The Hobbit

Over the break I finally got a chance to reread The Hobbit, since it has been probably 7 years since I’ve read it. I liked it a lot and I am definitely interested in reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy as well. I haven't seen the last film, but when comparing it to the first two movies I don't mind the changes that were made. The most notable additions to the movies were the party being pursued by the Orks and the character of the elvish warrior lady.

I’m surprised I liked the writing because there were lots of self-reflexive moments, which usually break me out of a story. It makes the audience aware they are reading a book by directly addressing them as “you.” It edits and comments on itself, the story, during the telling. One of these was at the line, “Escaping goblins to be caught by wolves! He said, and it became a proverb, though now we say “out of the frying pan in the fire” in the same sort of uncomfortable situations.” Another was “’Never laugh at live dragons, Bilbo you fool!’ he said to himself, and it became a favorite saying of his later, and passed into a proverb.” It is also quite noticeable when skipping location between chapters, mostly near the end. The dwarves get into the cave and wonder wear Smaug is. The next chapter begins, “now if you wish, like the dwarves, to hear the news of Smaug, you must go back again …” It also explicitly foreshadows events, sometimes by mentioning an event and then saying something along the lines of, “but we are going to talk about that right now.”

I was a very fun read, and I got to see Colbert’s interview of Smaug while I was in the middle of it. It is so cool for childhood stories to be made popular again and shared with another generation.