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Traveller's Reviews > The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
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Maybe one day soon I'll write a proper review of The Hobbit.
In the meantime, I want to say this:
If you are a child, you need to read this for Gollum's riddles.
If you are an adult, you need to read this book to children (if you don't have children,rent borrow some) for at least one opportunity to roleplay Gollum.
Becuz GOLLUM ROOOLZ!!!!!
(PS. Since Gollum features so strongly in this review, is an interesting video on the acting and CGI genius that went into the making of the screen Gollum.)
Of course the most compelling reason to add this to your reading list in haste is that it's coming to the MOOVIEZZZ!! (Update: commentary on the moviez below).
Btw, if you like kickass fighting elves, not to mention pretty kickass she-elves and some sizzling elf/dwarf romance--well, then you might like the second Hobbit movie more than the book... ahem!
Part 3 coming to a cinema house near you soon(-ish). My PRECCIOOOUUSSSSS!
...and soon I'll have a copy of the all the moviez, and they will be me MINE, all mine, just like my precciousss illustrated copies of the novel.
Ha, you didn't think one copy would be enough did you??
If you get around used bookstores a lot, do look out for an illustrated version of the book!
Update: About the 3 films by Peter Jackson: I didn't find the first 2 films very memorable. He seemed to draw it out almost unbearably, and it also felt to me as if he was embellishing the original story a bit.
The whole thing seemed like actiony rubbish, though I personally actually quite enjoyed the swinging, shooting, swordfighting ninja elves and the bit of romance.
But the THIRD film, The Battle of the Five Armies , now -that- was a good one. I almost missed it on the big screen because of the mediocrity of the first two films. But I was glad, oh so glad that I actually did go and see it. The cinematics, acting and editing was all very well done, but it was the screenwriting and directing that really shone.
Here we saw a story of courage and cowardice; of generosity; of greed and avarice; of greatness of soul and of smallness of soul; of love; of selflessness; of brotherhood; of hatred; of humanity; of pain; of sacrifice; of struggle; of moral and spiritual victories; of sadness and loss, but above all, of triumph of the soul.
Yes, The Battle of the Five Armies is certainly something that does Tolkien justice at the very least, and what a joy it was to behold on the big screen. :)
PS. The movies also taught us that dwarves CAN be hot!
In the meantime, I want to say this:
If you are a child, you need to read this for Gollum's riddles.
If you are an adult, you need to read this book to children (if you don't have children,
Becuz GOLLUM ROOOLZ!!!!!
(PS. Since Gollum features so strongly in this review, is an interesting video on the acting and CGI genius that went into the making of the screen Gollum.)
Of course the most compelling reason to add this to your reading list in haste is that it's coming to the MOOVIEZZZ!! (Update: commentary on the moviez below).
Btw, if you like kickass fighting elves, not to mention pretty kickass she-elves and some sizzling elf/dwarf romance--well, then you might like the second Hobbit movie more than the book... ahem!
Part 3 coming to a cinema house near you soon(-ish). My PRECCIOOOUUSSSSS!
...and soon I'll have a copy of the all the moviez, and they will be me MINE, all mine, just like my precciousss illustrated copies of the novel.
Ha, you didn't think one copy would be enough did you??
If you get around used bookstores a lot, do look out for an illustrated version of the book!
Update: About the 3 films by Peter Jackson: I didn't find the first 2 films very memorable. He seemed to draw it out almost unbearably, and it also felt to me as if he was embellishing the original story a bit.
The whole thing seemed like actiony rubbish, though I personally actually quite enjoyed the swinging, shooting, swordfighting ninja elves and the bit of romance.
But the THIRD film, The Battle of the Five Armies , now -that- was a good one. I almost missed it on the big screen because of the mediocrity of the first two films. But I was glad, oh so glad that I actually did go and see it. The cinematics, acting and editing was all very well done, but it was the screenwriting and directing that really shone.
Here we saw a story of courage and cowardice; of generosity; of greed and avarice; of greatness of soul and of smallness of soul; of love; of selflessness; of brotherhood; of hatred; of humanity; of pain; of sacrifice; of struggle; of moral and spiritual victories; of sadness and loss, but above all, of triumph of the soul.
