can listen to it here. We talked about my Catholic conversion, which Tolkien book is my least favorite, my love for Indiana, mexican food, and oh so many other things. Their podcast is just so fun. :)
Our New Patreon Community
I've also created a patreon page for Tea with Tolkien and wanted to tell you a bit about it! Through Patreon, we have an exclusive community for those of you who really believe in my mission behind Tea with Tolkien and want to become even more involved in it. There are different rewards for pledging, like stickers or notecards, and I've also got several freebie printables that I'm working on and will release to patreon members only soon.
Being a member of the patreon community also means you'll get to help me decide which books we read for our book club (and when), you'll get early access to sales, and you'll get a behind the scenes look at the different things I'm creating for Tea with Tolkien. Anyway, just wanted to share that with you in case you were interested in partnering with us! You can learn more here.
Summer Sale
We'll also be having a summer clearance sale in the Tea with Tolkien shop towards the end of the month, so keep an eye out for more details coming soon (and patreon members will get early access to this sale!).
Book Club
Our book club is already halfway through our Silmarillion read-along! It's going by so fast and it's been so wonderful to have over 200 other people reading along with me, especially when I have a question or something to talk through. There are so many people in our community who know so much more about Tolkien than I do, and it's truly a blessing.
We're also planning our next mini book club for mid September, and we'll be reading through some of Tolkien's Letters. You can read more about it here.
What I've Been Reading
I've been reading (very slowly) through this collection of books by Saint Bonaventure and I can't recommend it enough! Just based on what I've read so far, he really has a strong devotion to the crucifix and talks a lot about how much Jesus loves us -- 10/10 would recommend.
On the Twitter
Our growing community over on Twitter has really become one of my favorite places on the internet lately. It's at least 80% nonsense and a lot of lighthearted arguments, but at the same time it's become a place where I've been really encouraged and strengthened in my faith and found a lot of friendship -- just by 'hanging out' online with other Catholics and Tolkien lovers and reading about how they live and such. So come hang out with us if you aren't already! I'm @teawithtolkien over there.
I hope you'll have a lovely week! I hope to be back soon with some more reflections on The Lord of the Rings, and of course more book club posts as we finish reading The Silmarillion!
