The Hobbit - The Friday Adaptation

Every Friday we'll be discussing one film or TV series that has been adapted from the book or graphic novel. We'll be discussing which version is better, why the adaptation happened and the critical response to both book and film.

The first Friday adaptation comes in the shape of this weeks new DVD release of The Hobbit.

With the success of the Lord of the Rings films it was only a matter of time until this prequel saw the light of day on screen. It wasn't plain sailing though as the original director Guillermo Del Toro after a few months left the directors chair, with Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson taking over. It was always going to be Peter Jackson's baby though.

Peter Jackson has decided to broaden the story on screen by splitting it into not two but three films. Another trilogy. Everyone loves a trilogy but there has to be material there for it to be split and The Hobbit is a fairly slender book. Added to The Hobbit trilogy are parts from other Tolkien books I am told but even so, there was far too much slow motion and panning of huge vistas in it for my taste. It's pretty, but at 163 minutes you kinda just want it to stop faffing with all the lovely fields and get to the gritty action. I am in no way an expert though as I read the book when I was a wee lad and not since (on my to-read list) so I asked some dedicated Tolkien fans on Twitter whether the adaptation succeeded. Thomas Mathie AKA @Headphonaught is an avid collector of The Hobbit books. I asked him if the film lived up to expectation.

"Yes & more. I loved it. What did I like? The Dwarves. The Trolls. The Goblin King. Seeing Erabor in all its finery. I also loved seeing Bilbo, Galadriel and Saruman. Radaghast was brilliant too. Oh and the music...I loved the soundtrack". 

@bigcomfybooks I also loved seeing Bilbo, Galadriel and Saruman. Radaghast was brilliant too. Oh and the music ... I loved the soundtrack.
— thomas mathie (@headphonaught) April 9, 2013

Anything you disliked?

"Didn't like the introduction of Azog the Defiler. Understand why he's there but I didn't like him"

Another fan of the book is fellow musician Lew Bear AKA @LewBearMusic

"I liked it, but wish the dwarves were less comical (in the main). Radaghast was awesome though! :)"

He also agrees with Thomas about Azog.

"...the army is led by Borg in the book and would have worked better."

So it looks like the fans of the book were satisfied, but what about critics? On RottenTomatoes.com it gets a fairly average score of 65% with fantasy magazing SFX saying "There is a good film here, but with many double albums, you have to sift through a lot of padding to find it." In Empire Magazine it got 3 out of 5 stars and this tends to be the consensus amongst most.

The book came out in 1937 and instantly became a hit, winning several awards. It became so popular that the publishers asked Tolkien to write a sequel, which became the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

My memory has erased much of the book so going into the film fresh may have helped me. I do feel it is over long but nonetheless I thoroughly enjoyed it. The casting of Bilbo was exceptional. Martin Freeman does bumbling yet confident with perfection. And in a little side note, my wife's old Uni colleague is one of the dwarfs. 

Peter Jackson, director of Tolkien films

As always there is always going to be something missing from a film version of any book (see my Hunger Games book review) so there will never be a 100% correct answer, but The Hobbit film adaptation was a pretty big success.

Buy Tolkien from the shop HERE

Comment below with your opinion...

Michael

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

I read this classic a few weeks back and only just got round to letting you know what I thought. In short, it was OK. I read it on the Aldiko e-reader on my phone which may have been part of the problem. At the start I was lapping up page after page but slowly started to only read a few at a time. By page 150 I was stuttering on a few pages a day at best due to 'life' ie kids, shop falling through etc. I fell into a bad habit and need to rectify it once more.

I enjoyed the story and am looking forward to the lavish adaptation taken on by Baz 'Moulin Rouge' Lurhmann this summer but think I may have to read it again in the future, in BOOK FORM, to really 'get it'.

Six cushions on the comfometer

Here's the trailer for the up-coming film with the 'Can-do-no-wrong' Leo DiCaprio.

Michael

The first Big Comfy Bookshop stall!

