Galaxies and Goddesses: A Sci-Fi & Fantasy Bookcast

The Hobbit
Andrea: I’m Andrea.
Elizabeth: And I'm Elizabeth.
Andrea: Join us as we chat about sci-fi and fantasy books and beyond.
Elizabeth: Looking for a little escape from reality? So are we.
Andrea: Welcome to Galaxies and Goddesses.
Elizabeth: On this week's episode, we're journeying to Middle-earth.
Andrea: Specifically, we'll be chatting about JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit before diving into Lord of the Rings later this season.
Elizabeth: We'll talk about what we enjoyed about the book and our experience reliving this classic story.
Andrea: Let's get started!
Andrea: Do we need to do a little refresher? A book recap [in] case people aren’t familiar with the story?
Elizabeth: I'm sure to guess that probably most people are familiar with that story. But we can.
Andrea: Mr. Bilbo Baggins gets unintentionally, but joyfully swept up into a band of 13 traveling dwarves, led partially by a wizard, bringing the total number of the group to 15 in a quest to retrieve their long lost stolen treasure, guarded by a dragon on the other side of a long and treacherous journey.
Andrea: Reading The Hobbit before getting into The Lord of the Rings is a good introduction to get you back into the world of it. What do you think, Elizabeth?
Elizabeth: So, I think we need to take one more step back here, Andrea, and let's admit to our listeners why we are reading The Lord of the Rings, shall we?
Andrea: I have not read Lord of the Rings. Elizabeth believes that needs to be remedied.
Elizabeth: Yeah!
Andrea: And she has read Lord of the Rings.
Elizabeth: You know, as much of a sci-fi and fantasy, fan, reader that you are, and the fact that you have not read The Lord of the Rings, I think anyone listening to this right now is shaking their head that yes, you have to read them because they're classics. And they're classics for a reason, 'cause they're so good.
Elizabeth: I probably read them 15 to 20 years ago, like maybe in college, I wanna say. And when I reached the end of The Return of the King… It's been described amongst reader friends of mine as like post book depression, or like post book withdrawals. You get to the end of a book and you're like, “No, I'm not done.”
Elizabeth: Or like, “Why isn't there more? I want there to be more.” And then you you just like get sad 'cause you're like, “What can I read after that? There can't be anything as good as that.” And like, “What do I read now?”
Elizabeth: I remember reading like an afterward or something from Tolkien himself.
Elizabeth: And he said that the number one feedback from fans of the Lord of the Rings was that people said they weren't long enough. And when I read that, I was shaking my head and saying, “Yes”. It's long but it's so good and there needs to be more.
Elizabeth: And when I finished it, I thought to myself, “I'm going to read those again someday.” When we realized that Andrea had not read them I was like, I'm ready. It's time to read 'em again. Absolutely!
Andrea: It was your sign from the universe.
Elizabeth: Yeah!
Andrea: Well, I guess I can say now, as of recording this, I have started reading The Fellowship of the Ring. I am on page six of The Fellowship of the Ring. It says, you may or may not have read The Hobbit. It was nice to be like, “yes, I just finished reading The Hobbit.” And I'm excited to talk about that book with you.
Elizabeth: Yeah.
Elizabeth: Well, I have also read The Hobbit. I think I've only read it the one time and it actually has a really really sweet memory for me, which my grandmother was an elementary school teacher when my parents would go on vacation she'd always come to stay with us.
Elizabeth: She helped me learn how to read. Whenever Granny came to stay we'd find some good books sit down and read them. The last book I ever read out loud to my grandmother was The Hobbit. It was a cool version of it.
Elizabeth: There was a movie version of The Hobbit that was a cartoon, from 1977. This version had pictures from the cartoon, so I'll always kind of picture that too as I read it.
Elizabeth: And so when… Andrea, when you said to me that you wanted to read The Hobbit first, I was hesitant. I was like, “well, it's not the same.” Like, you know, I'm like, ”You're just stalling, Andrea! We gotta get to the good stuff!"
