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Bruno
a smiling haze
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 Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 5:46 pm Post subject: [reading circle] The Hobbit |
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J.R.R. TOLKIEN
The Hobbit
Host: Bruno 
Welcome, readers, to our circle! This moon, we're going to read and discuss The Hobbit (1937), a fantasy novel written by J.R.R. Tolkien (author of the famous Lord of The Rings trilogy).
The Story
The book tells the story of Bilbo Baggins, a rather lazy hobbit who spends all his days in idleness. His furthest trips are those to his pantry or his cellar, and the most valuable things for him are smoking and sleeping.
One day, the grey wizard Gandalf and a dozen of dwarves arrive on his doorstep to summon him on a mission he doesn't want to take part in.
Reluctantly, Bilbo finally agrees with taking part of the mission—a plot to steal the treasures of the great dragon Smaug the Magnificent, who dwells in Erebor, the Lonely Mountain.
Let the reading begin!
I won't post anything too deep so soon. Instead, I'm going to give all of you three days to find yourself a copy of the book and read the first chapters. Feel free to start discussions, ask questions, make relations between this book and The Lord of The Rings, or Bewulf... Anything, really.
According to the international copyright law, copying quotations is considered fair use as long as you make it as short as possible and use it to make a point that requires it. Try to refer to parts of the text, instead of quoting, but feel free to do so according to the guidelines above.
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Petter
Suddenly Around!
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 6:56 pm Post subject: |
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Then its only to get a copy .. :/
Well , I guess I have read it before too 
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TANK Ex Mortis
Dream Nerd
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 7:18 pm Post subject: |
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This is my favorite of Tolkien's books because I really love the style of narration. I love the way he writes in this book; in his others he seemed too bogged down by all the background stuff (the long descriptions of lineages and scenery etc.) but this book seems more free-spirited.
It's the first novel I ever read, I first read it when I was five or six years old, and first heard it when my dad read it to me a few years earlier.
It also has a truly wonderful opening line. "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."
Beat that, Rowling.
A few bits of trivia I've picked up over the years:
Tolkien had scribbled the opening line of the book in a notebook or something, years and years before he started writing the book. He didn't even know what a hobbit was at that point, I guess he just thought it sounded good.
It was not originally meant to be set in Middle-Earth, but he obviously changed his mind at some point and set it there.
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Fiver
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 7:35 pm Post subject: |
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| When I was young, I loved the Hobbit. I do believe I'll keep up with this particular thread.
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Bruno
a smiling haze
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Petter wrote: |
Then its only to get a copy .. :/
Well , I guess I have read it before too |
Hurry 
It's a great book, and it would be awesome to have you in the group 
| TANK wrote: |
| This is my favorite of Tolkien's books because I really love the style of narration. I love the way he writes in this book; in his others he seemed too bogged down by all the background stuff (the long descriptions of lineages and scenery etc.) but this book seems more free-spirited. |
It's also my favourite book of Tolkien's. I think the other ones were a bit too... *thinks of a word* Epic. Seriously, he brings too much glory, and it gets too desriptive—to the point of sounding like a boring history class sometimes.
The Hobbit isn't like that. Maybe because, when he wrote it, he hadn't yet decided to make it be in the same world as the Silmarillion. Maybe because he didn't have any compromises when he wrote it. I don't know. Maybe because he let himself free when he wrote it—see how it flows? The Lord of the Rings doesn't flow. It's quite hard to read actually...
| TANK wrote: |
| It's the first novel I ever read, I first read it when I was five or six years old, and first heard it when my dad read it to me a few years earlier. |
Haha, cool!  Did you play Bilbo around?
| TANK wrote: |
It also has a truly wonderful opening line. "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."
