So true! I definitely identified a lot with Bilbo ...

2010-02-04T09:02:24.203-06:00

So true! I definitely identified a lot with Bilbo when I first read The Hobbit (my dad read an illustrated version to me on the couch before bedtime when I was about eight). LotR also centers on the rejection of the heroic by the main protagonists, and change in general by pretty much everyone, though, which is why it has gotten criticized as being "safe," conservative fantasy. Michael Moorcock wrote a notorious essay about it called "Epic Pooh."

Is it wrong that my first encounter with the Hobbi...

2010-02-03T10:48:06.701-06:00

Is it wrong that my first encounter with the Hobbit came not in its book form, but the animated version? I recall it aired on TV and I also had the book and record set of it. I really liked it and it's interesting to see how they compressed the story down to the animated version and then the book on record set. (It was a small 33 and it ran probably 14 minutes tops).

I tried to read the book when I first saw the animated movie (I must have been six or seven) but didn't finish. Not sure why.

I eventually came back to it, loved it and then tried LOTR. I have to admit I'm not a huge LOTR fan. They're OK and I can see their influence on the genre, but honestly they work better as movies for me than books.

Comments on Cynical Optimism: Hobbit Reread

So true! I definitely identified a lot with Bilbo ...

Is it wrong that my first encounter with the Hobbi...