Yes, The Battle of the Five Armies is certainly something that does Tolkien justice at the very least, and what a joy it was to behold on the big screen. :)
PS. The movies also taught us that dwarves CAN be hot!
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The Hobbit, or There and Back Again.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
December 1, 1997
–
Finished Reading
January 12, 2010
– Shelved
February 13, 2010
– Shelved as:
fantasy
February 13, 2010
– Shelved as:
classics
December 7, 2015
– Shelved as:
1001-books
Comments Showing 1-50 of 51 (51 new)
Chris wrote: "LOL... the award..I saw it before but it's worth watching again. :-D"
Yes, I loved it so much it has it's own little place on my hard drive. :)
I'm awaiting the movie of this book with anticipation, I must say. I suppose at that point, reviews of the book will explode again.
..and we'll see a bunch of spoof reviews as as well. c_c
I love this review. I read the Hobbit as an adult and I celebrated the inner child. Later, when my girls were old enough, I read it to them aloud, and then we read aloud the entire LOTR. A magical experience that I will always remember.
Thanks Stephen! I hope you really hammed it up with your Gollum impersonations! I read some of The Hobbit with my kids, and my son loved my Gollum impersonation so much, that he started doing Gollum impersonations himself and has become a pro at it. Sometimes he has me in stitches with that!
One of life's great joys is reading to children. Thanks for reminding us. I read this one to mine, complete with different voices for all the major characters. What fun! It is an excellent introduction to the later, much more ambitious LOTR work. Read that one out loud as well, which was even more fun. I see this is the norm on GR-land. I had not seen the MTV award bit before. It is definitely preciousssssss!
I'm getting this uncontrollable urge to start talking like Gollum. It just goes to show that old hobbitses dies hard, yes they does, preciousss! (Especially if they was the keeper of the Precious for so long.)
What has it got in its pocketses, preciousss.
If it'sss jusssst a ssstupid Golden Popcorn award, we doesn't want it, precioussss, no we doesn't. Give usss nice fissshhh, rrraawwww!
I am already pining for the film.We mussst see it, preciousss, we mussst see it, gollum.
LOL, Will, and Richard, in our household Gollum is an endless source of entertainment. Glad to hear others also enjoy him. One of the best parts in the book is where where he and Bilbo have a riddle showdown .That award clip is one of my faves....and don't you just love how they put Sméagol in as his alter ego, and he insults everyone, including even MTV before he exits tightly clutching his award in spite of his insults...
It was wonderful. Thanks for posting it, T.
After reading that, I rather wish my parents had read it to me. Instead, my father tossed me a dog-eared copy at about age five and said "here, you'll enjoy this." He was reading The Silmarillion at the time, and I asked him about it. He was about half-way through, and he looked over at me and said "too complex for you right. Or just crap. I haven't decided yet."Still haven't read The Silmarillion.
Are you looking forward to the movies, T?
L.H. wrote: "After reading that, I rather wish my parents had read it to me. Instead, my father tossed me a dog-eared copy at about age five and said "here, you'll enjoy this." He was reading The Silmarillion a..."I'm sorry to hear your regret, L.H. Admittedly, my own parents didn't read me this book, but my father did tell me lots of fairy-tales quite amazingly from memory, and we always had lots of books on supply.
I've only read some of the Silmarillion. I prefer not to comment on books i haven't read to the end.
About the Hobbit movies: well, i do like the LOTR movies, so, yes, i did largely anticipate it when it was announced, but i can't help wondering why there's going to be 3.
I guess it does make sense to make 3 shorter movies than one long movie if you're going to have a very young audience, but still- I do have some slight reservations.
And you?
I love that reading out loud to children as well and giving free rein to the thespian inside with the voices. My problem is when I get so carried away and then can't remember which voice goes with which character and you can bet your bottom dollar the kid remembers and corrects you.
I have found that when there are many voices to handle, one solution is to do character for a limited number and read the others in one's natural voice.
