Announcing: The Great Hobbit Reread of 2012

The clock is ticking and December 14th is getting closer by the day (literally). A while ago I realized that there could be no better way to get ready for the big night than by doing an in-depth reread of The Hobbit and post my thoughts, reactions and predictions for the movie chapter by chapter. So that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Now, Peter Jackson has commented repeatedly that the Hobbit films (three of them now . . . can you believe it?) will draw heavily from material found in the Lord of the Rings appendices. To account for this additional material that will be included in the film, I'll also read and review key parts of the Appendices, and other pieces of Tolkien's work, that deal directly with the Hobbit. I'll try and limit this extra material to sections that I believe deal directly with The Hobbit and are most likely to be incorporated into the movies. I'll try and review these extra sections chronologically as they relate to the actual book (e.g., I'll probably read the essay Durin's Folk from the Appendices first, since chronologically most of the events in that section occurred first).

Additionally, I'm not going to read all of The Hobbit; rather, I'll read up to the point where I believe the first movie will end. At the moment I'm guessing that will be somewhere in Ch. 9: Barrels out of Bond or Ch. 10: A Warm Welcome.

Here's the tentative schedule:

1. August 8th: LOTR Appendices; The Peoples of Middle-earth - Of Dwarves and Men
2. August 15th: LOTR Appendices - Durin's Folk (and other materials on dwarves)
3. August 22th: The Fellowship of the Rings - Concerning Hobbits
4. August 29th: The Unfinished Tales - The Quest of Erebor
5. September 5th: The Hobbit, Ch. 1 - An Unexpected Party
6. September 12th: The Hobbit, Ch. 2 - Roast Mutton
7. September 19th: The Hobbit, Ch. 3 - A Short Rest
8. September 26th: The Hobbit, Ch. 4 - Over Hill and Under Hill
9. October 3rd: The Hobbit, Ch. 5 - Riddles in the Dark
10. October 10rd: The Hobbit, Ch. 6 - Out of the Frying-Pan Into the Fire
11. October 17th: The Hobbit, Ch. 7 - Queer Lodgings
12. October 24th: The Hobbit, Ch. 8 - Flies and Spiders
13. October 31th: The Hobbit, Ch. 9 - Barrels out of Bond
14. November 7th: The Hobbit, Ch. 10 - A Warm Welcome
15. November 14th: The Hobbit Reread: The Wrap-Up
16. November 21th: The Hobbit Reread: Movie Predictions