Book 1 of 2015 - Finished

Last night I finished the first book of my 2015 challenge.

>.>  yes, it took me almost a month to do, but I don't tend to sit down and read like I used too.

What was it?

Yep, The Hobbit.  ^^

Sure, I read it years ago, and I loved it. But rereading it, after the movies, was enjoyable. I saw every deviation, every change and every scene not in one, but in the other.

And ya know what? I still love the movies and I still love the book.  They're not the same, and I'm ok with that.

I cried at the end, laughed at scenes and once again wished I had my own Hobbit hole to have tea in.

'You are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all.'

Kristy C

Inspiring Music

Having finished Reckless Magic, I've started reading The Hobbit again.

Already, the differences are massive and while I still love the movies [they are, what they are] the book is winning me over.

Oddly, one of the bigger disappointments was that the longer version of Mist Mountains by Peter Hollens, still isn't the song from the book. I thought 'Oh, I'll listen to it, while I read it.' and then it all went whacky.

On the plus side, I found this gem in the song and I swear.. I read it over and over again, feeling it draw me into those four lines, until I was sharing it anyplace I could.

"On silver necklaces they strung
The flowering stars, on crowns they hung
The dragon-fire, in twisted wire
They meshed the light of moon and sun."

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, Misty Mountain, 5th verse

When I read on a bit more, I knew that a dream of mine would now be to design jewelry that could some how make a Dwarf proud, and a Hobbit's Took side come out in a desire to seek the treasure.

Kristy C

Things I Like... Hobbits, Dwarfs and Middle Earth

Sure, I could have just said LOTR, but that would be boring.

With the last of the movies out, and the tear jerker of a song [which I'll share below] released, its a sad moment to look back on the joyous ride that Peter Jackson has taken us on...

It also pales in comparison to the roller coaster that Tolkien took us on in the books. To be sure, those are the foundation to an entire genre.

Some years ago, my parents bought me the Hobbit and LOTR Trilogy. I was a teen, I know that much.  Now, I'd watched The Hobbit cartoon [I loved that cartoon.] and the kiss ass, more accurate than the movie, LOTR's one, that didn't reach the Return of the King.  [They did a cute, but bad, cartoon for that. Same style as the Hobbit].

I read the Hobbit, The Fellowship and the first half of The Two Towers.  Then I reached the second half, and damn if I didn't slog my way through that. I HATE that section of the book, and if anything says to me 'Tolkien was a master at world building, race creation, languages and map making. But he wasn't a great writer' its that book.  Yeah, its not the worst thing you could read. [I've seen worse, let me tell you.] However, its over done at times.  It can be summed up like this...

And they walked... More walking... Whining by one of the Hobbits, encouragement from the other... They meet Smeagol... More walking... Whining... Arguing between all three, on various points... Cowering in fear... They did a bit more walking, and whined while they walked... They did sneaky things [mostly Smeagol] and they perhaps walked a bit more.

Congrats, you've just read most of the second half of The Two Towers... A book that could have been cut into smaller pieces, and not perhaps taken me over 6 months to read.  And I read fast. Once read 15 books in 31 days...

Once I'd finished slogging my way through it, I read The Return of the King.  And, my parents congratulated me by picking up one of the millions of companions out there to help you understand what the hell you'd just read. They're moderately helpful.

Now, life comes full circle and like so many out there, I'm drawn back to where it all started.  The Hobbit.

I shared pictures last week of a Vinyl bound pocket edition [I said leather] of the Hobbit.  The book was 19.99 in store, 15.99 online [plus S&H] and 5.98 [S&H included] at the Amazon marketplace, for a new copy.  Its sitting next to me, and the desire to read it almost overwhelms my need to finish the book I'm already reading.  But, it will be first on my list.

And I think, I shall use my new journal to keep notes on things when I read them this year.  Yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea.  :D

Kristy C