The Hobbit Group Read Questions – Week Three

Hello! So this is the last week of the group-read, and next week I’ll put up a post, linking to everybody’s reviews, so if you have catching up to do, this week’s the one!

Last week was a busy one, and so I didn’t get my post up, but Lynn and Matt did, so stop over and see what they had to say! For those of you that haven’t, you can do what I’m doing and club last week and this week together, but remember to add it to the link log below, so that we can come visit.

The wonderful Debbie over at The Wicked Queen’s Mirror has come up with some amazing questions for the week. Let’s get started!

1) Throughout the book there are many examples of greed (for both food and treasure). Why do you think Bilbo takes and hides the Arkenstone when he is later happy to ransom it for peace?  Is it simple greed? Forethought? Or a convenient plot device?

2) Much has been written of Tolkien’s experiences in World War One and how the Lord of the Rings  shows both the romantic, heroic aspects of war (Aragorn’s journey)but also the stark realities (Frodo’s journey).  What did you think about the way the Battle of Five Armies was described? Did you feel these two aspects of war were represented?

3)What did you think about the role of the goblins in the Battle of Five Armies? Was it easy for you to accept their appearance and that the threat they posed would automatically unite the men and elves with the dwarves? Or did you find it too simplistic?

4) In ‘The Last Stage’ we are told Bilbo remained very happy to the end of his days. If you had been off on an adventures could you settle back to normal life so easily? Would you be content with only occasional visits to the elves?

 

I hope everyone who chose to read this with us is enjoying themselves. So, final stretch, get those pages turning, and tell us what you thought of the book!

– Tanya

The Hobbit – Week One

I’m terribly sorry for how late this is!

So, we finished Chapter 1 to 6 this week, and hopefully, all of you are enjoying reading The Hobbit as much as I am (you are?! That’s wonderful! No, no, you don’t need to send me flowers, that’s quite alright. Oh, stop it, you’re making me blush!)

Ahem.

Inkeri offered to help me with this week’s questions, so you’ll have six in total. If you haven’t caught up with us, I’d suggest that you get to Chapter 6 and then join in, I’d hate to be the source of spoilers.

Inkeri’s Questions

1. In the book Bilbo gets visited by 13 strange dwarves, and just lets them in to eat his cakes and drink tea. In the modern world it would be really weird if people just started barging in your home. Why didn’t Bilbo just tell them to go?

2. Where would the dwarves and Bilbo be if Gandalf wasn’t with them? It’s seems to me that it’s him who saves them from the scary situations.

3. Bilbo plays a game of riddles with Gollum. He ends up winning by asking “What have I got in my pockets?”, which Gollum is unable to answer. Do you think it was a fair, as it wasn’t actually a riddle?

And here are mine
4. For those of you who haven’t read The Hobbit before, is the tone of writing one you’d expect from a book that has been loudly proclaimed as a classic? And for those of you who have read it before, how did it feel – like coming home to a much loved book, or were you surprised by how much you’d forgotten?

5. We’ve seen quite a few songs so far. Do you pay attention to them, or do you skip them altogether? Do you like how silly they are, or do you think them an interruption?

6. What has been your favourite scene, so far?

Okay, so that wraps up Week One. Now, you can either choose to write a blog post in response to this, or leave us really, really, really long comments (we don’t mind). I’ll get the link log up and running in a bit and add your posts to it, should you choose to do it that way.

Discussions for Week Two start on the 25th, and we have Matt and Lynn taking over!

The Hobbit Group-Read!

Hello, Writers’ Bloc People! We (finally) start our first ever group-read!

Here’s the schedule:

Week 1: Aug 14th to Aug 19th : Chapter 1 to 6

Week 2: Aug 20th to Aug 25th : Chapter 7 to 12

Week 3: Aug 26th to Aug 31st : Chapter 12 to 19

That makes it an average of about 100 pages or so every week.

We have decided to hand over the discussion to two readers every week – one who is reading the book for the first time, and another who already has – just to cover all bases. So far, Matt Watson has graciously accepted to steer the conversation in the second week, and Inkeri has volunteered as well. Since both of them haven’t read it, though (aren’t you glad we’re finally cattle-prodding you into it?), Inkeri might probably take over week three, along with somebody else who has already read this. Volunteers, anyone?

For those of you leading the discussion every week, remember, we’re handing over the reins to you. You can dial up the crazy and ask us whatever you want – anything at all that strikes you while reading the book. About four questions from each volunteer would be perfect. Please and thank you!

