Author Topic: Hobbit, The. by J.R.R. Tolkien Prediscussion (Read 14905 times)

Babi · « **Reply #40 on:** November 04, 2012, 09:48:53 AM »

The Book Club Online is the oldest book club on the Internet, begun in 1996, open to everyone. We offer cordial discussions of one book a month, 24/7 and enjoy the company of readers from all over the world. Everyone is welcome.

Please post here if you can join us starting Nov. 12....

November Book Club Online

The Hobbit turns 75 this fall, an occasion likely to cause many thousands of people to reflect with fondness on their childhood memories of the adventures of Bilbo Baggins.

Though a much loved and widely respected children’s book, this work is too often overlooked by adults who relegate it to the nursery bookshelf. "The Hobbit is a brilliantly constructed story unfolding themes that adult readers will still find compellingly relevant to the modern world: themes such as the nature of evil and the significance of human choice, or the corruptive power of greed and the ease with which good people can be drawn into destructive conflict." Corey Olsen is an Assistant Professor of English at Washington College in Maryland

Bilbo Baggins begins as a cautious and conservative hobbit, well respected and considered a pillar of the hobbit community. When he reluctantly sets out on a quest to recover the stolen treasure of a band of dwarves, he encounters dangers of all descriptions. His adventures, which figure prominently in a prophecy of the dwarves, are like stepping stones on the inner journey Biblo must take to find his courage. Bilbo faces trials which again and again force him to look deep inside himself for the strength and resourcefulness he needs to complete the task expected of him

Discussion Schedule

Ch 1 - 3	Nov 12-16
Ch 4 - 6	Nov 17-21
Ch 7 - 8	Nov 22-26
Ch 9 - 12	Nov 27-Dec 1
Ch 13 - 15	Dec 2-5
Ch 16 - 18	Dec 6-9
Ch 19 and overall	Dec 10-13

Discussion Leaders: PatH; Marcie, Babi , Barbara

Thanks for the soothing words, FRYBABE and PAT. I figure to wait until Monday, and if it still
hasn't shown up I will see what I can find out. I can always begin with a library copy if
necessary. Or, considering the number of people that are having to reserve the book, maybe
not. $:-\$

JOAN & PAT, I well remember how enraptured I was when I first read Hobbit. I stil remember how
delighted I was with the little farewell song that was sung by one of the hobbits when Bilbo started his journey.
He hopped up on the table at the pub and started singing. I swear I could imagine the tune as well. (Can't
remember if it was Bilbo himself who did the singing.)

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #41 on:** November 04, 2012, 11:07:46 AM »

Babi is the book coming directly from Amazon or from the Marketplace and a private seller? I get so many of my books used from the Marketplace and find the delivery to be all over the time table - some come as quickly as if I ordered prime from Amazon and others take the 3 weeks - here of late I have not had to wait more than 3 weeks although in the past is was not unusual. I find if I email the seller Amazon gets a copy of the email and they get on top of it for me.

marcie · « **Reply #42 on:** November 04, 2012, 04:12:07 PM »

Our discussion schedule is now in the heading of this discussion.

dean69 · « **Reply #43 on:** November 05, 2012, 07:31:37 AM »

What a great adventure book "The Hobbit" is! Why have I not read it before now? I started reading it yesterday and have read 5 chapters already. I plan to join the discussion. This should be fun.

PatH · « **Reply #44 on:** November 05, 2012, 07:55:34 AM »

Oh, great, dean69, it's good to have you with us.. Indeed, I suspect our main problem will be not reading too fast. Of course, if everyone wants to, we can speed (or slow) the schedule.

Babi · « **Reply #45 on:** November 05, 2012, 08:58:05 AM »

Hurray! Both books turned up! Naturally, I opened "The Hobbit" immediately,...and'
immediately fell under it's spell once again. In fact, I can see where it's going to be
a bit of a chore taking notes, when I just wnat to keep reading!

Oh, yes, DEAN69! You are in for a treat! You can see where a child would be delighted with
with the hobbit and his cosy burrow, while at the same time the adult is finding still more to
appreciate.

marcie · « **Reply #46 on:** November 05, 2012, 11:27:56 AM »

dean69, it's wonderful that you will be joining us. I think that even if some of us read the whole book and then discuss the sections according to our schedule, above, we'll likely have much to talk about. There seems to be a lot going on "between the lines."

