Random Stuff, Thursday Thirteen and Booking Through Thursday

The other day I said that I would likely only read about a chapter of John D. Rateliff's book at a time, but that has since changed. I am actually almost done, would be done if I had more reading time, and I have learned a lot! I hope to finish it today, so expect a post on it as soon as I can. There is a sequel to it as well, it comes out in August. I like the fact that the framework is Mr. Baggins, The Hobbit, and Hobbits themselves, but that is not all that the author talks about. I do know one thing, now that I have read these older editions of The Hobbit, I hope to reread the published book to see all the changes for myself.

13 Things I have learned so far by reading The History of The Hobbit: Part One: Mr. Baggins is my Thursday Thirteen for the week.

1. Gandalf was not originally the name of a wizard, but of a troll.

2. The person that eventually became named Gandalf was not clearly marked as a wizard in the early stages of Tolkien's writing.

3. The One Ring did not get sinister until The Lord of the Rings. It was just a ring for invisibility.

4. Gollum was not described as a Hobbit in the beginning, his origin was unknown.

5. Tolkien was very thrifty with his paper, he would make corrections in pen over pencil and then just erase the pencil.

6. Tolkien's Goblins are closely like George MacDonald's goblins, but Tolkien's goblins like to sing and they do not have super sensitive feet.

7. Dwarves were more magical in the original manuscripts than they would become in the published version.

8. People thought that Tolkien followed an actual calendar when he was writing The Hobbit, but actually he makes several errors with the date in his early manuscripts that make this unlikely.

9. Elrond went through some drastic changes, I think, from the original character to the one that I know well.

10.The scenes that happen in the Misty Mountains are based on a near disaster that happened to Tolkien in the mountains of Switzerland.

11.Bilbo dreams about things that are going to happen very soon, while Frodo will eventually have dreams about the future. Tolkien was very big on dreams, it was one of his interests.

12.Bears were primary throughout his books because his first audience were his children and they liked bears.

13.I have seen a lot of how Tolkien's ideas are based on older writings, which makes the reading that much more interesting.

Booking Through Thursday Question for this Week.
Just Wild About Harry

1. Okay, love him or loathe him, you’d have to live under a rock not to know that J.K. Rowling’s final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, comes out on Saturday… Are you going to read it?
- Probably not.

2. If so, right away? Or just, you know, eventually, when you get around to it? Are you attending any of the midnight parties?
- I might read it eventually, but totally not right away. More than likely on the night everyone is going Harry Potter crazy I will be waiting to hear if my friend had her baby or not as she is due this weekend.

3. If you’re not going to read it, why not?
- I am not a big Harry Potter fan. I have never been able to enjoy Rowlings writing style, but I might give them a try again one of these days. Just, not right now.

4. And, for the record… what do you think? Will Harry survive the series? What are you most looking forward to?
- I think she might have originally toyed with the idea that Harry would die, but now I think she wants to be able to continue the series later if she wants. After all the success she has had, she probably would not mind if she had this series to fall back on if her other projects do not work out.

Booking Through Thursday and Thursday Thirteen

1. In your opinion, what is the best translation of a book to a movie?
- I read more than I go to the movies, so there are still lots of books that I have not seen the movie adaptions of. Some of my favourites are The Green Mile, one of the few Stephen King books I have read and enjoyed; Anne of Green Gables, the two original mini series, the newer one was not based on the books at all; Lord of the Rings, for the HUGE books that these movies were based off, I think that Peter Jackson did a good job; Chronicles of Narnia, both the old BBC movies and the new version were well-done; The Notebook, I really liked this Nicholas Sparks book and the movie was one of the few chick-flicks I enjoyed; The Shawshank Redemption, another Stephen King work that went well from book to movie; etc.

2. The worst?
- Message in a Bottle was a horrible movie based on Nicholas Sparks book of the same title; the new Anne of Green Gables mini-series was terrible compared to the books; there are probably others that I am not thinking about.

3. Had you read the book before seeing the movie, and did that make a difference? (Personally, all other things being equal, I usually prefer whichever I was introduced to first.)
- I always read the book before seeing the movie. I prefer to read, so I would rather do it that way. Normally if I see the movie first, I never read the book.


Thirteen Series (Trilogies) That I Want to Read (but am holding off on because I have too many on the go as is.)

1. Masters of Rome series by Colleen McCullough

2. Emperor series by Conn Iggulden

3. Second Sons trilogy by Jennifer Fallon

4. Curse of Chalion trilogy by Lois McMaster Bujold

5. Sevenwaters trilogy by Juliet Marillier

6. Drenai series by David Gemmell

7. King Kelson quartet by Katherine Kurtz

8. Belgariad series by David Eddings

9. Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin (did anyone notice the new book is saying 2008 now? I feel bad for people if that is true!)

10.Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson

11.Axis trilogy by Sara Douglass

12.Sword of Shadows series by J.V. Jones

13.Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell

And that is just some of them...

