November 12, 2007
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What is your favorite book and why?
“This thing all things devours.
Birds. Beasts. Trees. Flowers.
Gnaws iron. Bites steal.
Grinds hard stones to meal.
Slays king. Ruins town.
Beats high mountain down.”—-
“A box without hinges, key or lid, yet golden treasure inside is hid.”
—–
“My armor is like ten-fold shield. My claws are as swords, my teeth spears!
The shock of my tail a thunderbolt. My wings a hurricane! And my breath…. DEATH!”—-
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, cannot be heard cannot be smelt.
It hides behind stars and under hills and empty holes it fills.
It comes first, follows after.
Ends life.
Kills laughter.”—–
“What have I got in my pocket?”
—–
“suddenly his hand met what felt like a tiny ring of cold metal lying on the floor
of the tunnel. It was a turning point in his career, but he did not know it. He put the ring in his pocket almost without thinking: certainly it did not seem of any particular use at the moment.”—-
“Farewell, King Under the Mountain.
Farewell, Thorin.”—–
“The Eagles! The Eagles are coming!
“—-
“Indeed. And how do you intend to enter Smaug’s chambers? Through the
front gate? As a houseguest? You would be ashes before you took your
seventh step.
“—-
“Black arrow! You’ve never failed me,”
—-
” Thief! Thief! Baggins! We hates it! Hates it! FOREVER!
“—-
“I have chosen Mr.
Baggins and that ought to be enough for all of you. If I say he is a
Burglar, a Burglar he is, or will be when the time comes. There is a
lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of
himself.”—-
“A sudden
understanding, a pity mixed with horror, welled up in Bilbo’s heart: a
glimpse of endless unmarked days without light or hope of betterment,
hard stone, cold fish, sneaking and whispering.”—–
“Somehow the killing
of the giant spider, all alone by himself in the dark without the help
of the wizard or the dwarves or of anyone else, made a great difference
to Mr. Baggins. He felt a different person, and much fiercer and bolder
in spite of an empty stomach.”—–
“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold [as the hobbits do], it would be a merrier world.”
—–
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty,
wet hole, filled with the end of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a
dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing to sit down on or eat: it was a
hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.”—-
“What do you mean?” he said. “Do you wish me a good morning, or mean
that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel
good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”—-
“You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benifit.”
—
“Deep down here by the dark water lived old Gollum, a small slimy
creature. I don’t know where he came from, nor who or what he was. He
was Gollum – as dark as darkness, except for two big round pale eyes in
his thin face.”—-
“Sssss,” …. “Praps ye sits here and chats with it a bitsy, my
preciousss. It like riddles, praps it does, does it?”—
“I will give you a name,” he said to it, “and I shall call you
Sting.”—-
“well thief! I smell you and I feel your air. I hear your breath. Come
along! Help yourself again, there is plenty and to spare.”—–
“Voiceless it cries,
Wingless it flutters,
Toothless it bites,
Mouthless it mutters.”—-
“You are a burgleer, go burgal something!!”—-
I tell you, That the gold was only an after though with us. We came over hill and underhill, by wave and win, for REVENGE!!
—–
“He liked visitors, but he liked to know them before they arrived, and he preferred
to ask them himself. He had a horrible thought that the cakes might run short, and then he – as the host: he knew his duty
and stuck to it however painful – he might have to go without.”—-
” ‘What I say,’ said Bilbo gasping. ‘And please don’t cook me, kind sirs! I am
a good cook myself, and cook better than I cook, if you see what I mean. I’ll cook beautifully for you, a perfectly
beautiful breakfast for you, if only you won’t have me for supper.’ “—-
” ‘Where did you go to, if I may ask?’ said Thorin to Gandalf as they rode along.
’To look ahead,’ said he.
’And what brought you back in the nick of time?’
’Looking behind,’ said he. “—-
” ‘Where iss it? Where iss it?’, Bilbo heard him crying. ‘Losst it is, my precious, lost, lost! Curse us and crush
us, my precious is lost!’
“—
” ‘I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths
led. And through the air. I am he that walks unseen. [...] I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly.
I was chosen for the lucky number. [...] I am he that buries his friends alive and drown them and draws them alive
again from the water. I came from the end of a bag, but no bag went over me. [...] I am the friend of bears and
the guest of eagles. I am Ringwinner and Luckwearer; and I am Barrel-rider,’”—-
“ ‘Revenge!’ he snorted; and the light in his eyes lit the hall from floor to ceiling like
scarlet lightning. ‘Revenge! [...] I kill where I wish and none dare resist. I laid low the warriors of old and their
like is not in the world today.”"—-
“Never laugh at live dragons, Bilbo you fool!”
—-
“It was a terrible battle. The most dreadful of Bilbo’s experiences, and the one which
at the time he hated most.”—-
“All was deadly still. There was no call and no echo of a song. Sorrow seemed
to be in the air.
’Victory after all I suppose!’ he [Bilbo] said, feeling his aching
head. ‘Well it seems a very gloomy business.’ “—-
“The Bagginses had lived in the neighbourhood of The Hill for time out of mind,
and people considered them very respectable, not only because most of them were very rich, but also because they never
had any adventures or did anything unexpected: you could tell what a Baggins would say on any question without the
bother of asking him.”—-
” ‘I will take your gift, O Bilbo the Magnificent!’, said the King gravely.
‘And I name you elf-friend and blessed.”—-
“‘There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure.”
