Anyone reading/read "The Hobbit" (1 Viewer)

[Jay H]

Hey Henry, we should start an official HTF LOTRs reading challenge! I was able to read a few pages today, finished Book One and Frodo and the gang has finally made it to Rivendell (also a fine maker of beautiful lugged steel bikes http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/)
Jay
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HUGBEES!
Certified HTF bike nut and mayor of
Obscuria.

 

[Henry Carmona]

Hey Jay, or anyone else
Have you read The Silmarilian, or something like that. My buddy tells me its really good too.
Ill be reading it as well.
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"Charlie don't surf."

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Henry, The Silmarillion was published after Tolkien's death and edited by his son, Christopher. It tells of the old days, from the creation of Middle Earth to the end of the The War Of The Ring.
It's like reading a history book. There's no plot or story to get involved with as such. There's some lovely stuff in there, but personally I didn't take to the rather heavy, text-book approach to writing. The abundance of odd names can get a bit tiring after a while.
However the stories themsleves are wonderful. The rise and fall of Melkor (Morgoth)- to whom Sauron was a mere Lieutenant originally - is very involved and stupendously well thought-out.
I found the book a tough cookie to read, but there is a great audio book of the entire, unabridged text. It's read by actor Martin Shaw (made famous in the UK in the 70s series 'The Professionals'). The CD set covers fifteen discs, but I MP3d the whole thing and had it playing in my car for about three weeks (that's how long it took me to get through it!).
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"We shall never surrender"
Winston Churchill.
[Edited last by Rob Gillespie on November 10, 2001 at 07:28 AM]

 

[Carlo_M]

Actually, I'm of the belief that although it is very long, LoTR will translate well to film. Tolkien spends much of his (writing) time describing things: people, places, etc. He spends less time "inside his characters' heads" than some other authors whose works do not translate well to film.
I don't have super high hopes and expectations, I'm just going to enjoy them for what they are. But I'm surprised at the number of Tolkien fans I know that, every time they see the trailers, they say "it looks right." I think it's because Tolkien is so descriptive of everything in Middle Earth that as long as PJ follows the narrative, he won't be too far astray from the path that most of us are on when we read the books.
Just my $.02--I may be singing a different tune once the movies come out.

 

[Jay H]

Nope, never read anything of Tolkein other than The Hobbit around June of this year..
I managed to read another 60 odd pages up to the Council of Elrond in Rivendell and Frodo and the gang are kind of chillin' waiting for the news of the Black Riders...
The plot thickens...
Jay
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HUGBEES!
Certified HTF bike nut and mayor of
Obscuria.

 

[Henry Carmona]

Rob, Thanks for the info.

I found the book a tough cookie to read,...

It cant be any worse than "Half-Life" by Hal Clement
(Sci-Fi), That was a tough book to read!!
Well im still reading the Hobbit, and will start on The Silmarillion soon
I hope i can read everything before the movie comes out, but i doubt it
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"Charlie don't surf."

 

[Jay H]

Woohoo... Since it's been a bit since this thread has been started, just thought I'd say that I am on page 550 of the one-volume book from Houghton Mifflin. I'm an the "Flotsam and Jetsam" chapter in The Two Towers so I am all set for the first FOTRs movie on Dec 19th... Yippee. I originally was thinking that the movie on the 19th was going to be on the whole book and not just the FOTR. I haven't really followed the filming like many of you. Then I realized that they're releaseing each "book" in year intervals starting this december, so I guess I'm all set. I was wondering because after checking out theonering.net, they mentioned that the Ents were going to be in the movie, but the Ents don't appear til The Two Towers and then I found out about their shooting schedule and stuff...

It's getting really exciting now!

Jay

 

[Rob Gillespie]

The only real mention of Ents in Fellowship is when Sam talks about 'walking trees' when he's in the pub near the beginning. As Jay said, they shouldn't really be there until The Two Towers.

Then again, OneRing reported that we wouldn't be seeing Gollum in the first film but he's there alright.

