I read the Hobbit!

I finally had time to sit down and read the hobbit! (Well more listen to a reading of the hobbit while I got 50% of the way through the behemoth that is the Lego Barrad Dur set I got for my birthday. That thing has 40 bags of Lego pieces and 3 instruction manuals!) It was fun, and I loved every moment! From the sudden arrival of dwarves at Bag-End, Gandalf tricking the three trolls, the cozy stop at Rivendell, the treacherous crossing of the misty mountains (I wonder how big Smaug is compared to the Stone Giants?) to being captured by goblins and taking an unsuspecting magic ring from the riddle lover Gollum, chased by wolves and rescued by eagles, finding refuge with the bear man Beorn (such a nice fellow), getting lost in the forest swamp of Mirkwood, stinging spiders and escaping wood elves via barrels, arriving in Laketown and resting up, heading to the Lonely Mountain and finding the secret door. To meeting face to face with the dreaded Smaug, seeing his banter with Bilbo and later his attack on Laketown, and his death by Bard the bowman with his lucky black arrow, to the battle of five armies (only now realizing the fifth army being the eagles) and the tragic deaths of Fili, Kili and Thorin. And at last the safe return home of Bilbo to Bag-End (much to the shock and annoyance of his greedy cousins). A fun journey start to end. Compared to the films there are some things I liked better in the books. You really got to connect with Bilbo throughout the journey. I didn’t really mind the inclusion of Legolas in the films and found the segment with Gandolf fighting off Sauron to be very fun (it did happen during the book just off-screen). I can understand that the C-plot of the love interest between an elf and one of the dwarfs could’ve been cut for other things (I don’t even remember the elf lady’s name). While having the army of orcs and goblins be of the works of Sauron is interesting, I find it a lot funnier that they came all that way to the mountain just to get revenge on the dwarfs for killing the Great Goblin. One thing I do like more in the movies that they gave Smaug more time to be a character in the story and actually have the dwarves fight and interact with him. Rather than him ditching them to go attack Laketown immediately and die. In the end, I say both the book and films are good! And both are worth looking into! Here’s a link to the audio reading I listened to on YouTube!

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLexwRW9vE2eB7t1B9yZLZljOPOMkHJLxw&si=MaLcDj7Mq6h8BA8i