Elizabeth: But actually, I'm glad that we started with The Hobbit 'cause it was fun to reread. And it is quite a tale just in and of itself. It brought back some interesting moments. I'll be curious to reread the Lord of the Rings and see what moments from The Hobbit are referenced.
Elizabeth: It was fun to picture again, those things like the most important being, like when Bilbo Baggins finds the ring. You know, I mean that's obviously the most important aspect of The Hobbit so just kind of rereading that scene. It'll be interesting to then when we do get into The Lord of the Rings what what parts are referenced.
Andrea: What stands out.
Elizabeth: You know, more details of Middle-earth, like the world building of Tolkien. Little bits and pieces that I did not remember at all, and I don't know why I would've remembered them, because there's so many little details.
Andrea: Yeah. Just real quick before we get into talking about the book, I have read The Hobbit before as well!
Elizabeth: To try to redeem yourself to our listeners?
Andrea: But I don't know if this is completely redeeming. The first time I read it, was as an assignment for a fifth grade class project.
Elizabeth: Fifth grade?
Andrea: In fifth grade, I don't think I finished the book. I remember getting to the point with the trolls, which was pretty early on.
Elizabeth: Oh, that's very early on!
Andrea: And I don’t think I ever actually finished it.
Elizabeth: Oh, Andrea, you didn't have to tell that to the world. You could have just said that you've read it before, but…
Andrea: Okay, well that’s the truth. And you know, in fifth grade, I still wasn't big into reading.
Elizabeth: Yeah.
Andrea: I didn't love reading at that point. Then I read it later in life I picked it up at an airport and I was like, you know what? I should really try to read this book and finish it.
Andrea: And enjoyed it!
Elizabeth: So have finished it. Okay.
Andrea: I have finished it.
Andrea: It’s the third slash maybe second time reading.
Elizabeth: Okay.
Elizabeth: I feel like it's also different reading a book for school. I remember there was one in college. We were supposed to talk about the book we read over the summer. I didn't, but I pretended like I did. Who hasn't done that?
Andrea: I think what I did, is make a diorama of a scene in the book.
Elizabeth: Mm-hmm.
Andrea: I flipped ahead to another scene and they were walking along a ledge in a mountain and I was like, okay, I could do that. I could make these little figurines as they're crossing a dangerous ledge around a mountain.
Andrea: But I had no context for what was going on around that.
Elizabeth: But you do now because you've read the book twice, but also from The Lord of the Rings. 'Cause those are not the Misty Mountains.
Andrea: I think it's the Misty Mountains. There’s Rivendale, then and then there's Mirkwood.
Elizabeth: Yeah, the Misty Mountains go like what we would think of as North, South. Yes. Those mountains.
Andrea: Yeah, I think. It’s been a long time since I've seen the movies too.
Elizabeth: Should rewatch those. They're good.
Elizabeth: One thing about that specifically, in terms of books versus movies, right? Lord of the Rings, three books, three movies. Makes sense. Cool. The Hobbit is one book, and yet there are three movies. As I was starting it again, I couldn't help thinking to myself 'cause it's been such a long time since I've read this book, and I have seen the movies, but I think I've only seen them once, whereas I've seen the Lord of the Rings movies many times. I didn't necessarily remember what is in each of the movies. And as I'm once again, looking at this book it's 267 pages, whereas Lord of the Rings is like a thousand plus pages.
Elizabeth: And I'm like, how does that get turned into three movies?
Elizabeth: As I'm reading it again, I am very much reminded that, oh yeah, there's so much that happens in this book. You can easily turn that into three movies, because there's just so much. And for those fantasy readers out there who really love world building, I don't think anyone can compare to the world building of Tolkien.
Elizabeth: This is a world that is so well realized. There is so much that fills all of the details: the sights, the sounds, the smells, the types of characters, the creatures, the maps, the mythology, the songs, poetry. He invented languages for this. And the mythology of it! You know, like I've never read the Silmarillion.
