Stefan’s Comments (group member since Mar 01, 2012)

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

Just got my copy in the mail and will be starting it once I finish . From what I'm reading in your posts, this is one that I should have purchased a long, long time ago.

Welcome, Bryan. Wow, that's quite the list! Sounds like you'll have a busy (and hopefully fun and informative) Fall semester!

The only way to do justice to the Silmarillion in film form anyway would be to have HBO or somebody make it over several seasons. I don't think that Jackson would want to do something that long and drawn out.

The copy that I got was listed as used-very good from an Amazon seller and I only paid $8.62 total price with shipping. Search around a bit and find a deal.

Be a Slinker not a Stinker!

I may be joining you if I convince myself to purchase a copy here in the next couple of days.

Forgot to add that you can read my review here:

My review of The Hobbit

Pallavi wrote: "I am looking for this book, but can't find it anywhere. It does seem to be available at Betterworldbooks.com but I have not used that website before so I am wary. The Monsters And The Critics: And ..."

Amazon has several copies available from different sellers.

Maria wrote: "I've been too busy/tired these days cause I've been to a metal festival 3 days straight but I'll get back on track with The Hobbit. I finished the Flies and Spiders chapter."

I think you'll find it easy to finish from that point. Things move pretty fast and furious from there.

Just finished this up tonight. Once I reached the Lonely Mountain, I found it extremely hard to put down. Really stood the test of time and still one of my favorite books ever!

Caitlin, glad that you're enjoying your first journey! You and I are at almost exactly the same point! Have fun with the rest.

Moving along at a steady pace now! When I started this, so soon after reading The Silmarillion, the simpler language and ease of the story made me wonder at first if I had made a mistake and was going to, in some way, tarnish my favorite book a bit. Thankfully, I was wrong and am once again savoring every moment that I spend with Bilbo and Co.

Michael wrote: "I don't think he lost his junk; just his hand."

Hilarious!

Well, I've made the journey through the Misty Mountains and have just met Beorn. Still loving it, but I had remembered things being a lot more drawn out and detailed than they really are. It's moving along REALLY quickly!

Imagine what HBO or someone like that might be able to do with an ongoing series of some sort. Each "chapter" could be fleshed out into a season with a lot of leeway for creativity for the director.

And in the case of Silmarillion, all is condensed into 300 pages (give or take) as opposed to the 800-1200 of modern epic fantasy.

That was my main issue, Michael. I think that maybe force was a little to strong of a term, more like mentally prepare myself to do battle with the names and places!

DONE!

It took me some time, and part of the time I had to force myself to read it, but overall I thought that it was beautifully written and a hell of a story. I will read it again in the next few years and things should flow much better then.

Finished up the Quenta Silmarillion and Akallabeth over the weekend still have about twenty pages to go with Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age. Started to move much more quickly over the last 60 to 70 pages.

Pallavi wrote: "I saw the annotated version of book at the Harvard Bookstore earlier today and pried my hands off of it with great difficulty, considering I already have a different copy. But it was so beautiful!"

Almost as if it were The Precious!

This is one of my favorite books of all time and I'm really enjoying this re-read (I don't know what number of re-read it is for me, but I've read it several times.) I'm also taking it slowly, reading only a chapter a night and putting a little more thought into the world and events than I have in the past.

I the last chapter I read, A Short Rest, I found Tolkien's presentation of the Elves to be TOTALLY different than his representation of them in other works (especially considering that I'm still working my way through the Silmarillion as well.) They are VERY carefree and frivolous, singing goofy songs and acting as if they don't have a care in the world. The Elves in the Silmarillion are NOTHING like this, as a matter of fact in our group read discussion Enko commented that "They were pretty much all bastards, weren't they?". While this may be a bit on the extreme side, I don't think that you can say anything remotely similar about the Elves presented to us at this point in The Hobbit.

I wonder why he didn't change around their personalities when he did the rewrite to make this fit in as a prequel to his larger work?