Will wrote: "I have found that when there are many voices to handle, one solution is to do character for a limited number and read the others in one's natural voice."Now that would be the sensible thing to do my friend i would agree but my inner Alastair Sim, desperate to shine, can sometimes just not be controlled
Mark wrote: "Now that would be the sensible thing to do my friend i would agree but my inner Alastair Sim, desperate to shine, can sometimes just not be controlled."LOL, it sounds like this is just the book for you, Mark- I wonder what voice you'd give Sauron?
I must admit that I am less erm, ambitious, and didn't give all of the character interpretations too much energy for fear of not being able to keep it up. But i let my son share the burden of some of the reading, so it was fun all around!
Traveller wrote: " I wonder what voice you'd give Sauron"What a great party game....Off the top of my head, it would be a toss up between.....hmmmm, on second thoughts i had better be careful. I could be sued for defammation
Mark wrote: "Traveller wrote: " I wonder what voice you'd give Sauron"What a great party game....Off the top of my head, it would be a toss up between.....hmmmm, on second thoughts i had better be careful. I ..."
You never know... some people might actually be pleased to be likened to Sauron... :P
Traveller wrote: "L.H. wrote: "After reading that, I rather wish my parents had read it to me. Instead, my father tossed me a dog-eared copy at about age five and said "here, you'll enjoy this." He was reading The S..."Oh absolutely. I think the first reaction in the newsroom last week was "Huh?" Three books, three movies made a sort of sense.
My middle earth fantasy-that-takes-itself-seriously vibe is only good for about two hours of screen time, I think.
Now, a Pawn of Prophecy series with three movies (or six)? That I'd go to.
On narration, to me the question is always "English accent or not?", because let's face it, everything sounds better went narrated by Ian McKellan, Christoper Plummer (he's Canadian but sounds English) or Emma Thompson.
L.H. Juliet Stevenson is a great english narrator too. Both the Virginia Woolf Audiobooks I have are narrated by her. Her reading of 'Mrs Dalloway' is just sublime
Brandi wrote: "I agree, this is a great book to read aloud. But you have to make sure the narrator can read the troll parts well. And Gollum, too. I tried and failed. ;)"It takes a lot of practice! :)
On narration... Hmmm some British actor's accents can be a bit too over the top, but for me, since the Tolkien books are so English in character, i would also say a British narrator. I agree with that i like Ian Mc Kellen's voice for a narration.
I must check out L.H. Juliet Stevenson's voice acting/reading.
British, for sureI made the trolls German
But Ian McKellan is Gandalf, so wouldn't it be odd for him to be narrator who is NOT Gandalf?
the movie is amazing. I vaguely remember hearing bits of the story when i was younger. And i loved the lord of the rings but never got a chance to read the hobbit. So yeah. I LOVED the movie.
hehehehehe i loved the movie, can't wait for the next one though =D it will be mine XD
I can never get enough of Tolkienesque movies. Apparently there were other movies made, and of course there's quite a bit of artwork done around his stories; if you like that kind of art, this is a nice book to have: Realms of Tolkien
I always loved The Hobbit...
Enjoyed this review, Traveller.I did read The Hobbit to one of my daughters followed by the entire Lord of the Rings over the course of a year. My older daughters had read it themselves but they used to listen in to the bedtime reading from time to time - picture it, four of us snuggled up together in one tiny bed - it was wonderful. Then the LotR movies hit the screens and they enjoyed them hugely, reruns and reruns until I couldn't stand any more shots of orks flooding the TV screen. But what they really loved was Gollum. They could do that back of the throat voice to perfection. The phrase, 'My Precious' eventually drove me crazier than the orks....
Fionnuala wrote: "Enjoyed this review, Traveller.I did read The Hobbit to one of my daughters followed by the entire Lord of the Rings over the course of a year. My older daughters had read it themselves but they u..."
He he--although I started out the role-playing and doing the Gollum voice with my kids, my son kept working on it and mastered that gollum-voice to a creepy point of perfection. In fact, some days he sounds more gollum-y than Gollum to me!
Gollum DOES rule! I especially like his voice in the movies.