 

[TheoGB]

Well I don't think Saruman technically features too. Gandalf tells the Hobbits why he's late but that's all.

I guess because of the time it was written in, the book is not very cinematic in style. You don't get 'cuts' to other characters, and I don't think there's a single part that isn't told from the point of view of one of the four hobbits.

This means that there is a lot more scope for the films to include stuff as scenes rather than expositionary dialogue later on in the movies.

Also, isn't Gollum technically in Moria? I thought they hear him but they aren't sure, or something.

Henry: It sounds like you are going to read the Silmarillion before LOTR. I really wouldn't. The book is very very very hard to get into. One of the reasons is that the first part (possible first two) are written in a very wordy old testament style. The main part of the book (The Quenta Silmarillion) is actually quite easy to read and if you feel that it is getting hard you can skip to this section (from what I remember) and read the other stuff later.

 

[ikiru]

I read the Hobbit back in fifth grade and I loved it (it was my favorite series before I read the Prydain Chronicles). I also remember seeing the animated cartoons based on the books. There were two different versions, one looked like a cartoon and another looked like real actors in a cartoon world. I liked the cartoon version much better (besides how can you not like marching orcs singing "where there's a whip, there's a way" )

I have very fond memories of the Hobbit and LOTR, I hope the movies rekindle the imagination!

-ikiru

 

[Carlo_M]

Nothing to add, really, it's just that I can't help myself from clicking into these damned threads!!! The suspense is killing me (I hope it will last).
Glad to hear you're enjoying the books, Jay. Now you're in on the excitement as well!

 

[Henry Carmona]

Henry: It sounds like you are going to read the Silmarillion before LOTR. I really wouldn't. The book is very very very hard to get into. One of the reasons is that the first part (possible first two) are written in a very wordy old testament style. The main part of the book (The Quenta Silmarillion) is actually quite easy to read and if you feel that it is getting hard you can skip to this section (from what I remember) and read the other stuff later.

Hmm, so you think i should read it after i read LOTR?
I sorta see your point, but i thought that the Silmarilion would give me a good background of the stuff before LOTR, am i wrong?

 

[TheoGB]

Hmm. Well I guess it could but I would say it's always best to read books in publication order. There is nothing in LOTR that isn't explained (that I remember) and if there is anything vague I have a feeling the appendices cover them.
There is such a long timescale between the two sets of stories IIRC that you won't get a lot of crossover, except where Aragorn maybe tells a tale of the old days. On that comparison the better writing in LOTR would make it my choice for reading first.
I'm sure Rob will be able to give a much better answer, though!

 

[Rob Gillespie]

I'd have to agree. Leave The Silmarillion until after you've read the others. The stories are simply amazing, but you'll gain little or nothing by knowing them before delving into LOTR.

 

[Jay H]

I just dived into the appendixes just to check out what they're for, I noticed they have an index of the people you meet. And Tolkein seems to love to drop names out of everywhere. It's really handy that they list an index of characters so when you forget who so-and-so is, you can look it up in the index... A great idea!

I just watched my tape of the Fox special that was aired Thursday night and their sequence at the end is cool, It's when the party is under Moria and they're fighting the Orcs. The last scene shows you what I presume is the Balrog in action and then it cuts away...

Jay

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Tolkein

*Rob SLAPS Jay around the head with an orc's head*

 

[Nigel McN]

that short portion of the moria sequence shows a troll not the Balrog.

 

[Rob Gillespie]

Yeah, the Balrog makes the troll look like a wuss.

 

[Holadem]

You should read in order of publication.
As an aside, a huge pet peeve of mine is people who want to watch SW chronologically (Eps 1-6)
--
Holadem

 

[Kenneth Cummings]

While I'm still reading "The Two Towers", I just recently got done with "The Hobbit" and "Fellowship of the Rings". I was reading them all for my English class in my senior year of high school(which is easy enough that they are all on a computer book test, so that is easy points ). Now if we had more time to read the books in class and less time reading "Great Gasby" in class. Oh well, there always study hall.