Elizabeth: And I'm like, this time around, even if we don't do it together and talk about on the podcast, I'm going to read the Silmarillion because I haven't ever.
Elizabeth: Details that I definitely did not remember about this book that were delightful as far as creatures and world building of Tolkien.
Elizabeth: So this is chapter Over Hill and Underhill. Chapter four where they are venturing into the Misty Mountains, but before they go underground into the Misty Mountains.
Elizabeth: So it's storming as they're trying to walk along these very narrow rocky ledges, "When he peeped out in the lightning flashes, he saw that across the valley, the stone giants were hurling rocks at one another for a game and catching them and tossing them down into the darkness, where they smashed among the trees far below or splintered into little bits with a bang."
Elizabeth: And I was like, “I don't remember there being stone giants.” And that's it. That's all they're mentioned there in one little paragraph and that's it. And then they have to hide from the storm and these boulders that are being thrown around.
Elizabeth: Random little character that I don't, once again, I don't remember the movies, so I don't remember if those characters are in the movies at all or they're just in the one little paragraph and they were never put into film.
Andrea: But that it adds an extra layer of detail and imagery.
Andrea: Just by mentioning these stone giants and creating this atmosphere.
Elizabeth: Yeah.
Andrea: I think that's what I loved about reading the book as well, is that it feels like there is no wasted or extra words. Every single word is selected with care and is there for a reason.
Elizabeth: Yeah.
Andrea: It's just so rich. It has depth to it.
Elizabeth: No, I have a great example of that, like this, like depth and richness of detail. Chapter eight Flies and Spiders, the last sentence of the first paragraph as they're going through Mirkwood, "And the quiet was so deep that their feet seemed to thump along while all the trees leaned over them and listened.”
Elizabeth: You could just sort of picture that dark, mysterious forest and the trees are leaning over and listening. It's just one, one little sentence that's just right, like gives such a vibes. It's good vibes.
Andrea: Right.
Andrea: And the way that it's written, it feels like it could be somebody telling you a story. It does have a nice oral, quality to it, and it feels very believable. I feel like I'm sitting around somebody's hobbit home next, to a crackling fire, and it brings me such joy.
Elizabeth: So, speaking of it's written as if it should be read out loud, this copy from the library, there is a forward written by Tolkien's son, Christopher Tolkien, for the 50th anniversary edition, and it's got a date of 1987, which would be 50 years later.
Elizabeth: 'Cause it was published in 1937. He wrote it for his children and read it out loud to them. His children actually kept him honest, I guess you could say. Because his children, I'm sure, had such incredible imaginations. I mean, he had an incredible imagination and as children do, and if he changed detail without realizing that he had changed it, they would call him out on it.
Elizabeth: For being such a tale and in this version only being 267 pages.
Elizabeth: That can easily be read out loud. I read it out loud to my grandmother and it was a great book to read out to my grandmother. 'Cause it is just so vivid.
Elizabeth: Another creature that I was like, oh, funny, I don't remember that. And I don't know that that made it into the movie either.
Elizabeth: The guy who turns into a bear at the end.
Andrea: Yes! The shifter?
Elizabeth: Yeah, that guy, right? I think that was that chapter. He had dogs, but the dogs could stand up on their hind legs and serve them dinner, walking around on their hind legs.
Andrea: Yeah, every different character, every scene was a story unto itself. Right?
Elizabeth: Yeah.
Andrea: Every new introduction of a character was its own little fun story. And then they all come together for a grand finale at the end.
Andrea: I recently saw a meme online knowing that the last 100 pages of my book will emotionally destroy me, but going into it excited.
Andrea: Not that this emotionally destroys you, but the last 100 pages are also this epic finale to the book. The last third of the book, but it is this big conclusion and it's just awesome. And I really liked that the dragon is not anyone's friend. This is old school dragon.
Elizabeth: Who's the bad guy.
Andrea: Bad guy dragon.
Elizabeth: The dragon's the bad guy. No one's telepathically, you know, through their minds talking to their dragon.
Andrea: Refreshing in an odd way.
