BBC #25, The Hobbit

Once upon a time I read The Hobbit by JRR Tolkein. I was in Elementary School and I remember really enjoying it. In Jr High I read The Lord of the Rings (also by JRR Tolkein) and fell even more in love with Tolkein and his works. Since about that time I have been meaning to reread The Hobbit. But either because I was involved in reading other books or didn't have access to it, it just never happened. Then the first installation of The Hobbit movies came out. After watching it and discussing some of it with other people I realized that though I have a good memory, I didn't remember the correct order of certain things and certain events seemed a bit off to me. I wasn't sure what was basic movie changes that every book turned into a movie experiences, or if was something I just didn't remember. So I determined I would reread the book and yesterday I finished reading The Hobbit.

The story follows a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins and 13 dwarves in their journey to the lonely mountain where they hope to destroy the dragon Smaug and restore the mountain to the rightful owners, the dwarves. Along the way they experience dangers, perils, and adventures that will not only test their courage, but endanger their lives.

 In The Hobbit the primary focus is Bilbo Baggins. The general narration follows Bilbo Baggins and the group of dwarves almost exclusively. This is different from The Lord of the Rings where the book explores the stories of all major characters. The focused narration makes The Hobbit a bit easier to follow and a better choice for younger readers compared to LOTR. Unlike most of the novels written for youth today, Tolkien included weighty topics, difficult words, and less than simple story lines. As a child, this is one of the reasons I loved it. Books written for kids my age were boring. This book, however, was just what I was looking for.

As an adult reading the novel was just as enjoyable. Compared to Tolkien's other works, it was almost simple. I read through most of it in a day. I am a super fast reader and had too much time on my hands, but this novel should not be too difficult of a read for anyone with a Jr high or higher reading level.

One of my favorite parts of all of Tolkien's works is that he makes sure every character and/or group has a back story. Even side groups such as the Goblins have a history that is partially explained. The characters and the plot had an added depth because of Tolkien's attention to detail and extra information.  This added information pulled me deeper into the story and made me want to know even more.

Tolkien added side plots as often as he could. These helped show the growth among members of the party, especially Bilbo. At first the party is leery of Bilbo's capabilities as a burglar, but each of these side stories help develop his own confidence and the dwarves level of trust in him as well.

Out of all the books I've read, The Hobbit is one of the best. The story line is phenominal, the attention to detail is fantastic, and the depth of story, characters, and side plots is beyond compare. The only books I've read that compare are also by Tolkien. Nonetheless, JRR Tolkien is one of my favorite authors of all time and is one of my personal heroes. I highly recommend this novel.

Friend Suggestion: Agatha Christie (The Mysterious Affair at Styles)

A couple weeks ago I asked my friends to suggest books for me to read. Many of my future posts will fall under this category.

One of my friends recommended I read Agatha Christie. Since I obviously have lots of books to read I decided to pick one of her works and review it. I chose The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

The Mysterious Affair at Styles is Agatha Christie's first published novel. As with all of Agatha Christie's works, it is a detective novel. It was published in the US in 1920 (Great Britain 1921).

The novel is written in first person and narrated by Lt. Hastings. Hastings goes to visit friends and almost immediately the benefactress is murdered. He knows a great Belgian detective (who just happens to be in the area) and is an amateur detective himself. The two begin investigating the case.


The plot is solidly twisting, just as any good detective novel should be. The characters are engaging enough without being too emotional. The detectives can see things the casual observer cannot. It follows right in line with Sherlock Holmes without mirroring him. I did find the beginning a little slow but once the story began, I was drawn in enough to read it in one sitting. I can see why Agatha Christie is heralded as a great detective writer.

Honestly, reading detective novels isn't my favorite thing to do. I love watching them on TV or in movies but for some reason I just don't enjoy reading them as much as I think I will. This novel is not an exception. As I mentioned in my The Woman in White post, this is not in any way to dissuade you from reading the book.