Booking Through Thursday

It happens even to the best readers from time to time… you close the cover on the book you’re reading and discover, to your horror, that there’s nothing else to read. Either there’s nothing in the house, or nothing you’re in the mood for. Just, nothing that “clicks.” What do you do?? How do you get the reading wheels turning again?
- This happens to me surprisingly a lot. I have plenty of books in the house, but there are always times when I look at them and nothing is really calling to me. Normally, I will take a few hours off and then try again, while other times I will take a quick trip to the bookstore to see if there is anything there that is appealing to me. I find that when I normally feel like this, it is because I am a little reading burned out, so I just try and not pressure myself into finding something.

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

1. 
   Have you ever wanted to travel to a place described in a book? Of course, I think it works out that the better the author writes about the place, the more you want to see what they are talking about. It is like a credit to the author. It is fictional places, like the ones that are in my fantasy novels that I am normally drawn to, but other places interest me.


2. Have you ever ACTUALLY travelled to a place because of the way it was described in a book? I have been to Prince Edward Island to see where Anne of Green Gables took place. That was cool.


3. And if so, did it live up to the expectations, feelings, emotions you expected from the book? Did you feel like Anne was going to come romping around the corner of Green Gables? Was it as if Jo was upstairs at Orchard House, scribbling on a story? Or was it just a museum, or just a city street? Like Abbey Road without the Beatles? I thought it was very believable. I enjoyed the visit and would like to go back. The whole island is described so well by Montgomery, that you feel like Anne really existed and really is going to walk up to you.

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

1. Do you plan ahead for your reading? Work off of a to-be-read pile? A reading list? Or do you wing it, choose whatever you're in the mood for? I sometimes plan ahead for my reading, but it is hard because there are so many books that I own that I want to read right away, so the planning doesn't always happen. I have a to-be-read pile that I work off of, though, unless there is a certain book I want to read. Then I just buy it and read it right away. For the most part, though, I read by mood. What I feel like reading at a certain moment in time.
2. If you do plan ahead, how far ahead? Do you have two or three books waiting in queue? Or are you backed up by dozens of volumes waiting their turn? I generally plan what book will follow one of the books I am reading when I finish it. This varies in amount of books depending one what I am reading at the time.
3. If you do not plan ahead . . . well, never? What about if you're reading a series? Or someone gives you a book for a present? I try to read books that I get as presents right away, but it depends on what I am reading at the moment that I get the present. As to series, I read them when I feel like it. Sometimes I read one book out of a series a month, other times I read them right in a row. It just depends for me.

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

1. Do your reading habits change for the summer months? Yes
   
2. If so, how? I tend to have time to read more books, and it is the summer where I tackle big books, like The Historian, that I might not have time for the rest of the year.

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday

1. Have you read Lord of the Rings? Yes, I read all three of them the summer before the first one came to DVD. I wanted to have it read before watching the movies.


2. If so, how many times have you read it? Just once? Or so many you can't count? Just once... I want to reread them, but there are so many things that I want to read for the first time.


3. If not, why not? Not your cup of tea? I can see size being a reason for a lot of people to not read them. I know plenty of people that haven't read them. I have though. :)


4. And, while we're on the subject, did you see the Oscar-winning movie(s)? What did you think? I liked the movies! I saw the last two in the theatres, which was good. I thought for the size books that they were being made from they did an excellent job. I need to see the extended versions, though, one of these days.

Book Through Thursday.

These are the bestsellers for 1956...
Don't Go Near the Water, William Brinkley
The Last Hurrah, Edwin O'Connor
Peyton Place, Grace Metalious
Auntie Mame, Patrick Dennis
Eloise, Kay Thompson
Andersonville, MacKinlay Kantor
A Certain Smile, Françoise Sagan
The Tribe That Lost Its Head, Nicholas Monsarrat
The Mandarins, Simone de Beauvoir
Boon Island, Kenneth Roberts

On Blogging through Thursday, she asks how many have you read or heard of. My answer, haven't read any of them because I don't know what any of them are! And if I have heard of them, it was so random that I can't really remember. Sad or what!

Booking Through Thursday

Booking Through Thursday.

1. What are the last five books that you finished reading?
   1. Excavation - James Rollins
   2. Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
   3. Looking at the Moon - Kit Pearson
   4. The Girl With a Pearl Earring
   5. The Lake House - James Patterson


2. How long did it take you to read them?
   1. About a day
   2. 2 days
   3. Matter of hours
   4. A shift at work
   5. A shift at work


3. Did you enjoy reading these books? Why or why not?
   1. I love Rollins, best author! So, I can't see me ever hating anything that he wrote.
   2. I liked Gabaldon so much I have book 2 here and started already.
   3. This was a reread from junior high, decent for teen fiction.
   4. As wonderful as I heard it was!
   5. James Patterson isn't a stellar author, but the idea of genetic engineering is why I read it.