The Hobbit Read-along Chapters 10-12

The land about them grew bleak and barren, though once, as Thorin told them, it had been green and fair. There was little grass, and before long there was neither bush nor tree, and only broken and blackened stumps to speak of ones long vanished. They were come to the Desolation of the Dragon, and they were come at the waning of the year.

Well the troupe has made it to Laketown, and the dwarves are out of the barrels. They are given supplies by the Mayor, who is eager to see the backs of them, and they head into the Desolation of Smaug. Once they find the moon door, its time for Bilbo to earn his keep, and see if the treasure still remains with the dragons. Bilbo just didn't count on Smaug having a sense of smell like a turkey, being able to smell the hobbit and missing gold.

I really liked the chapter with the dragon. Its one I remembered from when I read it before. Between his moon door riddle solving, and his conversation with Smaug, it was a strong part of the story. I may or may not have been imagining how the conversation between Smaug and Bilbo scene may end up very Sherlock-y, especially since it is the same actors playing the characters. The image has gotten rather stuck in my head.

The hunt for the moon door was another of those scenes that are reminiscent of what Tolkien does later in LOTR.

Next week its Chapters 13-15, then one more week after that!

The Hobbit Read-along: Chapters 8-9

"I will give you a name," he said to it, "and I shall call you Sting."

The troupe sounds begins their trek through the Mirkwood, without the security blanket known as Gandalf. It starts off well, with them following Beorn's instructions, but after the Bombur incident, things go to pot. Discomfort and a lack of food leads to straying from the path, and the troop gets captured by Ron Weasley's worse nightmare, the giant spiders. Bilbo's quick thinking leads to an opportune rescue, only for the dwarves to be captured by the Wood Elves.

I think the scene with the spiders is the highlight of Bilbo's character so far. Its the one moment so far when he really reacts first thing, instead of first feeling sorry for himself.

The scenes with the woodelves seems to set up the dysfunctional relationship between dwarves and elves we see when the fellowship firsts meets up in Lord of the Rings. Who knows, maybe this scene is part of why they reacted they way they did. I must say, these sections were another part that I didn't really remember from before, so it was almost like a first read again.

The Hobbit Read-along, Chapters 6-7

And in the dim shadows of that place I don't think you will shoot anything, wholesome or unwholesome, without straying from the path. That you MUST NOT do, for any reason.

Sorry for the delay. My dog broke her leg Thursday and spent the weekend shuttling back and forth to the vet, googling broken limbs and bone cancer (she probably has that too), and waiting for reinforcements (she thinks she can act like she did before hand now).

So Bilbo has made it out of the mountains and reunited with Gandalf and the dwarves. After hiding in the trees to get away from the goblins and wargs. The eagles come to investigate the disturbance in the trees, and end up flying them to safety. The troop finds shelter with Beorn, who loans them ponies to get them to the edge of the Mirkwood.

What did you all think about these chapters? These two didn't bring up much by way of connections or anything. They introduce a few characters and species that we see in Lord of the Rings. I thought Beorn was interesting, and wouldn't mind reading more on him, but Wikipedia tells me he doesn't show up elsewhere in Middle Earth lore. He kind of reminds me of Tom Bombadil, serving as a bit of a guide and a way station for the group.

Next week, chapters 8 and 9.

The Hobbit Read-a-long: Chapters 3-5

Chapters 3-5

I have heard that there are still forgotten treasures of old to be found in the deserted caverns of the mines of Moria, since the dwarf and goblin war.

I've made a page at the top with the reading schedule easy to find, if you need it.

In this section, we meet a silly group of elves at Rivendell, where the band stops to ask Elrond for help reading their map. This trip also develops Bilbo's love for the place, as we see in The Lord of the Rings. After leaving the elves, the troupe tries to make it through the mountains, but decide to wait out the raging storm on the front porch of some Goblins. The goblins aren't to thrilled with having a bunch of dwarves on their lawn, so they steal them and Bilbo to make a nice meal. Gandalf rescues them, cutting some goblins along the way, but in the escape, Bilbo becomes separated from the group, and bumbles into Gollum's lair. We get our first look at this slimy, demented character so prominent in LOTR, and how Bilbo lives up to his position as a thief.

What did you all think of this section? We get quick glimpses of races and locations we come to know better in LOTR. What do you think of their portrayal here? Any thoughts in general on this section?

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To me, this section seem to contain a good bit of foreshadowing for LOTR, or what seems like foreshadowing (since Tolkien could have added some during his edits. Several things are there, like the moon letters, and the trip through the mountains, that remind me of events in LOTR. Even Bilbo's fascination with the elves' singing reminds me of Samwise's fascination as well.

It never struck me when I read this and LOTR before, about how much Gandalf orchestrated the whole thing. In this reread, it seems like Gandalf must have seen what Frodo does, and who he is related to, and therefore must push Bilbo out into this adventure. Try thinking about in a wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey way- what real use is there of Bilbo acting as a thief in this troupe? We'll get back to this later on.

The Hobbit Read-a-long: Week 1 Discussion

Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a walking stick. p.15-16

Welcome to the start of our read-a-long! We'll be talking about Chapters 1 and 2 this week. If you haven't already done so, I'd suggest you follow by rss, email, twitter or Google+ to make sure you see the discussion posts. I'm aiming to have them scheduled to go up in the morning PST (GMT-8).

The Hobbit was written in the early 1930s as a story for Tolkien's children, but he wasn't convinced to have it published until 1936. It was published in 1937. In 1951, Tolkien made edits to better connect it with The Lord of the Rings, to be published three years later. Some editions feature some of Tolkien's own artwork (check out the 75th Anniversary editions if you'd like to see it).

In 'An Unexpected Party', we meet Bilbo Baggins, one of the Bagginses from under The Hill, as he meets Gandalf the Wizard outside his hobbit hole. The next day, Gandalf secretly invites thirteen dwarves to Bag End by signing the unknowing Bilbo up to be part of their adventure. An so Bilbo begins his first adventure, one that he, nor readers will ever forget.

Tolkien was a noted scholar of mythology and legends. Do you see the influence of his scholarly research this early in the novel? What do you think of the encounter with the trolls? Any favorite passages so far?

Hobbit Read-a-long Sign up

Hey y'all. You guys still interested in the Hobbit Read-a-long? I'm going to open up the sign ups so everyone has time to find their copy before hand. I am proposing going at an easy schedule, aiming for the 40-50 page a week, you have time for your other reading commitments as well.

Proposed schedule:
Oct 1 - Start
Oct 8 - Chapters 1 & 2
Oct 15 - Chapters 3 through 5
Oct 22 - Chapters 6 & 7
Oct 29 - Chapters 8 & 9
Nov 5 - Chapters 10 through 12
Nov 12 - Chapters 13 through 15
Nov 19 - Chapters 16 through 19 (End)

I recommend that you follow my blog some how, or my twitter (new posts get posted there automatically) so you know when the posts go up. And by all means, spread the word!