Elizabeth: Yeah.
Andrea: That no, dragons are bad. They destroy villages, they destroy countryside.
Elizabeth: Yeah. Yeah. And they like shiny things like gold and will hoard them and protect them. Yeah. I kind of forgot that there was, then the very end is the, like the battle of the five armies. I mean, there's this huge, massive battle at the end, but I just sort of forgot it happens very quickly, for such a big epic battle, the battle against the dragon isn't even the big battle is after the dragon.
Andrea: Right.
Andrea: So one of the questions I had, and I don't know if you can answer this but maybe you can tell me whether find out later…
Elizabeth: Like in the Lord of the Rings?
Andrea: Yes. Either Gandalf knew that somehow Bilbo was the best person for the party, or he was just picking him for no apparent reason.
Andrea: It seemed like it was intentional, but also Gandalf seemed surprised, like, oh, you're doing really well at this.
Elizabeth: Like exceeding his own expectations.
Andrea: Right. Did he have a way of knowing or scrying or something?
Andrea: I don't know if you can answer that. Why did he pick Bilbo?
Elizabeth: Oh, scrying is in some sort of magical term for predicting the future kinda thing?
Andrea: Right.
Elizabeth: You know, that’s a good question. We're gonna find out more with time, but off the top of my head, I think it might actually be just because I think Gandalf has a lot of respect for hobbits.
Andrea: Oh.
Elizabeth: I think he does.
Andrea: Okay, that they’re just underestimated. Yeah.
Elizabeth: Yeah, because of their size, of course, but then people underestimate the size of their heart and their courage and their spirit. I think he just has a lot of respect for hobbits.
Elizabeth: And that's a good question. Because as part of the Lord of the Rings, there's so many appendices, the appendix section in the back is like its own fourth book.
Elizabeth: And I don't remember all of the appendices, like what each one is. I read most of them, but I don't know if I read all of them. There are definitely bits in there that give more history or backstory. That's also why I'm saying to myself, I really wanna read the Silmarillion, because I don't know if there's that much more to flush out those details in the Silmarillion.
Elizabeth: I don't know.
Elizabeth: My answer for right now, I think it's just 'cause he really respects hobbits and knows their value. I'm sure he has history with other hobbits.
Elizabeth: Bilbo talks about the Baggins side of his family and the Took side of his family.
Elizabeth: So then you wonder like, well does Gandalf has some history with some, you know, ancestors of Bilbos, some Tooks or some Baggins.
Andrea: I enjoyed every time there was a song in the book, and I'm sure that I'm not singing it correctly in my mind, but it's still really fun.
Andrea: I'm not a huge fan of poetry, but that's about the amount of poetry that I enjoy. Small snippets incorporated into the story with a sense of rhyming scheme. I really like that.
Elizabeth: Yeah. I didn't necessarily try to make up a tune in my mind. I was just reading the words. But there is a lot of good, rhyme structure to these lyrics.
Andrea: Yeah. Towards the end I started to read it to the kind of tune of Soon May the Wellerman Come. The sea shanty.
Elizabeth: Soon, may the Wellerman come to bring us sugar and tea and rum. One day when the tongue is gone, we'll take our leave and go.
Andrea: Is there history behind that?
Andrea: Where's that originated from? Do you know?
Elizabeth: 19th century New Zealand Sea shanty about the hardships of whaling specifically waiting for supply ships from the Weller Brothers company for provisions like sugar, tea, and rum.
Andrea: It really fit a lot of the verse, so that was really fun.
Andrea: I encourage you Elizabeth, go back to your book and read some of those songs to that tune. It's really fun.
Elizabeth: Did yours have pictures in it or maps or anything?
Andrea: So my edition had two maps at the very beginning, but one of them is supposed to be the map that Thorin?
Elizabeth: The main guy. Thorin?
Andrea: Yeah.
Elizabeth: Right. Thorin and Son of Thrain, Son of Thror. So they're using Thor's map, his grandfather.
Andrea: Yes. So I have a copy of that.
