I woke up this morning and it was blowing an absolute hooley outside so I made myself a suitably comfortable nest and armed with a cup of strong tea, I settled down for the day. Time for me to spend some 1:1 time with my book. I'm currently reading The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, which I'm sure the majority have either read the book or seen the recent movies. I remember picking up the Lord of The Rings books when I was younger and trying to learn Elvish but I was soon defeated and haven't picked up the books since. My interest in all things Middle Earth was reignited after seeing the all three parts of the film series of The Hobbit. I spoke about it with a number of people who all replied, "Have you read the book?" to which of course my answer was no.
Having now read the book I can understand why avid Tolkien fans (which I'm told study Tolkienology) are not so impressed with the films offerings. There are a number of scenes in the film which have been dressed up in order to suit the screen which either simply don't feature in the book at all not mentioned in great depth. There is no mention of Legolas, and Tauriel does not exist in any of Tolkien's work. If you are interested in the ins and outs of all the changes there are plenty of websites online which provide detailed accounts of this.
However, all of this aside it is a fantastic little book which follows an adventure of herosim as Bilbo Baggins, Gandolf, and all thirteen dwarves (Thorin, Balin, Dwalin, Fili, Kili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur and Bombur - OK I looked them up!) travel from the Shire through Rivendall, The Misty Mountains, and Mirkwood in a quest to the reach Lonely Mountain in order to reclaim their treasure stolen by the great dragon Smaug.
I would highly recommend The Hobbit book to anyone and would urge people not to be put off by the complexity of Tolkien's work. This book was originally written as a children's novel so it is a great introduction to his other work. I've already got all three LOTR books and The Silmarillion waiting for me!
