The Hobbit

I picked up The Hobbit again, partly as a comfort book when I was feeling ill, but also sparked by talk about the new movie. It's as good as ever, and I found myself following the same emotional arc that I experienced the first time I read it: Interest, wonder, and joyful appreciation of the world Tolkien's created. Then excitement and suspense as Bilbo really gets his feet under him on the adventure. A sense of foreboding at Laketown, with the Men and their paltry civic structure. A vague disappointment and near boredom by the time the War of Five Armies comes about, punctuated by the letdown of Smaug's killing. I'm not sure what it is about this arc that so disappoints me, but I'm sure I just wanted Bilbo and the dwarves to be the heroes of their whole story.

Noted on November 30, 2011