Epic Tolkien Bookclub: Week Six

[sigridhr]

  Epic Tolkien Bookclub: Week Six (The Hobbit)
Chapter XI: On the Doorstep
Chapter XII: Inside Information

Rules

I very much doubt we'll require much in the way of formal rules, but just for the sake of formality and clarity:

• Discussion is welcome and encouraged, as is disagreement. Name-calling and personal attacks will be punished by forcing you to live in an AU where Tolkien was never born. 
  
• There is no spoiler policy in place. Although we're reading the Hobbit, please feel free to bring in things from other Tolkien works, any of the films, the History of Middle Earth, the Letters of JRR Tolkien, and, if you should like, other literary sources. 
• There is no such thing as too much geekery. Or taking the text too seriously.  
• If you have any concerns at any point, I'm the closest thing this gong show has to a mod, so feel free to get in touch. I can be reached either by PM through this site, or directly by email at sigridhr.lokidottir@gmail.com. 

Discussion on this post will officially run from Friday 15th February 2013 to Friday 22nd February 2013. However, the post will remain open after that point, so you're more than welcome to continue discussions on.

Comments

[j_quadrifrons]

"He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone" - this was the point where I stopped and wrote down in my notes, "This is a very adult book in some ways," because I think that conception of courage is very adult, or perhaps I should say very mature, and is possibly one of the reasons why teenagers reading The Hobbit for the first time tend to bounce off of it so hard. And yet, that one sentence puts a lump in my throat, and makes me love Bilbo all the more for it. (I suspect there's a quote from The Last Unicorn that I could tie in here, but I'm sick and I can't think.)

Oooh, I like that interpretation re: Thorin and Bilbo's conflict later. And by "like," I mean "it hurts me in all the soft and tender places in my heart." But y'know.

[gallifaerie.livejournal.com]

Yes, I completely agree with you about it being an adult book. I don't think I've ever read a book that juxtaposes childish joy with dark, serious subject matter as much as The Hobbit does, and I love it for that. Because that's what real life feels like - the two do belong together.

Ahh, The Last Unicorn! It's been in my reread pile for about three years now!