I finally read The Hobbit

[mizzou]

What a magical book, I don't know why I never read the book or the later series as a kid. :\


Very fun to think that...almost a century ago was when these books were written Tolkien had such a fantastic imagination.

 

[AViking]

I didn't know about it until I was an adult. Read it in college in one sitting. Great book.

 

[Kaido]

What a magical book, I don't know why I never read the book or the later series as a kid. :\


Very fun to think that...almost a century ago was when these books were written Tolkien had such a fantastic imagination.

Two things boggle my mind:

1. That he created such a complex literary universe

2. That he did it without the aid of the Internet

The amount of stuff he needed to know just for background...weapons, politics, geography, language...you couldn't just hop on Wikipedia & look that stuff up; I'd imagine the local libraries at the time weren't super comprehensive in terms of information access either.

Plus the movies are fun, I like Watson as the Hobbit :thumbsup:

 

[mizzou]

Two things boggle my mind:

1. That he created such a complex literary universe

2. That he did it without the aid of the Internet

The amount of stuff he needed to know just for background...weapons, politics, geography, language...you couldn't just hop on Wikipedia & look that stuff up; I'd imagine the local libraries at the time weren't super comprehensive in terms of information access either.

Plus the movies are fun, I like Watson as the Hobbit :thumbsup:

You can tell that he had such a deep investment in the lore of the whole thing...You get the feeling that he knows so much more then what he tells you.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/25813/10-things-you-should-know-about-jrr-tolkien

 

[msi1337]

I loved the book, but as my friend has said... "Tolkien describes the worlds in his books as he wants the reader to see them."

I have read all of his fantasy books, but some were tough to get through. I found them to be overly descript and often that took away from my experience as a reader.

 

[Markbnj]

Indeed, it's one of the foundations of all modern fantasy writing. I read it first at age 12 and then rapidly read the LOTR trilogy. Read it again ten or so times over the years.

 

[iamwiz82]

I loved the book, but as my friend has said... "Tolkien describes the worlds in his books as he wants the reader to see them."

I have read all of his fantasy books, but some were tough to get through. I found them to be overly descript and often that took away from my experience as a reader.

To me all of Tolkiens' books were overly done and boring. I couldn't get through them. I'm not a sci-fi person though, so that probably didn't' help.

 

[Fritzo]

I loved the book, but as my friend has said... "Tolkien describes the worlds in his books as he wants the reader to see them."

I have read all of his fantasy books, but some were tough to get through. I found them to be overly descript and often that took away from my experience as a reader.

Same here, to the point that I had a problem finishing it. There were so many unnecessary and unneeded descriptions everywhere!

Normal author: "The old tree wafted in the breeze as a bluebird perched on its dead branch."

Tolkien: "The old tree- planted in the 2nd Age of Agronon as a tribute to the Flataets during the Feast of Morgathar as was tradition for the Elves in the northern villages of Dramagon -creaked in the stout winds that descended from the snow-topped Ritku mountains, which were only recently rendered in snow after the battle of the Frost Dragons and the Grey Wizards usurped the peaks into a permanent chill, and this stout wind filled the fields below it, encircling this very tree, upon which a bird...the bird some knew as Blantonicor...made its roost.

 

[Geosurface]

I love the book. I think I finally got around to reading it when I was about 14.

Sadly that means that my first exposure to the story was this:

but as much as people bash it I think that cartoon was charming and quite good. Not perfect, but good.

I wish that modern kids' stuff could take the time to be charming and pastoral, rather than frantic and relentless.

 

[Geosurface]

Normal author: "The old tree wafted in the breeze as a bluebird perched on its dead branch."

Tolkien: "The old tree- planted in the 2nd Age of Agronon as a tribute to the Flataets during the Feast of Morgathar as was tradition for the Elves in the northern villages of Dramagon -creaked in the stout winds that descended from the snow-topped Ritku mountains, which were only recently rendered in snow after the battle of the Frost Dragons and the Grey Wizards usurped the peaks into a permanent chill, and this stout wind filled the fields below it, encircling this very tree, upon which a bird...the bird some knew as Blantonicor...made its roost.

Did you just come up with that? Because that was pretty hilarious.

Though I myself am an incredibly long-winded person who cannot get to the point, and appreciate Tolkien's similar tendencies. Still funny.

 

[dainthomas]

Same here, to the point that I had a problem finishing it. There were so many unnecessary and unneeded descriptions everywhere!

Normal author: "The old tree wafted in the breeze as a bluebird perched on its dead branch."

Tolkien: "The old tree- planted in the 2nd Age of Agronon as a tribute to the Flataets during the Feast of Morgathar as was tradition for the Elves in the northern villages of Dramagon -creaked in the stout winds that descended from the snow-topped Ritku mountains, which were only recently rendered in snow after the battle of the Frost Dragons and the Grey Wizards usurped the peaks into a permanent chill, and this stout wind filled the fields below it, encircling this very tree, upon which a bird...the bird some knew as Blantonicor...made its roost.

Tolkien >> Whatever author you like

 

[Fritzo]

Did you just come up with that? Because that was pretty hilarious.

Though I myself am an incredibly long-winded person who cannot get to the point, and appreciate Tolkien's similar tendencies. Still funny.

Yeah, I'm goofy like that.

 

[mizzou]

Did you just come up with that? Because that was pretty hilarious.

