The Hobbit Updates

I love Martin Freeman's crazy face!

I hope that everyone is enjoying The Hobbit so far!  Since there is a lot of stuff out there because of the upcoming movie, I thought I'd share some of the best I've seen!

The Hobbit Official Page- http://www.thehobbit.com/
The go-to spot for all things The Hobbit.  I especially like the recipes from Middle Earth and the character quiz.  It turns out I am most like a Hobbit and I can live with that.  There are also videos, wallpapers for your computer and the Hobbit Blog.

Summary of some recent news- http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/27/uk-hobbit-premiere-idUSLNE8AQ01D20121127
This Reuters article does a pretty good job of summing up some of the recent articles about The Hobbit leading up to its premiere on Wednesday.

On all the makeup and prosthetics- http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/culture/8000033/Creating-the-many-faces-of-The-Hobbit
A really cool article on all the work that it took to make the dwarves look like dwarves and the elves look like elves.  Who knew they had glue-on eyebrows?

TheOneRing.Net- http://www.theonering.net/torwp/the-hobbit/
The link I've provided is to the general info on The Hobbit, but click around.  They've got tons of stuff on The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  They're also live streaming the premiere online.

The Noble Collection- http://www.noblecollection.com/index.cfm?fa=products.catagory&catid=91
Because Christmas is coming and I can't resist shiny objects!


That's it for now, I'll probably have some more stuff for you guys next week!

11/22/63 Update

Just wanted to send out this link really quickly before our Thanksgiving break.  Dallas is planning a memorial for the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/21/15329670-dallas-to-mark-50th-anniversary-of-jfks-assassination-with-memorial-ceremony?lite

Now that I've brought the room down, I hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Our Next Book Is...

For the upcoming month, we'll be reading J. R. R. Tolkien's classic tale, The Hobbit!  The prequel to the hugely successful Lord of the Rings trilogy, it tells Bilbo Baggins's story of adventure, despite the fact that no other Baggins has every gone on an adventure before him!  He travels with a wizard and a band of dwarves, and along the way encounters elves, goblins, giant spiders, and the one ring of power.

We'll be meeting to discuss The Hobbit on Saturday, December 15th, from 1-3pm at the Ladysmith Branch Library Meeting Room.  I'll also be posting the review and discussion questions on the same day.  Since the movie based on the first part of the book is about to be released, I'll probably be posting some trailers and updates about the movie in the time in between.  Happy Reading!

11/22/63 Review and Discussion Questions

11/22/63 asks the question- if you could go back in time and change the past, would you?  More importantly, should you?  Spoilers about the past and future ahead.

Jake Epping is a recently divorced, high school English teacher who, according to his ex-wife, cannot cry.  One night while reading the papers of his Adult English students, he reads one that touches him and he does cry.  The story, written by the high school's janitor, Harry Dunning, describes the night that his father came home with a hammer and murdered his mother and two older brothers, put his little sister into a coma that she would never awaken from, and permanently crippled, both physically and mentally, Harry.

Two years later, Jake is taken in the backroom of his friend Al's diner.  Although he had seen Al only the day before, Jake is taken aback by the changes he sees in Al.  Al tells him the truth- in his pantry, there is a passage to 1958.  Every trip back is the first time that you go and it only takes two minutes according to 2011, no matter how long you spend in the past.  He has been going back in time to buy meat for the diner, but had become obsessed with the Kennedy assassination.  He wasn't sure that he would be able to do it, so he went back to change the life of one girl who was crippled by a stray bullet.  It was in these attempts that he discovered that the past doesn't want to be changed.  But he was convinced that if Kennedy was to live, the world would be a much better place, so he keeps working.  His last trip lasted 4 years as he tracked Lee Harvey Oswald, but he had to return to 2011 when he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.  He then recruits Jake to finish his work and stop Oswald from killing Kennedy.  Jake is skeptical, but agrees to go back on a test run first to check the butterfly effect.  Remembering Harry Dunning's story, he decides to go back and save Harry's whole family.

Reminder- We Go Back in Time on Saturday!

Hello everyone!  Just wanted to drop a quick reminder that our meeting for 11/22/63 is THIS SATURDAY from 1-3pm at the Ladysmith Branch Library.  I hope to see you all there so that we can discuss the book.  If you can't be there on Saturday, I'll be posting the final review and discussion questions around the same time.