Elizabeth: Oh, wow. That is not included in my version. I don't remember seeing that specific map.
Elizabeth: The version that I have has all these really cool illustrations in it that were actually done by Tolkien himself and they're all in watercolor.
Andrea: I did find it helpful to have a map. I liked having both maps in the book, both the one that they’re…
Elizabeth: Yeah.
Andrea: Referencing to find the Lonely Mountain and the updated Middle-earth map.
Elizabeth: Yeah.
Andrea: It was nice to have both of those.
Elizabeth: Well, and I am excited to with the Lord of the Rings. Look at the maps that are in the Lord of the Rings, because they sort of zoom out. Mirkwood is still there and the Misty Mountains obviously are still there, and they play an important part in the Lord of the Rings too, but then it zooms out and includes, Mordor and the White City where the humans live.
Elizabeth: And then the second tower of the two towers, that's where Saruman lives. All those different bits are included in those maps. Some of these illustrations are incredible. He was an incredible artist and they're in watercolor, which is so cool.
Elizabeth: I'm pretty sure, those maps, like the ones in your version and the one in my version were all made by him.
Elizabeth: Yeah. The original maps for The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings were drawn by Tolkien himself with his son Christopher Tolkien assisting, and later creating more detailed versions. While artists like Pauline Baynes for the books, and Daniel Reeve for the films adapted them for publication and screen. A significant contribution to understanding Tolkien's World came from cartographer, Karen Wynn Fonstad, who created detailed canon acknowledged atlas's based on the texts. Wild.
Andrea: I mean, I’ll admit I’m a little intimidated by the whole Lord of the Rings universe, but I'm trusting you, Elizabeth, that I will not be overburdened.
Elizabeth: No, no, no.
Andrea: Feels like so academic when everybody talks about it.
Elizabeth: Another thing about Tolkien, with his world building, everything is so incredibly well realized and detailed. In the book, it describes the map they use, right?
Elizabeth: Thor's map, that was handed down to Thorin. It describes this map, as having secret runes, or moon letters, printed in mirror reverse on the back of the sheet so that they would be read correctly when the map was held up to the light.
Elizabeth: And he actually wanted the publisher to do that so that when it was printed you would have to hold it up to the light and you'd see it correctly. I don't think they were able to do that, but that's what he wanted to happen when he made these maps.
Andrea: Wow.
Elizabeth: Yeah. It says that Allen and Unwin decided that Thror’s map and Wilderland each in two colors had to be printed less expensively on one side of a sheet as end papers rather than as part of the text or inserted as folded plates.
Elizabeth: In the event, the quote unquote hidden runes of Thor's map were printed on its front, but in outline to suggest an ephemeral nature. So they tried to sort of accommodate that, but couldn't still quite do it the way he wanted to do it.
Andrea: For those listening on the day the episode airs, January 15th, throughout January, you can go see Lord of the Rings in theaters at certain locations. I thought this was pretty cool.
Elizabeth: Major cinema chains like AMC, Regal and Cinemark. Check local listings.
Andrea: I thought that was pretty cool.
Elizabeth: So they're gonna be four hours long?
Andrea: It's a commitment.
Elizabeth: Yeah, totally. It looks like, the Cinemark in Helena, Montana is showing Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers, The Return of the King, January 16th, and again on January 23rd.
Andrea: It's not all in one day though.
Elizabeth: It looks like they're playing Fellowship of the Ring on Friday, two towers on Saturday, return to the King on Sunday, and they're doing it twice.
Elizabeth: So like one weekend and then the second weekend.
Andrea: I see.
Elizabeth: You have two opportunities to see each of the movies.
Andrea: Two weekends to kind of go do that.
Elizabeth: The extended edition of Fellowship of the Ring is three hours and 28 minutes.
Elizabeth: Would you reread this book? You've read it two …?
Andrea: Two and a half kind of times?
Elizabeth: Maybe?
Elizabeth: Would you read it a third time?
