Somewhere between adolescence and adulthood I managed to skirt reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Of the many books and Cliff notes I have read over the years this classic flew under the radar. I usually read a number of crime/mystery novels each year, but I recently decided to branch out a little. I would like to say this was due to some noble desire to transform my literary world, but in reality it was probably due to the extra time caused by the TV writers strike earlier this year (yes, I watch too many shows, curse you DVR!). No, Oprah's book of the month didn't start sounding fascinating. Instead, murder, mystery, and forensics were replaced (in part) with dwarfs, wizards, and elves. I tore through the Harry Potter series. In case you live in a hole or have yet to tire of hearing the series praised, these were some of the best books I have ever read. I then moved onto the Chronicles of Narnia series (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is particularly good). That brings us to The Hobbit. Now don't write this book off as a "children's book." If I had that attitude my only impression of Harry Potter would be what I've seen on DVD. Pretty unforgivable. Also keep in mind that I have never been a huge fan of books whose category is often labeled "Fantasy." I don't play Warcraft and I have never been known as Elf_Lord215. With that said, I highly recommend giving this book a try if you haven't already, especially before the new movie is released. I paid a grand total of $8 for The Hobbit and the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in trade paperback. Seems like an easy choice when most of us are willing to drop 10 bucks to see the often substandard "movie version."
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
There and Back Again
Somewhere between adolescence and adulthood I managed to skirt reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Of the many books and Cliff notes I have read over the years this classic flew under the radar. I usually read a number of crime/mystery novels each year, but I recently decided to branch out a little. I would like to say this was due to some noble desire to transform my literary world, but in reality it was probably due to the extra time caused by the TV writers strike earlier this year (yes, I watch too many shows, curse you DVR!). No, Oprah's book of the month didn't start sounding fascinating. Instead, murder, mystery, and forensics were replaced (in part) with dwarfs, wizards, and elves. I tore through the Harry Potter series. In case you live in a hole or have yet to tire of hearing the series praised, these were some of the best books I have ever read. I then moved onto the Chronicles of Narnia series (The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is particularly good). That brings us to The Hobbit. Now don't write this book off as a "children's book." If I had that attitude my only impression of Harry Potter would be what I've seen on DVD. Pretty unforgivable. Also keep in mind that I have never been a huge fan of books whose category is often labeled "Fantasy." I don't play Warcraft and I have never been known as Elf_Lord215. With that said, I highly recommend giving this book a try if you haven't already, especially before the new movie is released. I paid a grand total of $8 for The Hobbit and the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy in trade paperback. Seems like an easy choice when most of us are willing to drop 10 bucks to see the often substandard "movie version."
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3 comments:
LOVED the Hobbit growing up and I think that will be added to my "books to read again" list! Am loving the Harry Potter books (definitely better than the movies!) and love the Narnia books (also on the "need to read again" list!) If you really want to step out, read all the "Twilight" books!
;0)
I will not read Twilight you will see, not in a house, not with a mouse, not with a fox, not in a box. In this case waiting for the movie version was MORE than enough.
You are funny and creative...glad you finally started a blog! Made me smile in both of your replies!!
And a suggestion, you should take away the code verification. People usually hate those and I have never had any problems with spam. Just a suggestion...you can take it or leave it! =0)
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