Michael’s Comments (group member since Jun 10, 2010)

Michael’s comments from the J.R.R. Tolkien group.

Rachael wrote: "Hi, my name is Rachael and I have been obsessed with Tolkien for years! I have read his books repeatedly and I have other books about him but I really want to find out more about his development of..."

Hi Rachel: thanks for joining us.

There's The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth, although it's out of print, so you'd need to track down a second-hand copy.

Pallavi wrote: "So, I read that both Smaug and the Necromancer will be voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smaug
I have heard great reviews about his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, so I am..."

Ha! I just asked you on the Hobbit Group Read thread about this! I'm a massive Sherlock Holmes fan, so was a bit concerned about the modernising of Cumberbatch's portrayal, but he (and the show) is absolutely brilliant. I love his performance as Holmes.

Interestingly, Martin Freeman, who's playing Bilbo, also played Watson to BD's Holmes. So he's gone from sidekick to hero.

Pallavi wrote: "Michael wrote: "Caitlin & Stefan: SMAUG THE MAGNIFICENT!!! You have been warned, ha, ha!"
Oh how I love the name! :) Cannot wait to see Smaug's movie representation!"

Do you know the actor Benedict Cumberbatch? He's a great British actor who will be motion-capturing Smaug and doing his voice (I think he might be voicing the Necromancer too). I think he'll really do justice to the role.

Caitlin & Stefan: SMAUG THE MAGNIFICENT!!! You have been warned, ha, ha!

Connor wrote: "Well, yeah, I know, lol. I used "junk" as a filler as I remember a couple other things."

I should have put a smiley - Joke :-D

I don't think he lost his junk; just his hand.

I preferred Beren as a character - seemed like a nicer person - than Túrin, and his story is incredible. I haven't read The Children of Húrin yet, and so am selfishly lining it up for a Group Read!

Hyarrowen wrote: "I'm a total Tolkien nut - his books are where I go when things are getting very hard, and have been since I was nine years old. I went to the girl's half of his school, and I know the country park..."

Hi Hyarrowen. We're certainly all Tolkien nuts here, though not always of a similar mindset! Hope you enjoy exploring the Discussions and Polls :-)

Nice one, Stefan! I have to say that it also took me a little while to get through, although I didn't need to force it at any point. Just that's it's so dense I had to keep going back to remember who did what when and to whom!

Hi Robyn. Thanks for joining us. Hope you enjoy your time here :-)

Stefan wrote: "It's not really a "Tale of the Elder Days," but I'd really like to read the back-story of Bert, Tom and Bill's adventures before meeting up with Bilbo, Thorin and Co."

Good one - they had some interesting objects in their treasure hoard - where did they get them?

Yes, the original edition is different and Tolkien amended it to fit more closely with the Lord of the Rings, which he was then developing. I should think very difficult to find and very expensive if you did!

The other book in the Group Read for summer is The History of the Hobbit, Volume 1, which examines the Tolkien's development of the story and the textual changes he made.

I do hope that you find your first reading in English an enjoyable one :-)

Maria wrote: "Interesting, I'm curious as to whether I could re-read it so many times. I bought this edition: http://www.bookdepository.com/Hobbit-...

If i want to read it again, which edition..."

I think that all the current editions are basically the same - certainly in terms of the text. The latest edition I got was an anniversary edition (The Hobbit) in a slip case and with a slightly modified colour scheme on the cover art (the red sun that Tolkien originally wanted, but which the publisher said was too expensive). So, I'm re-reading the same text each time.

If you wanted something a bit different, you could try The Annotated Hobbit: The Hobbit, Or, There and Back Again, which as the title suggests has lots of additional information about the story, Tolkien's sources, etc.

A long-expected party!

I guess that I read the Hobbit every couple of years. I've read it twice recently, having bought a new edition shortly after reading my older one.

I envy you your first reading of The Hobbit, Maria. On the other hand, you might envy me my 5-millionth (slight hyperbole) reading!

Enko wrote: "God, this completely ruined my impression of Elves! They were pretty much all bastards, weren't they?"

The elves of the Silmarillion are so much younger and "fiery" than those of LOTR. The wisdom of the elves of the Third Age was obviously hard won over many thousands of years. At times, I felt like I wanted to slap Fëanor and tell him to stop being such an arrogant jerk!

I was really impressed that Tolkien imbued the elves with such differing, but utterly explainable and consistent, personalities between the different Ages of Middle-earth. Why people say that Tolkien couldn't write and develop characters baffles me. I can only assume that they haven't paid attention to what they're reading.

Stefan wrote: "Slowly working my way through this still. I'm enjoying it, but I just don't get through much at one time.

I think the last line of "Of Maeglin" may be among the most powerful Tolkien lines [spoile..."

I already want to re-read The Silmarillion, which I only finished last month, but have some other stuff to read first. It really does recommend itself to multiple readings. I'm glad you're enjoying it :-)

The originally published Hobbit was more like the story Tolkien told his children at bedtime and wasn't intended as part of his Middle-earth milieu. As his thoughts about Middle-earth gathered shape and LOTR was conceived, Tolkien revised the earlier story to make it consistent with his larger work.

Hi Monique - hope we can be your Tolkien release-valve :-)

Our present Group Read is The Silmarillion if you fancy joining in.