I read The Hobbit first when I was like 12 because it was one of the options for our summer reading list at school, and it was the only book that seemed interesting to me. I really liked it then! I tried to read LOTR after because I knew they were related, but I actually found that one to be a bit drier or something, I couldn't get into it until a couple of years later. But I enjoy both now, they're such good stories and the universe he created is impressive.

And I think the version of LOTR that I have is technically printed in three separate books, but it's treated as one book. As in, the page numbers continue from one book to another instead of starting over, and the forward thing is in the first book and notes/appendices and stuff in the end of the last book. I think they just printed it into three instead of having one huge book to make it more manageable, but it's treated as one continuous thing.

In fact, I just checked and the only thing they put in all three is a table of contents in the beginning and the maps in the end, for convenience. But otherwise, the second book starts where the first left off, and then the third is the same.

- yes, it happens. Usually when an item is new and still has inflated prices.

- I can see where you might have enjoyed The Hobbit more when you read it so young. I was actually in college when I first read them and, as I said, had trouble starting The Hobbit. But I was totally engrossed in Lord of the Rings and went a little crazy when I got to the end of one of the first two books late at night and had to wait until the next day to get the next book - but I wanted to keep reading. :-) I should probably go back and read The Hobbit again. And maybe reread Lord of the Rings too (although I've done that a few times - including when the movies came out.)

Yeah, it probably helped that I was in the target audience age when I first read it. They're both good though, The Hobbit reminds me somewhat of the Chronicles of Narnia series with the way it's written, like the tone. Which kinda makes sense I guess, since CS Lewis and Tolkien were friends.

I should probably read the books again, it's been a while. And watch the movies...

- Tolkien would probably not have been happy to hear that. He apparently thought the religious symbolism in Narnia was way too obvious and while he liked C. S. Lewis didn't think he was that great of an author. In some ways, I agree. I read and enjoyed the Chronicles of Narnia (as an adult, in my case) but definitely thought they were clearly children's books, whereas I might not have known that The Hobbit was supposed to be a children's book if I hadn't been told. And it seems that way, only in comparison with LoTR.

I never did see any of the Hobbit movies. I wonder if I should try to watch them sometime.

True, I guess it's more in comparison with LOTR that The Hobbit seems more like a children's book, but still. They do have clearly different tones.

I liked some of the Narnia books, but mostly the first few. The ending seemed rushed and weird to me, from the little that I remember, and yeah the religious symbolism did seem to become more and more obvious as the series went on (although it was still pretty obvious from the beginning).

And you could watch the Hobbit movies at least once just to see what they were like, but I haven't watched them much more than that. Well, I've seen the first one a few times, but the other two I don't really care for.

- Peter Jackson did such an amazing job with the Lord of the Rings movies that it was going to be really difficult not to disappoint with The Hobbit movies. Maybe he tried too hard to try to make The Hobbit as epic as LoTR, which it just isn't. I don't really need to reread the Narnia books again (I have read them more than once) but LoTR I'll probably read over again - and maybe the Hobbit too.

On a somewhat different topic, have you ever read any Christopher Stasheff? Just curious.

Never heard of that one, but I will check it out :)

Yeah I had the wizard ask me for an item that had just been released in the news announcement. Had to quit that quest and it was the last one during a weekend quest.

I think it could have been good, I just wish they had stuck to the plot of the book more and not tried to draw in so much other stuff, and make it as epic like you mentioned. The cast did a really phenomenal job with what they were given, and the visuals were good, it was mostly the writing. If they had kept it with only the book material and made it more like one movie done in two parts (similar to what was done with Kill Bill, if you're familiar with that), I think it would have been a lot better.

And no, I haven't read any of his stuff. I remember you mentioning the Warlock In Spite of Himself series not long ago though.

Yes I have read some Stasheff but it's been a long time ago so don't remember much. I have over 1000 books mostly sci fi and fantasy adventure but haven't had any time to read for a long time.

It's a pain when they do but it's rare. Being sick isn't very useful but at least I get to spend more time doing quests :P

- I didn't actually see Kill Bill, but I think I understand. Although, if LoTR was three movies worth, then The Hobbit should have been able to be made into a single movie if you stuck to just the book. I suppose making it into two would have let them add some of the supplementary material they used (I understand they used some things from the LoTR appendices, for example).

Hmmm - we must have been talking science fiction then too. :-) It eventually turned into three series. Some of it is probably more Narnia like in the writing (some obvious stuff and not really detailed like Tolkien) but I seem to like the sense of humor of that particular author for some reason.

- I would not survive a single day without reading!

I could have seen them doing it in two parts, have the first part be the setup and getting to the mountain, and then the second part with Smaug and the battle. If they were around 2 hours each it could have worked as one very long movie, just split into part 1 and part 2. Because then that would be like ~4 hours or so, when the three LOTR movies are like ~3 hours each so it would be comparable I think.

It definitely didn't need to be three movies though, and yeah that got stretched out because they added more things trying to connect it to the other LOTR movies and took some stuff from the appendices and the Silmarillion, although I think there was some stuff they just made up as well.

Found and at BHH - both today. Now, if I could just find one Possessed Bow. :-) Still I really am pretty pleased.

- I think you're right because the articles I was looking at were talking about a character they invented for the movie.

And it could have been even worse, because apparently they also wanted to bring Aragorn back into it for some reason but Viggo Mortensen was like nah, so they ended up not doing that. But IDK why they even would have needed to, they did a lot of unnecessary things.

Congrats on the BHH stuff! I've still only bought like 6 things total there, but I keep forgetting to check every hour or so. Oh well ~

- actually I read that was sort of blown out of proportion. Aragorn in the Hobbit movie?

Thank you. You might want to try a little harder to remember - I usually do it at the same time as I play Blackout and visit the Crypts - because it seems to me that items are stocking there more often recently.

Happy questing! Me I am just trying to recover from a day and a half of putting this monster together! It is 98% finished. I couldn't really put the back on correctly because these people do not know what the meaning of "pre-drilled" holes is. I had 10 screws and only 2 holes. I somehow lost two screws so only two drawers are finished, but I can live with that for now. Tonight I am going to veg in front of the tv and watch the new Pirates and Transformers movies :D

Hmm, maybe so but I still think they tried to do too much to connect the stories, when they should have just focused on story in the book.

I've been trying to remember a bit more, but still every time I go there's nothing. Oh well, I'll get something nice from there eventually maybe. :P

- I almost always prefer if a movie adaptation of a book stays close to the book - for me that's usually the point.

You will get something if you visit. I can still remember thinking I was never going to find anything there ever. Do you visit multiple times each hour? There is a set number of times you are allowed and then you get kicked out for an hour. I go the max but a little bit spread out. So, I'll go to BHH, then play Blackout, then go to BHH, ... It seems to work since I do find things regularly (not always frequently).

Congrats on mostly finishing that beast of a furniture! I've done a lot of assembly for various pieces and some are much worse than others. I've ordered another for my entry that is most likely going to be a toughie but worth it hopefully in the end.

I kept going but not finding and being kicked out but if you can come back each hour I'll try. I think I managed a few times, at least once but goodness it's very rare.

I'm figuring out what to do with green tomatoes (think I know), but I'm not sure I'll actually be able to cook them today. I'm still dealing with being pretty weak & my priority is just managing to take a bath.

I see they have added an option to training to cancel the training. Not sure why I would ever want to cancel a training class. I can see the resort, taking a pet out so you can feed it. But why would you want to cancel training. Seems odd.