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| Source: Amazon.com |
The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien
What can I say about Tolkien’s classic tale that nobody else has already said? Probably not much, other than to express my personal take on it, and so for those of you who think my posts carry on a bit, I promise to try and keep this one blissfully brief. Notice I say try. I promise to try. Not to succeed. Just to try.
In actuality, I first read The Hobbit in... I believe the 8th grade. That would have been around the year 1990. Yes, I’m really putting my age up for scrutiny, aren’t I? Anyway, 8th grade was not a particularly good year for me, as I remember. I was awkward and painfully shy. That was actually the year that I decided to make an active effort to consciously act stupid, so that people would stop assuming that I was some sort of brainy guy. Took me until I got into college and discovered that I really enjoyed learning stuff and that being smart was not a bad thing to fully come out of that bias/idea. Yes, I’ve re-embraced my inner nerd in most ways. But self confidence can help you to see past many an obstacle. And besides, smart beats stupid. I’ll lay cash on that.
Anyway, I’m getting off course here. Nothing new, I know. My point is, 8th grade was unpleasant. As an aside, there was even a girl who had a crush on me and I went and did something real dumb and drove her away. On one especially good day, I flirted with her in our 8th period Science class. I had a streak where that acting dumb but cool trick really worked. for me Then one day she came to one of my classes and met me coming out of it. My classmates were all staring, and I felt embarrassed. My off-balance response: “What do you want?” I’m quoting here. Asked suspiciously and quite bluntly. She seemed put aback. I would have been too, in retrospect. I was not much for social skills, I’ll readily admit. She grew distant real quick. Oh well. I’m better off.
Hmmm.. Another memory of 8th grade, and one relevant to this review, was my English class. I recall the room because it was the one that I spent most of the last day of school that year in (thankfully it was only a half day), watching Honey I Shrunk the Kids on the classroom's TV/VCR with the rest of the kids who didn’t take off after yearbooks were signed. I wasn’t cool enough yet to sluff the last day of school, or any school for that matter. That took a few years. I got really good at it in High School. But that is an entirely different story.
Well, in that room in a building that no longer stands - it was torn down a few years back to build a new “improved” Junior High school - I first read The Hobbit. It was among a pile of paperback books on a shelf at the back of the room, and I sat back there, so I happened upon it and started reading it while we were supposed to be doing our class work. I remember really liking the book. I had already read Terry Brooks Shannara trilogy (the first three books), so the subject matter of fantasy was not new to me, though Tolkien's approach certainly was.
I mention this because, as I listened to The Hobbit just recently, I felt the same creeping feeling of awe and excitement and dread that I had all those years ago when Bilbo Baggins gets lost in the tunnels under the Misty Mountains and comes across the Ring and the wretch Gollum. It was as if I was a 14 year old kid again, as I was listening to the narrator describe the riddle contest and thinking that our Mr. Baggins was a goner for sure.
The rest of the book was better than that first reading, as I remember being confused as a kid with Tolkien’s discussion of the various issues surrounding the dragon Smog, and the battle of the five armies and the reasons behind it. As an adult, it made much more sense. I’ll admit though, the music that Tolkien just seems to love was still a bit annoying to me. And I couldn’t help but laugh as the narrator of the audiobook sang the songs. I thought to myself that he must either really love Tolkien’s work, or that he must be getting paid really well.
What else can I say? I liked the book as a kid, and I still do. I have heard it said the Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and was content, but was pressured into writing what many consider to be his masterwork, The Lord of the Rings. I tried reading The Fellowship of the Ring after finishing The Hobbit back in 8th grade. I didn’t get very far. Let’s face it, The Hobbit moves along better, and is simpler. Tolkien really amped up the long discourses and the complex mythology and all the ins and outs and stuff in that admittedly great but daunting trilogy. It isn’t an especially easy set of books to read. At least not for me. I read them - finally - as an adult some years back. I was inspired to try and pick them back up when the movies came out. I tried reading the books between the first and second movie, but didn’t manage to finish until well after the third had been released. Got through most of them while waiting for the washer or dryer to finish at the all-day/all-night Laundromat on Washington Ave and approximately 10th Street. Those were some good times. But that is also, as they say, another story.
Anyway, now that I’ve been “there and back again,” as Mr. Bilbo would say, I’ll close up by saying that the book is highly recommended as long as you know what you are in for. It’s a classic, in my humble opinion, and deserves the recognition that its bigger and more sophisticated sibling gets much more often. Good stuff.
What can I say about Tolkien’s classic tale that nobody else has already said? Probably not much, other than to express my personal take on it, and so for those of you who think my posts carry on a bit, I promise to try and keep this one blissfully brief. Notice I say try. I promise to try. Not to succeed. Just to try.