Beat that, Rowling. |
| TANK wrote: |
A few bits of trivia I've picked up over the years:
Tolkien had scribbled the opening line of the book in a notebook or something, years and years before he started writing the book. He didn't even know what a hobbit was at that point, I guess he just thought it sounded good. |
According to Wikipedia, "Tolkien recollects in a 1955 letter to W. H. Auden (Letters, no. 163) that, in the late 1920s, when he was Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College, The Hobbit began when he was marking School Certificate papers, on the back of one of which he wrote the words "In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit". He did not go any further than that at the time, although in the following years he drew up Thror's map, outlining the geography of the tale."
| TANK wrote: |
| It was not originally meant to be set in Middle-Earth, but he obviously changed his mind at some point and set it there. |
Also true. Wikipedia again: "But the decision that the events of The Hobbit could belong to the same universe as The Silmarillion was made only after successful publication, when the publisher asked for a sequel. Accordingly, The Hobbit serves both as an introduction to Middle-Earth and as a link between earlier and later events described in The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings, respectively."
| Fiver wrote: |
| When I was young, I loved the Hobbit. I do believe I'll keep up with this particular thread. |
Glad you are, Mitchell, it will be great to have you with us! I don't know if I said that somewhere else, but I like your cultural knowlegde and preferences 
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DayLight
RIP Albert Hofmann
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| Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Cool, cool, I've alredy got a copy I bought long ago. I'm gonna start reding tonight.
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Basilus West
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| Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 2:24 am Post subject: |
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When will this thread end? I still haven bought the book. 
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moogle
Could I be dreaming?
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| Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 2:41 am Post subject: |
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it should be 4 weeks after the beginning, so you should have enough time basilus 
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Basilus West
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| Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 2:50 am Post subject: |
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| moogle wrote: |
| it should be 4 weeks after the beginning, so you should have enough time basilus |
*Basilus West will buy the book tomorrow! 
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Bruno
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| Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 9:41 am Post subject: |
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DayLight and Basilus—great! It will be good to have you with us too!
*Bruno has read up to the second chapter so far.
I have a few notes on the first chapter, I hope I have the time to write them when I get home, tomorrow.
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Basilus West
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| Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 12:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Bruno wrote: |
| It's also my favourite book of Tolkien's. I think the other ones were a bit too [...] epic. Seriously, he brings too much glory, and it gets too desriptive [...]. The Hobbit isn't like that. Maybe because, when he wrote it, he hadn't yet decided to make it be in the same world as the Silmarillion. Maybe because he didn't have any compromises when he wrote it. [...] Maybe because he let himself free when he wrote it—see how it flows? |
Didn't he just plan to make The Hobbit for children? I've read The Hobbit a long time ago and it looked very like a feary tale, if I remember well. LOTR is an story about death, ageing, war, ideals, politics, industrialization, environmental issues, etc. and Silmarilion is something more like the Eddas or the Nibelungen. Thus they are not really for young children.
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Bruno
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| Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 9:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Not really, the Hobbit, though a bit lighter than the LOTR, has some very adult meaning behind it. At least I think so. It's a book one can enjoy reading in any age, because one can relate to it no matter the age.
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Basilus West
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| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:18 am Post subject: |
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I've just bought The Hobbit at the little bookshop next the corner. I really enjoyed the first chapter. It's so funny. And did you notice how he managed very well the transition in atmosphere by using the two dwarfs songs and the change of light? It's great.
*Basilus West goes back immediatly to chapter two. 
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DayLight
RIP Albert Hofmann
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| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 12:37 am Post subject: |
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I am not a fan of fantasy books, and dislike some of them, but this book has something about it, something I can't quite put my finger on, that I really enjoy. It is a good read so far, I have finished Ch. 1. I praticularly liked this passage:
| Tolkien wrote: |
As they sang the hobbit felt the love of beautiful things made by hands and by cunning and by magic moving through him, a fierce and jealous love, the desire of the hearts of dwarves. |
I think that passage is beautifully writen, and it stood out to me. So far, I am enjoying this book. It is not grabbing me in a way that some books have, but it is good.
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Stormthunder
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| Posted: Thu Apr 06, 2006 9:08 am Post subject: |
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| I love the Hobbit. I thought the LOTR trilogy was the most boring, tedious stuff I'd ever read (Bruno is right - definitely the stuff of boring history classes), but the Hobbit is fantastic! It was my favourite bedtime story when I was really little - my mum used to read me a chapter every night. The dwarves are just classic in this story, especially.
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