Andrea: I think I would listen to the audio book if I were to do it again. I could see going on a road trip with family in the car and listening to this, as my kids get older. And I think that could be fun. I don't know if I'd read it again unless I'm teaching my kids to read. What about you?
Elizabeth: Well, just to comment on what you just said. Your children will one day get into feeding on their own. I would encourage you to have them read it to you someday. I think that'd be kind of fun, just like I did with my grandmother. As for myself I don't know that I would actively seek it out again, but if there was some sort of occasion I could see it, 20 years from now they'd be like, oh yeah, I'll read that again.
Elizabeth: Sure. 'Cause it is a delightful book.
Elizabeth: Like the number of times Bilbo just wishing he were back home.
Elizabeth: It's not exactly the same every time. He writes it slightly different each time, but at one point he's imagining being back at home in front of his own fire or like making his own bacon and eggs, yeah. And then it always says afterwards. And this will not be the last time or something along the lines of like, oh, he was thinking about home again, and this won't be the last time. It was just memorable.
Elizabeth: He's kind of grumpy throughout it, and he just wants to be like an introverted, grumpy old man in his little hobbit hole.
Andrea: Even when you're reading from the perspective of the dragon, like a point where the dragon was angry I was just giggling.
Elizabeth: Yeah, it's funny! He sort of not resents the adventure, but he wants to be back at home.
Andrea: JRR Tolkien did serve in the military. He said he drew from his experiences when he was writing, but it wasn't meant to be a direct retelling of anything. It's just those themes and the idea of wanting to be home is something that probably resonates with a lot of military members.
Elizabeth: Sure, of course. The homesickness and the just thinking about, just waking up on a normal day and making yourself some bacon and eggs, I mean, yeah.
Andrea: You get little snippets of other characters' perspectives and I love that. It's just sprinkled in there and when the dragon gets upset it's kind of describing the dragon's emotional state he says, “Could there be a draught from that little hole? He had never felt quite happy about it, though it was so small and he now glared at it in suspicion and wondered why he had never blocked it up. Of late he had how fancied he had caught dim echoes of knocking sound from far above that came down through it to his lair. He stirred and stretched forth his neck to sniff. Then he missed the cup! Thieves! Fire! Murder!"
Andrea: These are just words with exclamation points.
Andrea: “Thieves! Fire! Murder!”
Elizabeth: It is funny.
Andrea: Yeah.
Elizabeth: Yeah.
Elizabeth: I'm gonna have to correct you here. That word is pronounced draft. It's just British English, like spelling of draft.
Andrea: Oh, there’s no F.
Elizabeth: But like when you have beer on tap, that's beer on draft. It's spelled D-R-A-U-G-H-T. It's draft. Yeah. Yeah.
Andrea: Oh really. Ok, I learned something.
Andrea: I didn’t think there were many British words in this book.
Elizabeth: There weren't actually.
Andrea: It didn't feel British to me, but as you point out, it's not draught, draft.
Elizabeth: I don't think there were British spellings. Like we would use a Z and they'd use an S. I don't remember that being in there.
Elizabeth: I'm sort of thinking about it and it's like, I don't know, it does kind of feel quite British to me.
Andrea: Maybe the idea of all the meals could feel like tea?
Elizabeth: Totally.
Elizabeth: And the hospitality of the Hobbit at the beginning that feels very British.
Elizabeth: This was also in the forward. When he published it and then he was talking to the publishers in the United States the American Edition had a different jacket because as the publishers said, quote, “Your jacket has rather a British look, which always seems to disconcert and depress our book trade.”
Elizabeth: And he responded I'm delighted to learn that our jacket has a British look, but I would not depress or disconcert their book trade for anything. Even to this day, the versions printed in the UK have a different cover personally, I, generally speaking, prefer the British version.
Elizabeth: I don't know why, but I just like the look of the British version of a book. More than the American version.
Elizabeth: Another random thing about books, I usually actively try to avoid the movie poster. If I run into a used copy that's the movie poster, I will not buy it.
Elizabeth: I will wait and I'll find it again till it's not the movie poster cover don't like 'em, they look cheaper.