In actuality, I first read The Hobbit in... I believe the 8th grade. That would have been around the year 1990. Yes, I’m really putting my age up for scrutiny, aren’t I? Anyway, 8th grade was not a particularly good year for me, as I remember. I was awkward and painfully shy. That was actually the year that I decided to make an active effort to consciously act stupid, so that people would stop assuming that I was some sort of brainy guy. Took me until I got into college and discovered that I really enjoyed learning stuff and that being smart was not a bad thing to fully come out of that bias/idea. Yes, I’ve re-embraced my inner nerd in most ways. But self confidence can help you to see past many an obstacle. And besides, smart beats stupid. I’ll lay cash on that.
Anyway, I’m getting off course here. Nothing new, I know. My point is, 8th grade was unpleasant. As an aside, there was even a girl who had a crush on me and I went and did something real dumb and drove her away. On one especially good day, I flirted with her in our 8th period Science class. I had a streak where that acting dumb but cool trick really worked. for me Then one day she came to one of my classes and met me coming out of it. My classmates were all staring, and I felt embarrassed. My off-balance response: “What do you want?” I’m quoting here. Asked suspiciously and quite bluntly. She seemed put aback. I would have been too, in retrospect. I was not much for social skills, I’ll readily admit. She grew distant real quick. Oh well. I’m better off.
Hmmm.. Another memory of 8th grade, and one relevant to this review, was my English class. I recall the room because it was the one that I spent most of the last day of school that year in (thankfully it was only a half day), watching Honey I Shrunk the Kids on the classroom's TV/VCR with the rest of the kids who didn’t take off after yearbooks were signed. I wasn’t cool enough yet to sluff the last day of school, or any school for that matter. That took a few years. I got really good at it in High School. But that is an entirely different story.
Well, in that room in a building that no longer stands - it was torn down a few years back to build a new “improved” Junior High school - I first read The Hobbit. It was among a pile of paperback books on a shelf at the back of the room, and I sat back there, so I happened upon it and started reading it while we were supposed to be doing our class work. I remember really liking the book. I had already read Terry Brooks Shannara trilogy (the first three books), so the subject matter of fantasy was not new to me, though Tolkien's approach certainly was.
I mention this because, as I listened to The Hobbit just recently, I felt the same creeping feeling of awe and excitement and dread that I had all those years ago when Bilbo Baggins gets lost in the tunnels under the Misty Mountains and comes across the Ring and the wretch Gollum. It was as if I was a 14 year old kid again, as I was listening to the narrator describe the riddle contest and thinking that our Mr. Baggins was a goner for sure.
The rest of the book was better than that first reading, as I remember being confused as a kid with Tolkien’s discussion of the various issues surrounding the dragon Smog, and the battle of the five armies and the reasons behind it. As an adult, it made much more sense. I’ll admit though, the music that Tolkien just seems to love was still a bit annoying to me. And I couldn’t help but laugh as the narrator of the audiobook sang the songs. I thought to myself that he must either really love Tolkien’s work, or that he must be getting paid really well.
What else can I say? I liked the book as a kid, and I still do. I have heard it said the Tolkien wrote The Hobbit and was content, but was pressured into writing what many consider to be his masterwork, The Lord of the Rings. I tried reading The Fellowship of the Ring after finishing The Hobbit back in 8th grade. I didn’t get very far. Let’s face it, The Hobbit moves along better, and is simpler. Tolkien really amped up the long discourses and the complex mythology and all the ins and outs and stuff in that admittedly great but daunting trilogy. It isn’t an especially easy set of books to read. At least not for me. I read them - finally - as an adult some years back. I was inspired to try and pick them back up when the movies came out. I tried reading the books between the first and second movie, but didn’t manage to finish until well after the third had been released. Got through most of them while waiting for the washer or dryer to finish at the all-day/all-night Laundromat on Washington Ave and approximately 10th Street. Those were some good times. But that is also, as they say, another story.
Anyway, now that I’ve been “there and back again,” as Mr. Bilbo would say, I’ll close up by saying that the book is highly recommended as long as you know what you are in for. It’s a classic, in my humble opinion, and deserves the recognition that its bigger and more sophisticated sibling gets much more often. Good stuff.
The parting comment:
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| Source: LOL snaps.com |
I need a T-shirt that says this. I'm sure they are out there. You can get anything on the internet these days. Now if they can just come up with a fax machine that can immediately send things to you through the phone line. Beam me down some french fries, Scotty.
I love my smart, nerdy husband. ;)
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