The Hobbit

What a magnificent book! First of all, I have never been the biggest fan of the Peter Jackson LOTR films. As such I have always been reluctant to give Tolkien’s works a fair shake. What a big mistake that was! After some coaxing from a friend of mine, I plucked my copy of The Hobbit from my bookshelf, started reading, and immediately found myself enthralled by Tolkien’s fantastic sense of story telling. There is this certain ’old timey English vibe’ and eloquence in his writings which I feel is extraordinarily captivating. Reading The Hobbit felt much like watching a movie to me. I find that Tolkien’s vivid descriptions, and explainations of any single scene are capable of sparking my imagination. Allowing myself to imagine characters, and landscapes as if I had encountered these things in real life before. Now that I have finished reading the book I have also watched the old animated Hobbit film from 1977. It was interesting to note the differences between the two. The animation misses, or revises what I would consider to be more than a few key momments in the story. However, the scenes that copy the book word for word are what I would consider to be serious high points in the film. During moments in which I was unable to spend time reading, I had supplimented with some video lectures from a man named Dr. Ryan Reeves on YouTube. In these lectures he goes over the history, background, and themes of J.R.R. Tolkien’s, and C.S. Lewis’ works. Especially the underlying Christian themes from both authors. All in all, The Hobbit was another wonderful book to read this year. Another feather in my cap, and endless more to go!