If you enjoy detective stories, you should enjoy this novel.

--As a side note, the great Belgian detective is Poirot. He (apparently) shows up a lot in Agatha Christie's novels (Thanks wikipedia!). If you like other Poirot novels, you should read this, the first.--

BBC #77: The Woman in White

Published in 1859-1860, The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins is one of the first mystery and sensation novels. It is often applauded as being one of the greatest of it's kind. The novel is written in the form of statements, letters, and diary entries, and compiled by the editor and primary writer, Mr. Walter Hartright.

Hartright is drawing master who finds himself lucky enough to get a position at the Limmeridge house (somewhere in the country), tutoring two young ladies. Before he can leave London he meets a mysterious woman dressed all in white with connections with the Limmeridge house. Upon seeing her distress, Hartright helps her find a cab and sees her safely off. Only then does he run across two gentlemen asking about a woman in white who had escaped from an asylum. Thinking he's leaving the mysterious event behind him, Hartright heads to the Limmeridge house and meets the two ladies, Miss Halcombe and Miss Fairlie. The mystery of the woman in white does not stay in London, however, and very soon both young ladies and Mr. Hartright are drawn into the midst of it. The author then takes these pieces and twists and weaves them into a compelling novel.


This book drew no strong emotions from me. The villains mildly disgusted me. The hero I silently applauded. The main characters were vaguely interesting with only one character really appealing to me: Miss Halcombe. Since she was only a supporting character I even lost my emotional attachment to her.

These words should not dissuade anyone from reading this book. Mystery novels are not about the depth of character, they are about the story line and that was masterfully written. From the first line to the last it is full of surprises to keep your mind busily engaged while it works the real story out without you noticing.

While I think this novel is very well written, it will not end up on my "favorites" list. I read it, I enjoyed it, but I did not love it.

Random Read: The Scarlet Pimpernel

As much as I love modern books, the classics make my heart sing. Today's post is about one of my favorite books, one that I'm surprised didn't make it on the BBC's big read, The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy.

I first fell in love with the Scarlet Pimpernel as a little girl, watching the old black and white movie with my mom. This love was reenforced as an adult watching the musical preformed by a small professional theater group. Today this love was cemented. As one of the characters exclaimed in the book, "We ladies think of him as a hero of old. ... We worship him...we wear his badge...we tremble for him when he is in danger, and exult with him in the hour of his victory." Such is my love for the Scarlet Pimpernel.

The book is as great as the man! As you may have surmised, the novel revolves around a man who uses the pseudonym "the Scarlet Pimpernel." While a scarlet pimpernel is a common English flower, the man is anything but ordinary. He risks his life to save the lives of French nobility during the French Revolution. All of France is trying to catch him and everyone in England worships him. No one save his trusted followers knows who he is.

"We seek him here, we seek him there,
Those Frenchies seek him everywhere.
Is he in heaven?--Is he in hell?
That demmed, elusive Pimpernel?"
 (Sir Percy Blakeney)

The Scarlet Pimpernel is well woven with rich emotions and depth of character seen often in the classics and rarely in modern books. It made me laugh, it made me angry, it even made me cry and I rarely cry when I read books.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun classic. It will meet (or even exceed!) your expectations.

Random Read: The Hollow City

I first was heard of Dan Wells right after his first novel I Am Not a Serial Killer came out. Someone mentioned it in passing and I thought "hmm, maybe I should read that," before getting distracted by other books. A couple years later I moved to Orem and became acquainted with Dan Wells' daughter. I was floored when I realized my young friend's dad was a published author of a book I'd actually heard of. (Most people I know who have published books have self published and no one has heard of them or their books). I promptly bought his first book, devoured it, and instantly became a Dan Wells fan.

The Hollow City surpassed my expectations. It is not merely a good book, it's words are intricately woven together to form a masterpiece. And I'm not saying this just because I know the guy. I may know Dan Wells, but I know books better than I know him. I would read this book again in a heartbeat and I can't say that about most of the books I read.