I don't understand how you can rent children but i agree with you. :)
Lucien wrote: "I don't understand how you can rent children but i agree with you. :)"Thanks for pointing that out, Lucien. Fixed!
It was lovely to see your review again Traveller!
Funny review, Trav. I just need to read this since I'm one of those who haven't *hangs head in utter embarrassment*
Actually Garima you would love this! It's such a wonderful tale.
Garima wrote: "Funny review, Trav. I just need to read this since I'm one of those who haven't *hangs head in utter embarrassment*"You shouldn't be embarassed, Garima, I've read very little Indian and other World Lit after all!
...but it should be a quick read for you, Garima! ..and as an adult you should be able to catch the more subtle themes and humor too! It's where the whole Lord of the Rings phenomenon started out, and since the latter has had such a large influence on Western (and possibly other) cultural tropes, it is therefore a bit of cultural history, so to speak...
@Lynne: Oh I'm sure it is a wonderful tale. I'll read it soon. :)@Trav: True, but this book is different...kind of universal in its appeal and popularity. And...umm..I haven't read LOTR too and watched the movie in parts only because I wanted to get familiar with the text first.
PS: Hope that 99 turns to 100 soon. I get restless when it doesn't :P
Yes I'm waiting for the 100 too Garima! Remember Lolita!
Lynne wrote: "Yes I'm waiting for the 100 too Garima! Remember Lolita!"Haha! yes.
Heh, thanks, yes, I too, like a tidy number. The review doesn't really deserve so many likes, since one could write a much better review of TH, of course, but it was originally posted at a point in time when it occurred to me how well-done the movie character of Gollum was.So let's hope another Gollum er.. fan? comes along and gives us our 100 ^_^.
Ding-ding-ding-ding! Ema did us the the honor.Thanks Ema! :D
Yeeey, I am the 100th! Although I am not really a Gollum fan, but yeeey!What's he eating there, a fish? What a pair of shiny, wet eyes he has, almost sad...
What you didn't know, Ema, is that the 100th "like" clicker here, wins a book prize! :DYes, he is a water creature, so I guess he gets to eat fish... and I guess the rawness of the fish is to add to the 'ick' factor. Have you watched the LOTR movies or the first hobbit movie? His voice and everything about him is very well done.
Yup, I was going to ask if there was a prize, but I got too carried away! I haven't watched all the LOTR movies, but I liked the ones I saw. I was more into Harry Potter, though. :P
I'd rather read the books at this point, as my passion for movies has subsided considerably.
I read this to my three older kids and enjoyed it immensely. What I found so amazing is that Gollum's dialogue is written exactly the way it sounds in the LOTR movies, and it was almost impossible not to slip into the character. Of course, as a family we've watched the LOTR movies so many times I've lost count, as well as the first of The Hobbit. And of course the kids insisted on seeing the second as soon as it came to a theater near us.Great character, great book.
Ema wrote: "I'd rather read the books at this point, as my passion for movies has subsided considerably...."Ema, if you get around used bookstores a lot, do look out for an illustrated version!
Shaun wrote: "I read this to my three older kids and enjoyed it immensely. What I found so amazing is that Gollum's dialogue is written exactly the way it sounds in the LOTR movies, and it was almost impossible ..."
Yes, he's great fun, as are the Hobbits. He's even more fun to try and copy than Yoda!
The Hobbit riddles have always been firm favorites as well. Which, come to think of it, sort of refers to the 'riddle' trope often found in folklore. :)
Oh, the drawings are beautiful, it's a pity not to read the illustrated edition! I'll keep an eye for it, we do have a second-hand chain of bookstores in Bucharest, which bring novels in English at affordable prices.
The first and the last one are from illustrated versions, but I'm not sure if the third is part of a book or an artwork on its own. Now I'm tempted to put illustrations in the actual review... (and maybe beef the review up a bit--oh golly, so many reviews to be written...)
I love the book and the movie but the movie isn't like the book at all. It has an elfish blade but its not an elf what is it precious what is it?!?!
I saw it before but it's worth watching again. :-D