A Bit Bookish

The name's Luna.
24/Los Angeles/wannabe blogger & researcher
Just another freak in the Freak Kingdom.
A place for me to ramble about books I love... also probably the only blog I'll ever have that will keep its theme. I don't want my page to be a mess so I'm only going to shelve books starting with what I've read in the past year.
I'm not always eloquent, and I'm certainly not pretentious. I am just a huge nerd who lurks in used bookstores and likes to read and do research for fun.
Geeks unite.

The Hobbit- Ch. 3

The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien, Alan Lee

This week's post is a quick one- just some of my favorite passages with thoughts on writing style. And some pretty pictures of course. :] I'll probably have a couple simple posts like this here and there when the week gets too crazy. There are wonderful posts from the others in the Ch. 3 section of the Silmarillion Blues group of course, so click the link!

*******

"One morning they forded a river at a wide shallow place full of the noise of stones and foam. The far bank was steep and slippery. When they got to the top of it, leading their ponies, they saw that the great mountains had marched down very near to them. Already they seemed only a day's easy journey from the feet of the nearest. Dark and drear it looked, though there were patches of sunlight on its bright sides, and behind its shoulders the tips of snow-peaks gleamed."

[I just really loved the language of this passage... "the noise of stones and foam" is a very simple description, but you hear the noise of a rushing river immediately. I also loved the way Tolkien personified the mountain- how it "marched down very near to them", and "behind its shoulders the tips of snow-peaks gleamed".] 

***

"Bilbo never forgot the way they slithered and slipped in the dusk down the steep zig-zag path into the secret valley of Rivendell. The air grew warmer as they got lower, and the smell of the pine-trees made him drowsy, so that every now and again he nodded and nearly fell off, or bumped his nose on the pony's neck. Their spirits rose as they went down and down. The trees changed to beech and oak, and there was a comfortable feeling in the twilight. The last green had almost faded out of the grass, when they came at length to an open glade not far above the banks of the stream." 

 

[As I was reading all I wanted was to go to Rivendell. Or at least to have my own secret tree-house type thing in the middle of a beautiful valley.]

***

 

"He [Elrond] was as noble and as fair in face as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer. He comes into many tales, but his part in the story of Bilbo's great adventure is only a small one, though important, as you will see, if we ever get to the end of it. His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking best, or a pleasant mixture of them all. Evil things did not come into that valley."

[I really loved the description of Elrond being "as kind as summer"- I thought it hit all the right feelings- warmth, calm, a happy kind of laziness... though I suppose there are some in America who would disagree with describing summer as "kind". Totally makes sense for England though, does it ever get over like 75 degrees over there?]

***

 

"The next morning was a midsummer's morning as fair and fresh as could be dreamed: blue sky and never a cloud, and the sun dancing on the water. Now they rode away amid songs of farewell and good speed, with their hearts ready for more adventure, and with a knowledge of the road they must follow over the Misty Mountains to the land beyond." 

 

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