The main character of the novel, Michael Shipman, has paranoid schizophrenia. His entire world is full of people, sounds, sights, even flavors that don't actually exist. He believes faceless men are chasing him, can't remember two weeks of his life, and very quickly becomes the main suspect in a series of murders involving people from his past.

The book is not only intriguing, it rings true. While not a paranoid schizophrenic, I was placed on an antipsychotic as a mood stabilizer at the beginning of July. This is the reason I didn't finish the book until today. I got to the section where Michael is placed on medicines and his symptoms were like a carnival mirror version of mine--distorted and larger but recognizably like mine. It was simply too much to read Micheal's journey while I was traversing my own. So I waited until my symptoms died down and today I picked up the book again. Note how I'm reviewing it the same day I read the second half. It was that good.

It's a twisting journey through the mind of a man who can't tell the difference between what's real and what's not. I highly recommend The Hollow City. It will make you question reality, think deeper than you have thought in a while, and entertain you all at the same time. Journey with Michael as he discovers not all the monsters in his head are fake and as he discovers the answer to the question "who can you trust if you can't even trust yourself?"

CHANGE!!!

Yes, you read the title correctly, CHANGE IS HERE!

As you may or may not have noticed, I have changed a few things about the blog. There's a new "about me" section. I also changed the header. Best of all, I've changed the entire purpose of this blog!!

No longer is this blog focused exclusively on the BBC's Big Read. I've broadened the horizons and will be including all the books I read. This will truly be an amazing book adventure! For those of you who don't particularly like change and are wondering why I would do such a thing , here are my 2 reasons.

1-The BBC's Big Read list was published in 2003. Thousand upon thousands of books have been published since then and hundreds of them are worth reading. Think about it: Only 4 Harry Potter books were published when the list came out. The 7th Harry Potter is my favorite of the entire series. If I only read and review the Big Read Books, you and I will both be missing out on hundreds of great books, some of which are yet to be published!

 2-I love to read lots of different kinds of books. This means that while I am constantly reading, I can go months without reading any of the BBC Big Read books. If I only review those books, it may mean I don't post for several months at a time (note my last post date). If I only post once every few months, what we have is a very boring blog.

I'll still keep track of the BBC Big Read books, and that will still be one of the big focuses of the blog, but my reading and reviewing will not stop there! No, my friends, you are about to see how seriously addicted to reading I really am. I expect I will be posting about once a week, if not more.

My first non-BBC Big Read post will be up by the end of next week. Here's a hint: It's young adult fiction about a dystopian society and it was was written by a friend of mine. No, I don't know Suzanne Collins, even though I wish I did, meaning the post will not be about the Hunger Games.

Included in the post will be some special content you won't be able to find anywhere else. No joke.

Stay tuned for details...

BBC # 47, A Christmas Carol

Once again, evidence of Charles Dickens' Genius is displayed in A Christmas Carol. The story follows Scrooge, a man who believes Christmas is foolish and serving others pointless as he is visited by ghostly visions that teach him the true meaning of Christmas and even our life on earth.

This story is one of the most widely known Christmas stories. More movie variations of it have been made than I can count. Every year thousands of theaters across America show off local and professional talent portraying Scrooge and Tiny Tim. It is a classic by definition.

This year I read it with my husband just before Christmas, finishing with the last chapter on Christmas Eve. I was amazed again by Dickens' greatness. He masterfully had me laughing and then close to tears in a single page. Without the need of a question mark he asked poignant questions about the meaning of life, our interpretation of God's will, and the consequences of our choices.

I've read it before and watched at least 4 of the movie versions, but never have I been so moved as I was this time! Maybe it was reading it just before Christmas or my own loss of a family member in the last couple years or a sign that I'm finally maturing, but this book held meaning for me that I will cherish.

And as Tiny Tim says, "God Bless us, Everyone!"