the hobbit. j.r.r. tolkien. (85)

i am starting to realize that i spent my time reading the series "baby-sitter's club", "goosebumps" and "fear street" as a kid and not enough time reading classic kid novels like "the hobbit". so now i have to make up for lost time. "the hobbit" has been on my list to read ever since i read rebecca makkai's "the borrower", i started a list of the children/young adult books she mentions and "the hobbit" is on that list. and with the movie release, it shot to the top of my reading list. (i wonder how many people are reading thanks to hollywood.)

i regret not reading "the hobbit" as a kid because i really enjoyed it as an adult. it has me excited for the movie and to read the lord of the rings trilogy (which is good because it is on my list of 30 to read before 30). i was surprised by how easy a read it was. for some odd reason i associated fantasy with complex syntax and difficult vocabulary. i think it's because when you hear "nerds" talk about this stuff it's seems like it has it's own secret vocab but really it's just imaginative words from the author. i also loved the style of the storytelling, how the narrator would clue the reader in on things, it was like listening to a grandparent read a story.

since i have never read the lord of the rings trilogy or have seen the movies, i did feel that some things were probably referenced that i missed but figured i would just reread it once i am done with the trilogy. i was shocked with how quickly gollum showed up in the book. and i would totally be eaten alive if i ever played a riddle game with him because some of those riddles were over my head. i also kept on imagining gandalf as dumbledore which is understandable right? they are both wizards and kind of look alike:

i tried not to let the movie trailer, i've seen effect how i viewed the characters. at first i saw bilbo baggins as "sam" from lord of the rings but then he became the actor that plays him in the movie.

i thought baggins was a great character and a true hero. i am glad that he gave in to his took side and went on an adventure. i, like gandalf, was proud of him when he gave up the arkenstone to bard in an attempt to make peace. i was also disappointed and frustrated with thorin for his dwarfish greed. it made sense to help out the lake people especially since bard was the one that killed smaug. (wow look at me with my nerd talk, lol) that treasure was so immense that sharing a little would still be sharing a lot.

also since i hadn't read the trilogy i was all sorts of confused by all the different types of creatures. i confused the trolls and goblins at first. i was also confused about who was good or evil. cos i know liv tyler and orlando bloom were elves but weren't they good? and these elves at first seemed kinda mean. but then again everyone was kind of distrusting of all others at the beginning.

i was also waiting for bilbo to turn crazy with greed because of the ring. didn't this happen to frodo and of course gollum? i guess i will find out more about this in the trilogy. and last but not least, gandalf is all knowing right? like how dumbledore knew everything??? finding the answers to all of these questions has me excited for the trilogy.

lol. my enthusiam for this book has me surprised. looking forward to seeing the movie and starting "the fellowship of the ring". but i mean the dwarves ride ponies, how could it be bad?!?! lol

ps but i just saw on imdb that they turned this into three movies? is that right? wow, i mean there is a lot to cover in the book, but three movies?!?! isn't the first one like super long too?!?!

the magicians. lev grossman. (65)

like i mentioned before, i also check out books for grandma bea. grandma bea was running low on books by her favorite authors so i googled "if you liked harry potter, you should check out" to find books for her. (grandma bea is a huge potter fan, she got me into the series) i came across "the magicians" and decided to check it out. my friend saba had read it before and said it was supposed to be harry potter for grown ups. in fact that is what is says on the back cover.

i gave to grandma bea but she didn't like it. i think she read the first 50 pages or so and stopped because she couldn't get into it. even though it lacked her endorsement i decided to give it a chance.

unsurprisingly, i couldn't get into it as well. after 100 pages i wanted to give up. i didn't like quentin, he was too negative and an unlikely hero but not in charming endearing way but in a wow-this-kid-is-a-real-asshole way. he was and is no harry potter. i didn't want to read because i didn't care about him. but i couldn't give up for the following reasons: a) the junto diaz endorsement on the back, i loved "oscar wao" so i respected his opinion and thought that maybe i should wait it out, b) this blog, if i didn't finish it would i be able to blog about it (i decided i could, because occasionally i'll check out a stinker), c) i don't like giving up on books, even if i don't like it, i figure i should finish it so my hatred is at least founded. so i texted my friend juliana (who i saw had read it on good reads) for her opinion on my quitting. she said she loved it. but i should stop. since she loved it, i decided to continue. plus quentin was entering his fourth year and what occurred was cool so i thought it was on the up and up.

i was wrong. due to my already judgy-ness about this book, reading it was like pulling teeth. i wasn't interest in the plot, especially with their post-brakebills lives. don't get me wrong, i would have love to live their bohemian lives but as a magicians they could do so much more. (this was a huge subplot so maybe my restlessness with their lives was what grossman was trying to create?) i absolutely loved the story plot that penny introduced and was excited for what was to come but even that was a letdown. what it boiled down to is that i thought all of the characters were assholes, in addition to being useless. the only character i liked was alice and would have preferred the story from her perspective because she was the only one with integrity. and i get it. grossman was trying to be realistic. the teens and twentysomethings of this generation (and i guess any generation) are jaded, selfish, unmoral, and cowardly. it was hard to become invested in them when i thought they were all pieces of shit. i wish he had characters of better substance, like harry potter, i mean grown up harry potter probably had heart, these kids had nothing. in addition to having bad personalities they were also bad magicians. i admit that if i had to encounter all that they did in their adventure, i would have be unable to utilize my magic skills but these kids sucked. they couldn't do anything, which made their schooling seem pointless. and who wants to read a book about bad magicians? or bad teens? this book is a fantasy, but i still want heroes i can believe it.

but i guess the real problem was that grossman is a bad storyteller. i didn't get lost in his book like i did in the harry potter series. and i know that the first two potters were not all that and since this was the first of the magicians books there was a lot of set up, so i can't have too high of expectations. but those excuses aside it was still bad writing. i felt like i was just reading words on a paper instead of being transported to a different world. even the fighting scenes were a snoozefest. it was kinda like when someone tells a funny story but then they and you realize in order for it to be funny you had to be there. i felt like that while reading "the magicians", i had to be there cos grossman was not a strong enough writer for me get it via his words. i mean chatwin stories in the book seemed a lot more interesting and i kept wish i was reading those instead.

also i hated that this wasn't a book within a book. it would have been better if it was.

i mean with the right director this could be a great movie. the premise was good it was just the writing that was bad and a screenplay adapter can fix that right up. if they do make a movie, i would go see it but read the second book? probably not.

ps though i am an alcoholic, i thought their drinking was excessive. i mean i did my fair share of drinking in college but it was always fun and adventurous. their drinking was boring and sad.