For example, I found the following information in wikipedia:
The novel draws on Tolkien's knowledge of northern European historical literature, myth and languages. The names of Gandalf and all but one of the thirteen dwarves were taken directly from the poem Völuspá of the Poetic Edda. Several of the author's illustrations (including the dwarven map, the frontispiece and the dust jacket) make use of Anglo-Saxon runes. The names of the dwarf-friendly ravens are also derived from Old Norse for raven and rook, but their characters are unlike the typical war-carrion from Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon literature. Tolkien, however, is not simply skimming historical sources for effect: linguistic styles, especially the relationship between the modern and ancient, has been seen to be one of the major themes explored by the story.

On the other hand, as PatH says, we can adjust the discussion schedule as we go along.

Lorac625 · « **Reply #47 on:** November 05, 2012, 01:29:05 PM »

Oh,yeah! I have never heard of "There and Back,Again..." but it sounds like a great follow up to The Hobbit; which discussion I am going to try to stay optimistic and alive enough to join in. I failed on The Tempest,but I'll try again. I have so little life I bury myself in books and ignore what oppotunities I have to be with others(physically or digitally!)

PatH · « **Reply #48 on:** November 05, 2012, 02:16:48 PM »

Lorac625, I was beginning to get worried about you, so it's good to see you here. Do try again, at whatever level you're comfortable with. This is going to be fun.

majic · « **Reply #49 on:** November 05, 2012, 06:36:08 PM »

Magic here.
For some reason, my email stop getting notifications on the postings, so I just caught up.
I have a secret to tell, but when I tell - everyone will know and it won't be secret any longer. There's been a person, who has been lurking among the group members for many years now. She is my mother. Today she asked, if I had been keeping up on reading the posts. This is how I knew that they were not coming into my email. She also tell me how to correct the problem.
And now, I've told everyone she's out here. Know that she loves this group, knows everyone here by name and talks about each of you as personal friends, but remains in the background. LOL Hi Mom!
I think it's great that some are reading ahead, but I really think we should keep the schedule like it is. There's so much to discuss, I'm sure we can use the time for the good.

.

PatH · « **Reply #50 on:** November 05, 2012, 06:59:15 PM »

Hi, majic's mom. I'll remember there's another silent friend out there. Enjoy.

marcie · « **Reply #51 on:** November 05, 2012, 09:18:27 PM »

Lorac, I'm so glad you will try again to participate in our conversations about The Hobbit. As Pat says, it should be great fun.

Majic and Majic's mom, you can't leave us dangling!! What a nice mystery to have a "secret" mom and daughter team here.

kidsal · « **Reply #52 on:** November 06, 2012, 04:55:28 AM »

My copy arrived today - beautiful edition -- annotated by Anderson

Babi · « **Reply #53 on:** November 06, 2012, 08:41:57 AM »

I thought some of the dwarf names were vaguely familiar, MARCIE. I was pleased to see
that they been used elsewhere. Not that I ever read 'Voluspa', but no doubt they have
turned up elsewhere in literature.

What fun! Now we can all play "I wonder..." from time to time, esp. as we get to know Majic
better. Who knew a half-secret might be more intriguing than the secret.

majic · « **Reply #54 on:** November 06, 2012, 09:06:49 AM »

Barbi
You are right, they have appeared elsewhere. I don't know if you, or anyone else, read any/all of the Harry Potter series but there were many times I had the déjà vu experience. There are many pieces of Tolkien which appear in Harry Potter, too. Hum, so much for total originality.
This morning, I woke up to... "You told!". Well the secret is out, but she chooses to remain in the "closet". LOL Some of you probably know what I mean by "the old group" that existed before this one started. Well, she's been around that long and I feel as if I know many of you from all our conversations. It took the Hobbit to get me roped in to actually becoming a real participant.
Thanks everyone for the warm welcomes, I am excited about the upcoming discussions!

PatH · « **Reply #55 on:** November 06, 2012, 02:20:48 PM »

I'm sure we have a number of silent friends out there. Once in a while we catch a glimpse of one. I like to think of them being there.

Majic, does your mom know about the other spin-off group from the old group?

http://www.seniorsandfriends.org/index.php

There is some overlap in membership.

PatH · « **Reply #56 on:** November 06, 2012, 02:37:56 PM »

Names aren't all that Tolkien took from Finnish. It doesn't appear in this book, but one of his elvish languages, Quenya, owes a fair bit to Finnish.

Babi · « **Reply #57 on:** November 07, 2012, 09:00:51 AM »

It occurs to me, especially in writing fantasy, that including references to other fantasy
places and creatures would tend to make it all more 'real'. What do you think? Why not
watch for such figures in 'Hobbit', and see what our reaction is?

