The Hobbit Review and Discussion Questions

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is a magical tale, in all the best senses of that phrase.  It tells the story of a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, an every-man despite the fact that he isn't a man.  He deals with his unexpected adventure the way most of us would.  He's scared, cranky, and more often than not, wishing that he had stayed at home in his nice comfy hobbit hole.  But the fact that Bilbo didn't really want to be on this trip doesn't take away from the adventure, it adds to it because it is through Bilbo that the reader feels connected to the story.  It may be hard to relate to a wizard or a dwarf, but Bilbo is familiar to us, because in some way, he is us.  Bilbo is thrown into the midst of a party of dwarves looking to reclaim their homeland from the dragon, Smaug.  Along the way, they encounter giant spiders, men who turn into bears or vis versa, elves, goblins, and a magical ring.  Bilbo grows from a frightened hobbit to the leader of these brave souls.  He grows and is never the same again.

Reminder! Our Hobbit Meeting is Saturday!

Just wanted to send out a quick reminder that our in-person meeting for The Hobbit will be THIS SATURDAY from 1-3pm in the Ladysmith Branch Meeting Room!  I hope everyone has enjoyed reading this epic tale and I'm sure there is going to be lots of tasty treats at the meeting.  See you then!

Now a little aside courtesy of Jessica that blew my mind- In The Lord of the Rings, the dwarf that joins the fellowship is Gimli, son of Gloin- the same Gloin in The Hobbit.  Nerdy, but I had never put the two together.  Anyone else have some connections for us?

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!

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!