The Hobbit: Chapter One (Post 2 of My Journey through Middle-Earth)

Everyone was right. You do get caught up in Tolkien.

I’m caught up in Tolkien, that’s for sure, but I am only allowing myself one chapter per week so that I don’t hurry through it. I want to move slowly, savor the details, and immerse myself in this new world.

“We don’t want any adventures here, thank you. You might try over the Hill or across the Water.”  Poor Bilbo. Those are famous last words, along with “we don’t want any trouble.” It never happens that way.

I had to laugh at Bilbo’s attempts to thwart Gandalf, which only led to thirteen dwarfs showing up expecting hospitality and talking of a great adventure.

So far I am thoroughly enjoying the story. Bilbo’s alternating enthusiasm and consternation cracks me up.  And Gandalf reminds me of my mother…

Diving Into Middle-Earth for the First Time

I’m losing my J.R.R. Tolkien virginity today. I’m 34 years old and a self-proclaimed nerd, and yet I have never read Tolkien, nor have I seen the Peter Jackson films.

It’s not that I didn’t want to. I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of a former co-worker, Wayne, who said that The Lord of the Rings was the “best book ever.”  I’d never read it, so I had no opinion on the matter.  However, he said that about everything. Harry Potter, Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time…everything. Everything was the best ever. The. Best. Ever. It was so bad that I became resistant to reading anything he talked about, for fear of not being as thoroughly engrossed as he said I should be. (And then having to explain why I wasn’t as thoroughly engrossed as he was…)

That, and growing up in the 80s I was subjected to the 1970s cartoon version of The Hobbit (complete with Leonard Nimoy singing about Bilbo Baggins). That cartoon scared me half to death. I was scarred for a very long time!

At long last I have decided to lose my Tolkien virginity. And I want to write about my experience discovering this new world.  I think my journey to Middle-Earth might be just as interesting as the story itself, and I’m hoping that if I have questions, I can ask them here and have the support of the Tolkien legions of fans to help me.

And so it begins.  The Hobbit, page one….