Dana · « **Reply #58 on:** November 08, 2012, 12:33:02 PM »

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/air-new-zealand-the-hobbit-safety-briefing/201sjr5w?ogvars=bWt0PWVuLXVzJmZyPWZhY2Vib29rLWxpa2Utc2VuZCZhcD10cnVl&from=en-us_fblike

PatH · « **Reply #59 on:** November 08, 2012, 01:19:38 PM »

Tee hee, Dana, that's better than the unintelligible safety briefings I get on airplanes.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #60 on:** November 08, 2012, 01:37:47 PM »

A riot and yet so wonderful it brings smiles and tears of delight.

JudeS · « **Reply #61 on:** November 08, 2012, 04:17:41 PM »

Thanks Dana. That was delightful.!

Frybabe · « **Reply #62 on:** November 08, 2012, 04:35:51 PM »

That was great, Dana. Thanks.

The Hobbit is waiting for me to pick up at the Library tomorrow.

Is anyone planning to pick up Corey Olsen's Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" . I think it was just published in September.

majic · « **Reply #63 on:** November 08, 2012, 05:14:40 PM »

I didn't know about Corey Olsen's Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit", but after checking up on its author I found a web site he established back in 2009. It looks like something we might want to explore:

http://tolkienprofessor.com/wp/

majic · « **Reply #64 on:** November 09, 2012, 08:45:39 AM »

After lookin into the above website further I thought I'd post this link, as it would narrow hinges down to just information on "The Hobbit". A great set of lectures on the book, well worth listening to.

http://www.tolkienprofessor.com/wp/lectures/the-hobbit/

marcie · « **Reply #65 on:** November 09, 2012, 10:52:22 AM »

The Hobbit airline briefing is very cute, Dana.

Frybabe, Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit by Corey Olsen is "in transit" to my local library. Thanks, majic, for the link to the author's website. It looks like it has lots of good information.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #66 on:** November 09, 2012, 11:43:40 AM »

Wow great background links found and recommended - love it... and yes, Dana I had to email the link to the airline tutorial to my list - heard back from several who thought it was great.

PatH · « **Reply #67 on:** November 09, 2012, 12:55:47 PM »

That link came just in time for me, Dana. At my f2f sci-fi/fantasy book group last night someone brought it up, and I got credit for having seen it. (I'm the oldest one there, and like to show I'm still current. They're very accepting of me, though.)

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #68 on:** November 09, 2012, 02:43:37 PM »

This PDF link fascinates me and I am tempted to swing for a copy of the book... this is the first chapter, plus intro etc.
http://files.tyndale.com/thpdata/FirstChapters/978-1-4143-0596-7.pdf

Frybabe · « **Reply #69 on:** November 09, 2012, 04:12:58 PM »

Barb, the very first line of the forward got me: "No child should grow up in a world without hobbits."

I've had my books for ages. When I asked my sister if her children would like them, she said she didn't want her children to be reading about wizards, etc. before they were well grounded in their religious faith. So, I have kept them (except, apparently, The Hobbit) all these years.

I also just downloaded Phantastes (mentioned in the Introduction) from Project Gutenberg.

Babi · « **Reply #70 on:** November 10, 2012, 09:13:25 AM »

BARB, I was much taken by these word from the Introduction in your link:

Quote

"inspire our hearts with realities best experienced in the land of fantasy..."

What a great insight. Fantasy can play this role with children, to introduce them to some realities in a way, and a place, that allows them to learn without endangering them.

BarbStAubrey · « **Reply #71 on:** November 10, 2012, 01:37:03 PM »

Yes, and I think a bit of that stays with us or why would we be reading so many novels - all fantasy yet, we are seeing the happenings as if real learning along with the characters the pitfalls and the lessons.

Babi · « **Reply #72 on:** November 11, 2012, 08:43:06 AM »

Exactly. I learned more about people from reading than from socializing, espcially when
I was young. Inexperience tends to accept everything at face value. The insight, I think,
comes only with experience and learning about the human condition...often from books.

I don't think there is any doubt that Tolkien used 'The Hobbit' to draw attention to
certain human behavior and social flaws.

JudeS · « **Reply #73 on:** November 11, 2012, 07:11:21 PM »

For Dana and anyone else who enjoyed the New Zealand Air Hobbit Commercial:

My newspaper (SJ Mercury News) had an article on the commercial today. They praisedit highly and mention that it has had million s of hits. Also that two of Tolkien's Great Grandsons are acting in it (wearing big hairy feet).

PatH · « **Reply #74 on:** November 12, 2012, 07:28:27 AM »

The discussion is open at last. We've moved to here:

http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=3623.0

News:

Author Topic: Hobbit, The. by J.R.R. Tolkien Prediscussion (Read 14905 times)