The new trailer for Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has arrived! What do you think?

I suspect that you’ve read The Hobbit already. How many years ago? I first read it when I was 7 years old, and moved right on up to The Lord of the Rings at age 8. If you’re like me, you’d love to have the thrill of discovering a world as awe-inspiring as that again.

I think we can. We just need to find a way to see Bilbo Baggins, The Shire, the dwarves, Gandalf, Mirkwood Forest, and the Lonely Mountain with new eyes.

J. R. R. Tolkien’s stories are countries full of treasure that will go undiscovered and unappreciated unless we learn how to be attentive treasure hunters.

My good friend Matthew Dickerson writes as one who has spent his summers in the Shire, hiked every trail in Mirkwood Forest, taken counsel from Gandalf, and argued with Gollum and Smaug. It’s as though he sharpened the tools of his intellect in deep conversation with Tolkien himself.

And now he’s blessed us with a guide to rediscovering Middle Earth. It’s called A Hobbit Journey.

Dickerson, a professor at Middlebury College in Vermont, a novelist, director of the New England Young Writers’ Conference at Bread Loaf, and a fellow member of The Chrysostom Society, will prove to be a thought-provoking guide through Middle-earth whether you’re a frequent visitor there or a newcomer ready for the adventure of a lifetime.

His previous works include From Homer to Harry PotterThe Mind and the MachineNarnia and the Fields of Arbol: The Environmental Vision of C. S. Lewis; and Ents, Elves, and Eriador: The Environmental Vision of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Take A Hobbit Journey with Dickerson, and I think you’ll enjoy The Hobbit more than ever before.

(But be careful. The more you understand and appreciate the accomplishments of J.R.R. Tolkien, the more you’re likely to see just how badly Peter Jackson’s movies have misinterpreted and misrepresented their source material!)

 

 

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