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David Day spends a lot of time discussing the journey and etymology of certain words that Tolkien uses to create the infamous Hobbit. While this is fascinating for Tolkien fans, I was hoping for more. I would have loved more information and discussion on our favourite Hobbits and their adventures rather than a study of certain words.
This book tells you everything you ever needed to know about hobbits - and you can find out a whole lot just by looking closely to their names. There's history, all the different types of hobbits as well as a lot of beautiful illustrations. I would recommend this beauty of a book to every big Tolkien fan 😍
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Originally I got this book to learn more about Hobbits in LotRs (plus it's amazing embossed leather cover) but was extremely disappointed by it's lacklustre content.
Most of the book is about the origins (i.e. etymology) of the hobbit related terms/places/names in the real world rather than anything about the history/culture of Hobbits themselves as expected. This is not improved as most of these etymology links are very much guesswork by the author with no real references to confirm if this is w ...more
Most of the book is about the origins (i.e. etymology) of the hobbit related terms/places/names in the real world rather than anything about the history/culture of Hobbits themselves as expected. This is not improved as most of these etymology links are very much guesswork by the author with no real references to confirm if this is w ...more
the beginning of 2021 found me a tolkien nerd + the books in this collection are absolutely gorgeous, i love the illustrations + i love etymology. it's just one of my niche interests. so this was fun
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I have the whole set of these David Day Tolkien companion books, and this is the first one I’ve read. I haven’t read any of Tolkien’s letters or any of the History of Middle-earth books, so I have no way of knowing if Day did his research and was expounding on the information in the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, or if he is reading more into it than is there, as other reviewers have claimed. They, more so than I, are likely better able to judge that. But, I did enjoy this book, and found
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Mar 25, 2021
A.
rated it
it was amazing
Shelves:
ancient-medieval,
fantasy,
folklore,
fairy-stories,
fairytales,
high-fantasy,
historical,
mythological,
nonfiction
I have pretty much all of David Day's Tolkien guide books, and The Hobbits of Tolkien is the newest addition to my very extensive Tolkien collection. In this illustrated guide, Day gives us the history of Hobbits from their creation by Tolkien, to their own fictional history, all the way up to the Lord of the Rings. It was fascinating to read about the ancient Hobbit races and founders of the Shire and their connections to ancient English peoples, folklore, and cultures, as well as why Bilbo Bag
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3.5 / 5
Beautiful book with a gorgeous embossed cover and wonderful illustrations throughout. Really pleasant to read with clear sections and helpful charts. It gives a good overview of Tolkien’s hobbit lore and a nice insight into Tolkien’s love of language and how he wrote (/discovered) his worlds.
The author admits to making some assumptions about the origins of some of the information and he justifies them well, but I think it would have been helpful to include some clarity on exactly what was ...more
Beautiful book with a gorgeous embossed cover and wonderful illustrations throughout. Really pleasant to read with clear sections and helpful charts. It gives a good overview of Tolkien’s hobbit lore and a nice insight into Tolkien’s love of language and how he wrote (/discovered) his worlds.
The author admits to making some assumptions about the origins of some of the information and he justifies them well, but I think it would have been helpful to include some clarity on exactly what was ...more
I feel like a lot of the discussion on the word origins are really questionable, especially with little to back it up. Words can have multiple meanings and while it's nice to discuss Tolkien's word origins I'd like some sources to back up what the author is saying.
I don't think that Gollum was really meant to be a call back to the Golem of Prague, and I don't think there's any Hide and Seek pun with the name Fallowhide. I also don't see why the author is trying to make a connection saying that t ...more
I don't think that Gollum was really meant to be a call back to the Golem of Prague, and I don't think there's any Hide and Seek pun with the name Fallowhide. I also don't see why the author is trying to make a connection saying that t ...more
David Day's 'The Hobbits of Tolkien' is a very quick and enjoyable read, mostly because of the colourful pages and a plentitude of illustrations. A big part of the text is in fact insightful and anyone who's a linguist or a literary theorist should find it al least semi-interesting but after quite a few blatant mistakes concering the storyline and / or content of Tolkien's books (such as Durin being the 'maker of Dwarwes') one can't help but to doubt everything else in the book. I would still (k
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Eh... lots of stretching in this one. And it’s only kind of about hobbits.
