LMB Book Club, The Hobbit Ch. 14: Fire and Water

[Lennidhren]

So, I'll be at Latin club's state convention, chaperoning students and overseeing the graphic arts contests, all day Friday and Saturday (and by all day I mean I leave my house at 7am and get home around 11pm Saturday... :-)

Ergo, Book club will meet Sunday at 4pm. And if you're lucky, I'll even have discussion topics by then.

Can we get Artemisia's Smaug song for this week? I still need to see if I have the link in chat logs from two weeks ago, unless she sees this to post it. :-)

[Lennidhren]

Here are our discussion topics for this chapter:

1) Bard and the Thrush save the day! The men of Lake-town may want to blame the dwarves for waking the dragon and stirring it up to destroy their town, but would they ever have got rid of their perilous draconic neighbor, had that thrush not overhead Bilbo's useful bit of information?

2) Even with Smaug dead, his hoard remains - or at least the rumors of it - to draw both the Lake-town men and the Mirkwood elves to the mountain. Up until now the confrontation with the dragon has been the expected destination of the story - but instead of Bilbo and the dwarves defeating Smaug, someone else did so, practically off-stage, and so now the story shifts direction. How does this chapter lead us into such a new phase of the story?

3) Profiles in Leadership: Bard vs. the Master of Lake-town.

Any thoughts on music?

[gaiagil]

Sorry I missed this one! We're getting ready for a vacation at Lake Tahoe and were busy making preparations. I will also miss Ales and Tales this week.

See you all after I've recharged the batteries!
Gaiagil