On Easter Monday we took part in the Stockingford Easter Fun Day. It was our very first venture in Nuneaton and it went down a storm! The one major question I was asking myself was 'Do people still buy books these days?' and the answer was a resounding 'YES!'

We shall be going out and about in the town and getting involved in other craft fairs (some already booked!) and raise the profile of the bookshop some more. A new page will be added to this site to say where we'll be.

Thank you to the wonderful people who came down just to support the shop.

Michael

BookVlog #2

Check out the new Book Vlog. I'm still getting to grips with how to do these so please let me know your thoughts of how it looks and sounds, and the content.

Many thanks

Michael

An Important Announcement

It's with great sadness that we have had to pull out of the offer on our prospective premises.

The terms were agreed back in November and since then it's been frustrating waiting for things to move forward. Once they finally did, there were a few issues with the lease that we attempted to resolve, unfortunately these could not be rectified by both parties and so we took the decision to focus our attention on other avenues.

We could have moved in next week and struggled by for the entire full-term of the lease but this would have put the business in jeopardy and my family through a very tough time. The idea of The Big Comfy Bookshop is to involve the community giving them a place to meet, get involved in clubs, have a relaxing comfy environment and to showcase the wonderful talents of the local people be it musicians, poets, crafters or cake-makers. Moving forward into the premises would have made some of this not possible and put a great strain on some and we're dedicated to creating a place for the community to grow, and to create longevity.

Although this is a sad day, we have already found several other properties that may suit the business and hopefully something will happen sooner rather than later.

In the meantime we have decided to go out into the community by getting involved in local fairs. On April 1st, we will be selling books at the Easter Family Fun Day at The Pavillion in Stockingford. We will be attending as many fairs as we can get to, not just to sell our books (you can still buy from the website www.thebigcomfybookshop.co.uk) but to meet the people of this town.

One other positive is the feedback we have had from crafters wishing to sell through the shop. Many fantastic artists and small businesses will have their designs for sale in the shop, from handbags and scarves, to earrings and necklaces, to paintings and quilts, AND MORE! You can sell through the shop too if you like and you are local (Warwickshire/South Leicestershire). Even though we're not open, we will be promoting all these great people through this blog and on our Facebook and Twitter accounts.

We hope to come back with some good news soon regarding opening as it's why I quit my job in the first place. The Big Comfy Bookshop is 100% Full Time!

Many thanks and I hope to see you on April 1st!

Michael
@Bigcomfybooks

Book Vlog - Video Blog about books

I've just spent 5 minutes (3 hours, damn technology) doing a quick (!) Vlog or Video blog. I talk about books, unsurprisingly.





Cool eh?

Let me know what you think as I'll just keep reeling them off until someone notices.



Michael
@bigcomfybooks

White Fang by Jack London

After finishing Pride and Prejudice on the Aldiko e-reader I decided to just read one book at a time, that book being The Hunger Games, however, once I was sat with my son fast asleep on me I only had my phone with me so I decided to read the only other book that was already on the e-reader, that of White Fang. Those that read the blog will know I fell in love with Call of the Wild by Jack London so I was really excited to start reading.

I was not impressed. From the start I couldn't connect with any of the characters (I know, they are animals, but they each have their own personality, something that shone in Call of the Wild). I really couldn't care less about any of the wolves, the people or, as was described so well in Call of the Wild, the landscape.

It was written as a mirror image companion piece for Call of the Wild, with that book going from the safe, mundane, tame environment of a house, through to gradually being pulled to the wild. White Fang reversed this with the vicious wolf going from the wild, through to ownership, through to a house pet. There were a few good moments in, my favourite being the snivelling dog-napper Beaty Smith and his fighting dogs, but for the majority is was a chore to read.

It's given a pretty harsh 5 cushions.

I've started The Great Gatsby now on the Aldiko and I'm half way through.

Let me know if you agree.

Michael
@bigcomfybooks