These David Day books are pretty hit or miss and this might be the weakest of the series so far. No real central thesis, a lot of padding, and very little evidence to back up some of the multilayered puns that Tolkien was supposedly making. While most of these are centered around Hobbits, their names, their history, and their culture, the examination rests entirely with the (supposed) linguistic jokes and little else. Wit ...more
These David Day books are pretty hit or miss and this might be the weakest of the series so far. No real central thesis, a lot of padding, and very little evidence to back up some of the multilayered puns that Tolkien was supposedly making. While most of these are centered around Hobbits, their names, their history, and their culture, the examination rests entirely with the (supposed) linguistic jokes and little else. Wit ...more
While some of the etymological bits in this book are enlightening, Day doesn't include ant any references either to Tolkien's works or to original sources. There are several places where his examination of names from Tolkien ignores (or is ignorant of) the significance of the names in Tolkien's languages (the pronunciation of Smaug being one of the more egregious oversights). There are also places where the analysis seems less a scholarly endeavor than an attempt to find another pun, however far
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Another enjoyable book by Day that really helps you pull together a lot of the pieces you may know about Tolkien's books into one cohesive while. In this book, Day shows how Tolkien was very philologically driven: i.e. that names and words helped drive the character development and story. Some of the connections he makes seem contrived or stretched, but over all, you learn a lot about Tolkien's genius to derive so much from a single name. You also learn the source of many of the names from other
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While the presentation of David Day’s Tolkien books is great, this one’s content fell short. I’m an avid fan of reading about the creation of Middle Earth, but this book would only be interesting to linguistic buffs like Tolkien himself. As a casual read, I was disappointed that so many pages were devoted to etymology of names and less to the culture and relevance of the race.
A fun history of Hobbits and Tolkien’s creation of them. Would probably only recommend for die hard Tolkien fans. Casual fans of Lord of the Rings or even The Silmarillion would probably be really bored or less than thrilled with it.
I haven't personally had any problems with this book like some people have. Very fascinating!
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Fun little book
Talks about the Origin of the names, with a lot of family threes, little tidbits.
Don't expect a story, not really a book to read in one go, more something to peruse ...more
Talks about the Origin of the names, with a lot of family threes, little tidbits.
Don't expect a story, not really a book to read in one go, more something to peruse ...more
A wonderful insight in to the creation of Hobbits.
A brilliant study and of using words and their definitions to create characters and cultures.
this was very interesting, but only for people that like tolkien obviously. i personally found most of it fascinating, but i can easily see how not everyone would feel that way.
I really enjoyed this book.
I enjoyed the way that David brings about the information about hobbits.
The information in this book was good. There was a lot about how the hobbits do things and how they live.
It was great to see the different art in this book. The art was nice and I enjoyed looking at it while reading this book.
I enjoyed the way that David brings about the information about hobbits.
The information in this book was good. There was a lot about how the hobbits do things and how they live.
It was great to see the different art in this book. The art was nice and I enjoyed looking at it while reading this book.
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David Day (b. 14 October 1947 in Victoria, British Columbia) is a Canadian author of over forty books: poetry, natural history, ecology, mythology, fantasy, and children's literature. Internationally he is most notably known for his literary criticism on J. R. R. Tolkien and his works.
After finishing high school in Victoria, British Columbia, Day worked as a logger for five years on Vancouver Isla ...more
After finishing high school in Victoria, British Columbia, Day worked as a logger for five years on Vancouver Isla ...more
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Tolkien Illustrated Guides
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