Though I myself am an incredibly long-winded person who cannot get to the point, and appreciate Tolkien's similar tendencies. Still funny.

same, im extremely long winded myself. it drives people nuts if they are to the point.

 

[DigDog]

Tolkien >> Whatever author you like

i politely disagree. Heinlein walks all over stuffy ol' JRT.
Asimov. Clarke. Herbert. etc.

Anyway, funny story, it took me 15 years to read Lotr. I guess i could never be bothered, although i did read the hobbit, that other story about the dragon slayer (farmer giles, tnx google) .. plus ofc i watched the 1980s animated film.

So, funny bit. At the time i had been playing D&D and every one of my friends read Lotr, and basically, they assumed i did as well, and i .. lied. I guess i just went with it, and never said "well, i actually never read the thang".

So while we were cool talking about trolls and dragons n stuff, when people started talking about stuff like Lothlorien and Minas Morgul, i just kinda went "uuh, yeah, ofc i know that".

15 years and nobody realized i never read the bloody thing. Even had arguments about elves and various middle-earth lore, but never read it.
Its just that tolkien-stuff permeates the world of RPGs, you absorb it even without reading Lotr.

Also, while the story is great .. great premise, great characters ..
first off, tolkien just up n repeats whole paragraphs; i was honestly "wtf" surprised, but he has this thing that he'll just have a description of something be with the same exact wording as something 100 pages earlier.
His writing stile is quite verbose, and not really in a fresh, colorful way. He was good at building a story, but his style leaves to be desired.

and .. the frikkin eagles still piss me off.

Besides that, great book. I did like the hobbit better though.

Had a friend once who wrote a dissertion on how the hobbit is a child's story, and its journey represents growing up, while Lotr is a proper fantasy story; imho, its not quite like that.

The hobbit has some liberties with the story, like the troll's comic relief for example, but in the end, there's twists involving greed, breakdown of friendship, mistrust and racism.
Lotr on the other hand is all about buddies sticking it out ot the end, and with the boromir / faramir backstory, it's both the ring's evil action clearly to blame, and the bad guys are made out to be plain bad guys, secondary characters who represent the simple moral choice our heroes must beat. (effortlessly)

Nothing like bilbo being held up and nearly thrown down the wall by his former friends, blinded by greed and vengeance. After all, the arkenstone is just a stone. Barin's desire to restore his home is more about him losing face in front of his clan, and wanting vengeance on the goblins for what is essentially a fu*up by the dwarves themselves.

oh look i've gone and done it again. its boring here at work, i go into walloftext mode.

 

[Fritzo]

same, im extremely long winded myself. it drives people nuts if they are to the point.

That wasn't long winded.

 

[IronWing]

Imagine Tolkien and Heinlein co-authoring a book! It'd be Mein Kampf with dragons and sexy thirteen year old girls with laser cannons.

 

[glenn1]

Maybe Ice-T will narrate it someday?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/patricksmith/ice-t-narrated-a-dungeons-dragons-audio-book-and-didnt-under

"What were we talking about? Pegasuses, pegasii, that’s horses with wings. This mother****er got a sword that talks to him. Mother****ers live in places that don’t exist, it comes with a map. My God.

I told my manager, don’t ever book me for this kind of shit again. Let me do a porno or something - I know about that."

 

[surfsatwerk]

Smaug dies at the end.

 

[Zee]

Smaug dies at the end.

way to ruin it moran

 

[IronWing]

way to ruin it moran

Spoiler

Bard, great and noble hunter, wipes out the last known individual of an endangered species.

Way to go dude.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Spoiler

Bard, great and noble hunter, wipes out the last known individual of an endangered species.

Way to go dude.

Srsly, and the part where Thorin gets caught blowing Dumbledore by Bilbo is fucking awkward.

 

[glenn1]

Smaug dies at the end.

Han Solo shot first.

 

[DigDog]

Imagine Tolkien and Heinlein co-authoring a book! It'd be Mein Kampf with dragons and sexy thirteen year old girls with laser cannons.

i can easily fap to this:$

 

[twinrider1]

Normal author: "The old tree wafted in the breeze as a bluebird perched on its dead branch."

Tolkien: "The old tree- planted in the 2nd Age of Agronon as a tribute to the Flataets during the Feast of Morgathar as was tradition for the Elves in the northern villages of Dramagon -creaked in the stout winds that descended from the snow-topped Ritku mountains, which were only recently rendered in snow after the battle of the Frost Dragons and the Grey Wizards usurped the peaks into a permanent chill, and this stout wind filled the fields below it, encircling this very tree, upon which a bird...the bird some knew as Blantonicor...made its roost.

Hilarious. Tolkien is great, but you're point is well taken. I love The Hobbit and LotR, but I could never make it through The Silmarillion.

 

[zCypher]

Same here, to the point that I had a problem finishing it. There were so many unnecessary and unneeded descriptions everywhere!

Normal author: "The old tree wafted in the breeze as a bluebird perched on its dead branch."

Tolkien: "The old tree- planted in the 2nd Age of Agronon as a tribute to the Flataets during the Feast of Morgathar as was tradition for the Elves in the northern villages of Dramagon -creaked in the stout winds that descended from the snow-topped Ritku mountains, which were only recently rendered in snow after the battle of the Frost Dragons and the Grey Wizards usurped the peaks into a permanent chill, and this stout wind filled the fields below it, encircling this very tree, upon which a bird...the bird some knew as Blantonicor...made its roost.

lmao. well done fritzo. i feel exactly the same way.