Discussions will be held here, on the blog, on the 19th, 25th and 31st. We’ll put up the questions the night before so that you’ll have time to think about them. (Volunteers, you know what that means! Send them in at writersbloc(dot)blog(at)gmail(dot)com )

Alright, then. That’s about it, I think. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. And if you are taking part in the group-read, just add your blog url to the Mister Linky below, or just leave us a link in the comments!

Happy reading!

 

We’re Reading The Hobbit!

“I am looking for someone to share in an adventure that I am arranging, and it’s very difficult to find anyone.’
I should think so — in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit

An amazing first choice, I think.

We’ve been tossing books around for quite a while now, and we finally narrowed it down to The Hobbit!  Wildly appropriate, considering that the movie is coming out later this year, yes?

We start a week from now, on the 12th of August, giving you time to get your hands on a copy of the book (if it isn’t already staring at you from your shelf, demanding to be read).

A few things need to be sorted, though. How do you want to do this? Make it a read-along, split the book into three parts (one per week) and discuss the book as we go along, or organise a blog hop where each of the readers host a discussion on their blog every four-five days? Or do all of you want to send in your thoughts about the book as we read it and we’ll put it up here? OR, do you just want to do this on our Goodreads Group Page?

Or do you want to just take this nice and easy, read it at your own pace, and throw thoughts at each other as and when they strike you?

P.S. This is an open book club. If you happen to be reading the book at the moment, or have been meaning to, please feel free to join us!

Ve Haff To Pick A Book!

Okay, I have to admit, the Book Club bit is the one I’m most excited about. I can’t wait to get started.

What we intend to do is have three books on our shelf at any given point of time. So you can take your pick. We’re going to make sure that we rotate genres and if you think we’re playing favourites, feel free to send us a Howler. Also, one of those books is always going to be writing-related. Fair enough?

You can decide to read as many as you like – and we’ll understand if you skip a week or two in between. You do have your own to-read list to plough through, after all. Don’t worry, we’re pretty laid back about this. But give every book some consideration?

What Do We Read First?

We’re leaving it till Sunday to see how the suggestions play out, and then we’ll put up a poll. For now, looking at how the Goodreads discussion is going, Harry Potter seems to be the current favourite. Personally, I think this might be fun. Even though I’ve “grown out of them”, I visit the first four every once in a while and I’m filled with this warm Peter-Pan-I’m-still-a-kid feeling. Also, it’ll be the easiest to get your hands on. So, I wouldn’t mind a re-read, and for those of you who haven’t read them yet (*cough*Matt Watson*cough*), now would be a good time to start.

Apostolia has recommended Jonathan Coe’s The House of Sleep, which a) I’ve never heard of and b) sounds quite interesting. I looked at her bookshelf, and she’s read this before (AND given it five stars).  Here‘s the summary she gave us, go check it out!

Then there’s Jo Nesbo’s The Snowman (thank you, Pallavi!) We  also have Durga‘s suggestion – to read The Hobbit. Appropriate, I think, considering that a lot of people will want to read this before watching the movie (very excited – if it’s going to be like any of the other movies, I know they’ll do the book full justice). Sindhu, my  partner-in-crime threw Orwell’s Animal Farm into the pot. Which (*shameface*) I haven’t read yet, and am receiving accusing looks from my bookshelf for.

Jenny Keller Ford had this to say about Veronica Roth’s Insurgent :

I love a great YA dystopian story. The first in the series, Divergent, was amazing and I would like to read the second in the set and talk about it.

Now, I haven’t read Divergent, but it’s on my list, and I’d love to finally pick that one up.

On to the writing. Astarteia wanted to read Bird by Bird (we told you you’d hear about this a lot), and so do I. I also want to read Stephen King’s On Writing and Erin’s suggestion – Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down The Bones.

Personally? I’d love to pick up The Picture of Dorian Gray and Maus in addition to one of the books on writing. I’m ashamed to admit that the only Dorian Gray I know is from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and I intend to fix that. Soon.

One last thing. I was looking through the blogs that signed up the other day, and I found an amazing list of writing-related books which I intend to go out and get as soon as I can. Maybe we can include them in due time?  Thank you John Andrew Fuller! (Psst. You have got to check out his blog. Go. Now. Yes. Now. You can come back later. Go, go, go!)

Do you have a book in mind? A book that you’ve read before, loved, and wouldn’t mind reading again? Or one that you’ve always wanted to read, but never got around to? Leave us a comment, join the Goodreads discussion, or draft out a post telling us why we should read it – we’ll put it up!