Andrea: Yeah,
Elizabeth: Anyway.
Andrea: I bought it because I wanted to read it. I thought it was the right time, and I couldn't resist.
Elizabeth: You bought it in an airport.
Andrea: Yes.
Elizabeth: And I feel like you're pretty high chance of finding the movie poster cover when you buy it from an airport.
Elizabeth: What would you rate this book?
Andrea: When I read it, I think it was about 10 or 12 years ago that I read it I had given it four stars the last time I read it. But rereading it again, it holds up so well. After having read more books over the past 10 years, I realized the value of The Hobbit and I would give it five stars. I think it is excellent. I think anyone could enjoy reading this and I would recommend people read it.
Andrea: What about you, Elizabeth? What would would you rate this?
Elizabeth: Five stars, hands down. It's so good.
Andrea: I wasn’t sure you were gonna give it five stars. I thought you were maybe saving the five stars for the rest of the trilogy.
Elizabeth: Oh, that's gonna be like five plus, plus plus, plus plus probably. No, it was five stars. Absolutely. It is almost a hundred years old and it is still just so delightful. It is such a good story. It's so well written. Once again, the Middle-earth world is just so well realized and to pack in so much into 267 pages.
Elizabeth: It's funny and you can picture it it's just so vivid. It's everything you want from a book. I think the library book is shelved in the young adult section. It's very fitting for children and young adult readers, but it's fitting for any reader.
Elizabeth: Like it's, it's just, that good. Five stars for sure. It's a classic for a reason.
Andrea: Yes. And it doesn't try to do everything. It does action and adventure extremely well. There's no romance.
Elizabeth: No, there’s no romance.
Andrea: And I'm glad we get to continue!
Elizabeth: Yeah, totally.
Elizabeth: And the question of who would you recommend this book to?
Andrea: I think we talked about that.
Elizabeth: Everyone. Anyone.
Andrea: Yeah. Everyone.
Elizabeth: Yeah. Because this is, just delightful.
Elizabeth: It's just a delight to read, you know? And when you read for pleasure, this is what reading for pleasure looks like.
Andrea: You mentioned this a little bit earlier, in that there is an element of hope to it as well, that nobody has high expectations of Bilbo when he starts out his quest. They're like, Gandalf, who's this guy that you're signing up to like join us? This little guy? But he is crucial.
Andrea: He's crucial to the story
Elizabeth: He saves everyone else's life multiple times.
Andrea: Yes.
Elizabeth: Multiple times.
Andrea: There's maybe three different points where he saved everybody else.
Elizabeth: And he returns, you know, he makes it back to hobbit hole in the Shire. You can go out and have all these big adventures, but you can still come back to your cozy little home.
Andrea: A when he comes back and they all thought he was dead. They were auctioning off all of his stuff.
Elizabeth: He comes back just in time for the estate sale.
Andrea: Yeah.
Elizabeth: And his relatives are all pissed that he's still alive. 'cause they thought they were gonna be able to keep all his stuff as the inheritance. It's funny actually.
Elizabeth: It's a funny end.
Elizabeth: It's very funny.
Andrea: There's a lot to love. There's a lot of reasons to enjoy this book and I think a lot of people could enjoy rereading it. I hope they read along with us with the next three books by JRR Tolkien.
Elizabeth: Unfortunately, that concludes this week's episode. We've reached the end of another cosmic journey on Galaxies and Goddesses.
Andrea: Don't worry. The adventure never really ends. There's always more stories to explore and let’s be honest more bookish, tangents for us to go on.
Elizabeth: But hey, that's part of the fun. If you love today's episode, make sure to subscribe. Leave a review and share the magic.
Andrea: Stay tuned for a next episode where we'll be chatting about trilogies in general, the ones we're currently reading and ones on our radar to read next.
Elizabeth: And in the meantime, keep your mind fueled by the magic of stories.
Andrea: And never stop chasing the worlds waiting for you between the pages. Thanks everyone!