The Hobbit

I first read JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit in my teens in the 1970s, and I enjoyed it so much that I embarked on The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. However, I did abandon the quest and never finished The Return of the King. 

According to my GoodReads notes, I listened to The Hobbit with my son Noah when he was about 10, which was 21 years ago. I have zero recollection of this, but that is not surprising. I was working full-time, parenting full-time, writing part-time, etc.

Lately, I've been waxing nostalgic and decided to revisit The Hobbit this year. I listened to the marvelous Andy Serkis read the novel--he voices Gollum in The Lord of the Rings movies--and he was absolutely fantastic bringing nuance and character to each voice, from mild-mannered Bilbo, to Yorkshire-accented dwarves, to stately Gandalf, to chipper elves, and so on.

It had been so long since I read (and/or paid attention) to the story that most of the adventures beyond Gollum and Smaug were as fresh as the first time I left the Shire and headed to the Misty Mountains. I'm not really much of a fantasy reader, but I do love a good adventure story, and this had adventure to spare. 

I particularly loved how Bilbo grew in confidence and cunning, rising to each occasion, and mustering the courage needed to do what needed to be done. In addition to adventure, The Hobbit delivers a strong message--greed and avarice can consume even the most fair-minded creatures. It takes strength of character like that of Bilbo and Bard (the bowman who slew Smaug--I had completely forgotten that part of the story) to walk away from the lure of riches and do what is right and just and fair.

The book and the way Serkis read it is quite funny--Bilbo's internal monologues in particular are very entertaining. 

Tolkien is a terrific writer and paints vivid images. However, I really wanted illustrations, so I checked out a graphic YA version from the library after I finished the audio version just to get a good look at trolls, dwarves, Gollum, Smaug the dragon, giants, elves, goblins, and the men of Lake Town. 

I'm toying with the idea of watching the movies--Jackson decided to expand Tolkien's book and present The Hobbit in a trilogy of movies. My LOTR-savvy daughter Sarah recommends that I just watch the first movie, where Gandalf and the dwarves visit Bilbo in the Shire and recruit him for the quest. We'll see. I would like to find a quality hardback version with first-rate illustrations. This wonderful book deserves a place on my shelves.

Here's the movie trailer. I have to admit. It does like good!

More Spirit of Christmas Books

Okay, this is starting to become an obsession...I'm now blogging about books 5 and 6 in the Spirit of Christmas reading challenge.  They are all actually pretty short books, but still!

I read and really enjoyed Jean Shepherd's A Christmas Story, which is a collection of sketches about growing up in northern Indiana during the Depression. And yes, this is the book that launched the wonderful Christmas movie that runs 24x7 during December.  It's all there--the leg lamp, the department store Santa and chute, the Little Orphan Annie secret decoder sham, the bully, and the stolen holiday dinner.  All the stories don't actually take place at Christmas, but that doesn't matter. Fun to read, Shepherd's style is sort of a mashup of James Thurber meets David Sedaris.

Now I have to watch the movie next week when all the kids are home for the holidays!

The Father Christmas Letters was a wonderful picture book featuring the letters that J.R.R. Tolkien wrote to his children during the 1930s on behalf of Father Christmas.  Through the letters, we get a fun, interesting picture of life at the North Pole.  Most of the letters detail the antics of the faithful, well-intentioned, but prone-to-mishaps North Polar Bear as well as the ongoing trouble that Father Christmas and the elves have with the goblins who steal presents and generally wreak havoc on the frozen north.  The drawings, the elvish handwriting, and imagination of Tolkien made this a very special holiday book.

A selection of "stamps" that Tolkien drew on the envelopes of the letters.

Now I have to return it to the library and get a copy for my shelves!  However, I'm not sure which version to get.  I highlighted the one I got from my library, but it's not really available except as a collectible.  There are other versions out there, but I need to thumb through them and make sure they include the drawings as well as the letters.