The Hobbit reads like a fairytale. That's a good thing, because I like fairytale-like stories. I have read the first few pages of the book, and word "hobbit-hole" and "hobbit-girls" and "hobbit-boys" somehow remind me of Peter Rabbit and his rabbit-hole. The description of the Hobbit reminds me of George MacDonald's description of the goblins in The Princess and the Goblin. The goblins live in the earth, have sensitive feet, and are supposed to be bad creatures, in contrast to Princess Irene's grandmother. I think I may have read somewhere that George MacDonald inspired J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. I read The Princess and the Goblin as well as the sequel, The Princess and Curdie; I loved how MacDonald phrased his final sentence in The Princess and Curdie - something about how the kingdom will only be part of the words of men due to self-decay.
The Hobbit reads like a fairy-tale...
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I loved both those books by MacDonald: Princess and Curdie and Princess and the Goblin. Read the later twice. Really awesome. Fairytales are neat in general. Not much else to say on the subject other than that. Shameful to be sure.
The Hobbit is badass. It's a shame they decided to pad the movies out with so much unnecessary fat.
Me too, though I still loved the trilogy as well.
I believe my favoritism stems from my liking Bilbo more than Frodo.
Shameful to be sure.
I've read that George MacDonald was an inspiration to both Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. I had to find the book and read it for myself after I heard that.
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The Hobbit started out well but then didn't have enough female characters and I got bored. *ducks*
Yeah, this would bother me if I was reading it nowadays. It bothers me about the movies (would it be so hard to have lady dwarves?). I was... eleven, maybe, when I read it last and I wasn't as aware of that flaw.
I quite like this trick some readers are adopting where, when reading out the books to their kids, they change the pronouns used for Bilbo, Gandalf, and one or two of the dwarves.
The opening for the Hobbit hooked me so hard. Nothing compared to it for the longest time.
In retrospect I hate the lack of female representation. Why weren't any of the dawrves female? Did Tolkien have an in world explanation for that?
In retrospect I hate the lack of female representation. Why weren't any of the dawrves female? Did Tolkien have an in world explanation for that?
I'm in the middle of a Tolkien reread at the moment and Gimli explains that dwarf women resemble dwarf men and I believe there was something in The Hobbit that referred to them as well. There was a reference in the LOTR movies as well. Maybe they're shy?
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