Monthly Archives: December 2013

The Youngest Reviewers Get it Right, or The Hobbit in the Hands of Young Men

Posted on December 16, 2013 by Brenton Dickieson

Last year, when my son, Nicolas, was 8 years old, he wrote a review of The Hobbit for A Pilgrim in Narnia. This is what he wrote: My dad and I just finished reading The Hobbit and since he didn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Reviews | Tagged adventure, books, children's literature, fantasy, film, film adaptation, hobbits, J.R.R. Tolkien, Peter Jackson, publishing, The Hobbit | 37 Comments

The Fated Classic: The Great Luck of the Hobbit

Posted on December 12, 2013 by Brenton Dickieson

Hobbit fans around the world are already lining up to see part 2 of Peter Jackson‘s adaptation of The Hobbit, called The Desolation of Smaug. I have already talked about how important C.S. Lewis was to the publication and promotion … Continue reading →

Posted in Creative Writing, Fictional Worlds, Lewis Biography, Reviews | Tagged Alister McGrath, Bilbo, children's literature, Collected Letters of C.S. Lewis, fantasy, J.R.R. Tolkien, literature, Lord of the Rings, Middle Earth, Out of the Silent Planet, publishing dreams, The Desolation of Smaug, writing | 12 Comments

Talking of Books

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Brenton Dickieson

My grandmother used to read aloud bits of whatever she was reading to my grandfather. Most typically this was the newspaper. Grampie would be sitting on the sofa reading the Holstein Journal, while Grammie would sit in her well-worn arm … Continue reading →

Posted in Lewis Biography, Reflections | Tagged books, C.S. Lewis, Cecil Harwood, friendship, hiking, J.R.R. Tolkien, literary friendship, literature, Nelson Mandela, The Guardian, walking, Warren Lewis, WWII | 7 Comments

A Just-For-Fun Quiz: Which Character in the Hobbit Are You?

Posted on December 6, 2013 by Brenton Dickieson

TheOneRing.net tweeted out this quiz by the LOTR Project: Which Character in the Hobbit Are You? I think as we head to the release of The Desolation of Smaug, the second instillation of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, we could use a … Continue reading →

Posted in News & Links | Tagged dwarf, fantasy, film, film adaptation, J.R.R. Tolkien, Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson, The Desolation of Smaug, The Hobbit, Thorin Oakenshield | 45 Comments

Virgin Books

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Brenton Dickieson

I am reading C.S. Lewis’ A Preface to Paradise Lost for the first time. This is one of Lewis’ early works (1942), and comes out of his lecturing in English Literature. I was struck immediately on the first page by … Continue reading →