LMB Book Club, The Hobbit Ch. 12: Inside Information

[Lennidhren]

This weekend will be a busy one for me; besides the crafting bee Saturday, I have commitments Friday and Saturday night. So instead of a poll, this week I'm just going to set the meeting time to Sunday, 4pm EST.

And I'm going to post the discussion topics later. Because I'm too tired to read the chapter and come up with any tonight. :-) In fact I am tired enough that I may just log in Horazio and...farm. And Horazio is a supreme farmer, so when I log in just to farm for no reason...that's when I know I'm ridiculously tired. *heh*

One immediate point of discussion however: This is another chapter without any poetry (unless in my tiredness I totally missed one when I flipped through it). Any suggestions what we could do for a Book Club Band song this week?

[gaiagil]

I was actually thinking about going back to the alternative Rivendell silly elf song you posted as I did not have time for it when we did "Tra la la la lally." We actually have quite a few chapters ahead without songs. This is Tolkien getting serious!

I would like to take some time to do the finished book club songs for filming. My first film did not come out. I had set my computer up for recording for another video and failed to make sure it captured sound with fraps. I'm still learning how to capture video in the game, so it's my issue entirely. There are two ways we could approach the filming: we could set up a time to do a filming run through of all the songs so far, or we could film one or two every week instead of playing new songs.

Let me know what works as I need to bring Arduron in to help with the filming. I can't sing and film at the same time as my screen is full of lyrical and songbook.

Gaiagil

[Galenhir]

hey lmb reading club - not sure if you know but i am working on middle-earth network and dunedain radio - which will launch late march. we are looking to host quality reading clubs - and i think it would be awesome to have this group featured on the site. i'll let you know as things progress when we can incorporate the club if you would all be interested.

also!!! we are planning to try an alternative to the lost mylotro blogging community - just tossing around ideas at this point. of course this would not just be a focus on lotro, but all things tolkien.

ill keep you posted. i probably should start an idea thread here to get feedback from you all regarding various topics.

cheers!

[Lennidhren]

Here are today's discussion topics, mostly taken from a few of the many wonderful quotes in this chapter:

(1) "Dwarves are not heroes, but calculating folk..." Does the narrator's assessment of dwarven nature hold true throughout the lore, e.g. LOTR or the Silmarillion? (For the latter, we can look at the creation of dwarves in ch. 2, "Of Aule and Yavanna" as well as the participation of the dwarves of Belegost with their dragonfire-proof masks in the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, ch. 29 "Of the Fifth Battle".)

(2) "He had not had a pocket handkerchief for ages." One of many comments leading us back again to Bilbo's longing for home. How does this familiar theme play in to this dramatic point in the story?

(3) "Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did....He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait." Discuss. :-)

(4) "There are no words left to express his staggerment, since Men changed the language that they learned of elves in the days when all the world was wonderful." An annotation cites a letter from Tolkien to his publishers stating that these two sentences "contain the only philological remark in the Hobbit"...Tolkien's area of scholarship shows through here, but what's the significance of a philological (linguistic) comment at this point in the story (upon seeing the dragon's vast hoard)?

(5) "Now [Bilbo] had become the real leader in their adventure." Thorin still makes grand speeches, but is it really Bilbo who leads?

(6) We have an echo of the Riddle-Game in Bilbo's conversation with the dragon, and his glee at coming up with riddling ways to name himself while trying not to give anything important away to Smaug. (I think Mr. Baggins in Rivendell should periodically wear one or another of these titles the way we can change our titles...)

(7) "Never laugh at live dragons!" Just had to comment on that one because it reminds me of the Hogwarts motto, "Draco dormiens numquam titillandus = Never tickle a sleeping dragon". The Latin for Bilbo's proverb, by the way, would be "Draco vivus numquam deridendus". :-)

(8) And speaking of dragons - Smaug represents another new race for us to discuss! It's been quite a few chapters since we had such a topic, so let's see what we have learned about the great worms in this chapter.

Wow. Twice the usual number of topics. I just couldn't pass over any of those great quotes! This seemed a much more quotable chapter than many, you know? What are your favorite quotes from it? Do share, here or in the meeting!

[Lindorieh]

I agree Lenn, lots of great quotes! Hopefully there will be lots of read alouds today. Great work on the discussion topics! Can't wait for the meeting.

Lind

[Lindorieh]

I agree Lenn, lots of great quotes! Hopefully there will be lots of read alouds today. Great work on the discussion topics! Can't wait for the meeting.

Lind

[gaiagil]

In thinking about the race of Dragons, we must discuss the father of all dragons, Glaurung. I wish to read aloud (as long as my voice will hold out)not from the Hobbit today, but from the Silmarillion. I hope that is agreeable!

Gaiagil

[gaiagil]

Okay, I took the other elven song that Lennidhren found as an alternative to "Tra-la-la-la-lally, and found music to fit it. This was no mean feat as the meter of the song has variances that made setting it to music difficult. Probably why it was abandoned. But! Yes, there's a but! I found that with some creative manipulation of lyrics it fits the song "Cliffs of Moher" which is included in the Old Winyards PUB Set. It's the one called cliffs-part.abc. Please download it. Though the song calls for bagpipe and horn, two lutes and theorbo, I think it sounds more elvish if we play flute for the bagpipe part and clarinet for the horn part. So that's my suggestion. I shall be ready to sing.

See you at book club,
Gaiagil

[Lindorieh]

I shall have all my instruments!

Where are we meeting?

Lind

[Lennidhren]

A reading from the Silmarillion will be a great addition, Gaiagil!

Hm, where to meet...I think...it will have to be at the GREEN DRAGON INN! :-)

It was either that or somewhere with real drakes/dragons, and that might be a bit *too* exciting for a book discussion.

[Andeon]

oohh...I wish I coulda been there - i just so desperately need my sleep, or I'd have been there - I love hearing the histories of the ancient enemies of Arda - spiders, dragons, wights, orcs - knowing where they came from, how they came to be, and why they do what they do, has always been a strong but sidelined fascination of mine

I hope you all had fun, and perhaps would be kind enough to clue me in on what you discovered/discerned