—
“In short Bilbo was ‘Presumed Dead’, and not everybody that say so was sorry to find
their presumption wrong.”—
“”Indeed Bilbo found he had lost more than spoons – he had lost his reputation. It is
true that forever after he remained an elf-friend, and had the honours of dwarves, wizards, and all such folk as
ever passed that way; but he was no longer quite respectable. He was in fact held by all the hobbits of the neighbourhood
to be ‘queer’”—-
“We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing
uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner! I can’t think what anybody sees in them,”—-
“What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees,
Up, up it goes,
And yet never grows?”—-
“Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away ere break of day
To seek the pale enchanted gold.
“—
Chip the glasses and crack the plates!
Blunt the knives and bend the forks!
That’s what Bilbo hates—-
“You are a fine person, Mr Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you
are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!”“Thank goodness!” said Bilbo laughing, and handed him the
tobacco-jar.———————————————-
———————————————-
———————————————-There and Back Again is my favorite book. These quotes illustrate why. Many of them I remember by heart. People think Lord of the Rings is the masterpiece but in truth this was the true unparalleled work of literary art. In a world where the only fantasy was fairy tales about stupid kids being cooked in an oven or a girl with ridiculously long hair, Tolkein introduced us to a world of dragons and elves and dwarfs and goblins and trolls. A land of magic and mysticism. Rather than princes and princesses we met the creature Gollum wallowing in the dark and the great wizard Gandalf with all his might and wisdom. We met Elrond and Thorin and the Eagles and the Spiders and the Trolls. And of course the terrifying mighty Smaug, who taught us all what it meant to be born into the glorious power of dragonhood.
And through it all we travel along side the wonderful middle aged hobit named Bilbo who never wanted adventure and just wanted to live out his life peacefully. A eminently sensible and reasonable fellow, down to earth and full of very real feelings of self doubt and fear and hesitation, but showing so much courage as the adeventures find him and he is forced to go along with it, that we grow to love him for it.
It is a story of becoming and growing up and becoming bigger than your origins. Bilbo is the greatest hero in fantasy history. Maybe the greatest hero in literature. And as book, The Hobbit is truly a masterpiece for the ages.
There is no equal.
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Comments (9)
Cover-to-cover, how many times did you read it?
“Rorschach’s Journal. October 12th, 1985. : Dog Carcass in alley this morning, tire tread on burst stomach. This city is afraid of me. I have seen its true face. The streets are extended gutters and the gutters are full of blood and when the drains finally scab over, all the vermin will drown. The accumulated filth of all their sex and murder will foam up about their waists and all the whores and politicians will look up and shout ‘Save us!’ And I’ll look down, and whisper ‘no.’
They had a choice, all of them. They could have followed in the footsteps of good men like my father, or President Truman. Decent men, who believed in a day’s work for a day’s pay. Instead they followed the droppings of lechers and communists and didn’t realize that the trail led over a precipice until it was too late. Don’t tell me they didn’t have a choice.
Now the whole world stands on the brink, staring down into bloody hell, all those liberals and intellectuals and smooth-talkers, and all of a sudden nobody can think of anything to say.”
“Hmm. That’s quite a drop.”
That’s how the comic book Watchmen starts. It’s my favorite work of literature of all time, in all mediums.
Wow. That sounds interesting. Somebody else recommended Watchmen to me just the other day too. I guess I really need to read this graphic novel.
huginn:
I’ve lost count. Less than twenty times I think. More than 6 I’m sure. However, I’ve only made it through Lord of the Rings twice. For all its acclaim those books just get boring sometimes. The Hobbit was much better.
That’s hard-core. I’ve made it through my favorite book five times or so (
Remains of the Day
by Ishiguro). I’ve tried rereadings since, but the thick familarity of words and plot really get in the way of enjoyment.
Interestingly, Watchmen had been asigned as required readnig for a couple UCLA English courses– by now, it has been accepted into the pantheon of serious and enduring works of literature.
It was only recently that I’ve realized that a wealth of quality works exist in comic-form. With depth of plot and character, these works rank somewhere between novel and movie. The trick is to know where to look. Vertigo Comics seem to be the big publisher of these adult works.
There aren’t too many good comic books out there, only a few; most of them are junk. Then again, the same is true for literature in all other mediums, too.
I’ve read Watchmen front-to-back about a handful of times, but I read a chapter or two frequently.
I tend to be ok with most of the comic books I’ve read as long as I’m not expecting great literary works out of all them. Most of them are just good old fashioned fun stuff.
The problem with a lot of the comics is that they lack consistency. The good stuff tends to be a planned story from beginning to end following some artist and/or writer’s vision throughout. Unfortunately a lot of comic books will just try to drag the same story on and on forever, changing writers and and artists repeatedly throughout. You might start off liking a series only to find months later that you despise it because another writer butchered your favorite characters. This is why I tend to lean toward manga as comic-form work goes, since even when they are crazy, they are at least consistently crazy.
Most of the times when I read the Hobbit were when I was much younger. I don’t know if I’d have the free time or the patience to re-read a book that much these days.
Well, yeah, that happens. My two favorite comic books were Watchmen and The Sandman. The Sandman’s ending was planned before it was written, and well, it ended eventually, instead of regurgitating the same things over and over again. But there were a lot of ‘crap’ in between, as well as a lot of good stuff. I admire writers who’d rather tell a good story and end it, instead of just trying to make more and more money like most writers.
Eh… I absolutely detest all the manga I ever read, as well as most anime. Except for Cowboy Bebop, which was amazing, and some of Hayao Miyazaki’s stuff, like Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind.
You just named two of my favorite anime of all time.
But I think there’s lots of good manga out there. Their all different though and you have to have a high threshold for cultural dissidence. I mean there’s just a lot of weird stuff.
As a wannabe writer I can certainly commiserate with all those writers who want a cash cow of a series that they can milk for a lifetime, but yeah I agree with you that it generally makes for better stuff if you know where you are going.