November/December Book Club Selection: The Hobbit!

Ok friends, we're less than a month away from the movie release of The Hobbit!

Trailers:




Yaaaay!!

Which means we should hop to it and get crackin' on reading The Hobbit, the much beloved children's classic by Tolkien.

Quote:

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Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit— a hairy-footed race of diminutive peoples in J.R.R. Tolkien’s imaginary world of
Middle-earth — and the protagonist of The Hobbit (full title: The Hobbit or There and Back Again), Tolkien’s fantasy novel for children first published in 1937. Bilbo enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling
any farther than his pantry or cellar. He does not seek out excitement or adventure. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum, and entwine his fate with armies of goblins, elves, men and dwarves.

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Who's in?

I'm in! It'll be a nice refresher for when the movie comes out. :love: I was hesitant on this thinking "uuugh I'm so busy for the rest of the year" but damn it, I can finish a book in a few days and get it over with! (failed miserably at les mis but I intend to get this one done)

For those of you who perhaps don't have it or those such as myself who will be reading at work:

The Hobbit - PDF

Totally in!

Hopefully this will be more manageable for me. I'm in.

I'm in. I remember being read this book in 4th grade. It's what made me fall in love with fantasy settings!

Just an FYI, there are some subtle and some significant differences between the 1st, 2nd and 3rd editions of The Hobbit.

The 2nd and 3rd editions were revised by Tolkien to fall more closely in line with the mythology he presented in The Lord of the Rings. The most significant change is that in the original Hobbit, the encounter with Gollum is completely different from the characterization of Gollum in the later revisions as well as in the Lord of the Rings.

I personally read the 2nd edition when I first read the book in the 6th grade, so that's the one I'll stick to.

If I was a cave troll, I'd never go outside. Too risky.

Is anyone else reading this with me?

A little late starting, but starting nonetheless!

I remember vaguely that the nature of the elves evolved during Tolkien's works. In the Hobbit they appear much more mischievous and less solemn.

Also, Rivendell isn't described as nearly as fantastical as it was in LotR as I recall. They must have made renovations.

I did not realize this was happening.

Never too late to start!

As I'm reading this I imagine reading it to my future children and it makes me happy.

That is adorable. foa, you have all of December!

I'm still on the first chapter because I've had so little time, goddamn it. Getting through more today!

The Hobbit is so funny. I'm literally laughing out loud at certain bits.

Start tonight.

He lost his buttons. :(

Hahaha, I couldn't stop laughing at that bit. Poor Bilbo, they were brass buttons too!

So my guess for the end of the first movie is (SPOILER)when Gandalf leaves them at the edge of Mirkwood. It has that very 'the biggest adventures have yet to come' feeling to it.

It's got such a great tone for actual storytelling, which I guess stems from the fact that it was a story told to his kids. I don't know about this three movies idea, but I suppose a lot of the the travelling will need to be padded out. The book is very much a series of glorious set pieces.

I'm concerned with the pacing of the three movies. They aren't just three movies, they are three long ass movies.

Anyway, in the book I'm through Mirkwood. I wonder how the (SPOILER)dwarves didn't drown in those barrels? Doesn't seem safe.

I'm just about to meet our spindly friend Gollum. It's been quite an enjoyable read again so far, I forgot how kind of enthralling it all is. It's also funny to see how it's written when you consider that he is Tolkien and was basically establishing the rule of thumb with books like this. On top of that, my copy of the Hobbit is the '66 version so it's very old and very worn. The cover is gone, and the last page is only hanging on by about a half inch of actual page. So I might not have it attached by the time I get through the rest of it! :monster:

e;
At the beginning of Mirkwood now, and I hilariously found a bookmark from whenever I last started to read this book. There are a few threads here that I don't think ever get finalised, in The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, but I'm unsure and so I'm excited to find out. I agree with Murd; Mirkwood is probably the best place to end the first movie, which is sad because I want to see more.

Anyway, (SPOILER)is that Necromancer ever mentioned again? He seems like such a threat and is just never mentioned again (from memory). Same with Beorn, he's such a big deal and then once his ponies head back, nothing. My memory of the Battle of Five Armies is real hazy though, so maybe they make an appearance.

I find the British speech to be quite hilarious. Gandalf calling goblins little boys to insult them. There's a lot of singing in here too, which is nice but could be a bit strange to actually implement. It really does have this "lightness" to it, even with all the dark and serious things the tone is still pretty upbeat and the narration is jovial. I love this book and I now remember why.

Regarding the Necromancer: (SPOILER)He's Sauron. ;)

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

That makes perfect sense. Still (SPOILER)strange that they would use such different terms for him. It's almost as if The Hobbit wasn't quite meant to be a prequel, even though it clearly is. The tone shifts a little, but I can't say that's a bad thing either. This is a great book and a perfect entryway for the LotR series.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jiro

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

That makes perfect sense. Still (SPOILER)strange that they would use such different terms for him. It's almost as if The Hobbit wasn't quite meant to be a prequel, even though it clearly is. The tone shifts a little, but I can't say that's a bad thing either. This is a great book and a perfect entryway for the LotR series.

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Funny you should say that Dak, but it wasn't written as a prequel. After all, the book was written before LOTR. The success of The Hobbit caused the publishers to push Tolkien into writing another book involving the adventures of The Hobbit. As Tolkien wrote LOTR he realised that he'd shifted the tone a lot and this series was a dark and more foreboding tale. He also created amendments to The Hobbit for the stories etc. to be more consistent (so the version you would have read would be what pretty much everyone has, which is the 2nd Edition of the book)

Oh I know The Hobbit came first, but I would've thought what with all the allusions that it was always intended to have follow ups, which is somewhat supported by the great level of detail Tolkien took with all of his work, and that books like the Silmarillion exist also. I'm quite a passionate fan of Tolkien's work after all, I know a far to do with the series and am always quick to correct those who incorrectly claim LotR a trilogy!

I have, indeed, the 3rd edition of the book, the '66 version that being. It's a little bit tattered by now but I feel this makes it an even better read.

Also: (SPOILER)I imagine that Laketown will be the end of the second film, whereby the dwarves have successfully navigated Mirkwood, escaped the spiders, escaped the elves, and ridden the Forest River downstream. Drawing it out any further would probably encroach on the third film too much, although the last Harry Potter film was effectively just the final battle scene so who knows!

Well, the second film is called The Desolation of Smaug, so read into that what you will.

Well, I guess it goes up until the Desolation of Smaug then! I didn't realise there were subtitles out already.

Finished the book this afternoon, quite an enjoyable experience. I look forward to seeing it on the big screen. I don't know what else to say! It was very enjoyable.

If theyre going to have 3 movies and cut out any Dwarf songs I will be quite annoyed.

How else will we know what Bilbo Baggins hates!?

Yeah I want all the songs in there as well, the lack of singing it LotR saddened me. :(

I'm reading ahead and it's making me really excited for the next two films. I forgot how action-packed the last third of the book is.

I'm still only on the first third. Don't think there's a way I can finish by the end of the month unless I really sit here and read for the next few days, and I'm not going to do that. Failed on my deadline! Still, it was nice to have a bit of a refresher for the film.