"My [Blog]. My Unexpected Journey." Bilbo Baggins

I love books.  I love to read them, hold them, smell them, possess them, and choke on their mold.  I love to peruse bookstores, not the big ones like Barnes and Nobles, but the tucked-away, around-the-corner ones.  And, as my husband makes note of often, I love to buy books.  I am eternally grateful for Amazon Prime.  I love books so much that for Christmas one year, my dear mother, the same mother who made me put down my books and ordered me to go outside and play, got me a sweatshirt which reads: bib' li•o•hol' ism (pronunciation) [<Gr biblion] n. [Biblio+holism] books, of books: the habitual longing to purchase, read, store, admire, and consume books in excess.  Yep, that's me.


And so, since today is my birthday, I decided to start my own blog on my most favorite subject in the world.  

I belong to a book club whose core participants live all across the fruited plain (shout out to Sarah, Melissa, Lizzy, Heidi, Theresa, and Rebecca!).  We are reading through all the books listed in Susan Wise Bauer's The Well-Educated Mind: A Guide to the Classical Education You Never Had.  Now, before you start doing the Wayne and Garth bowing and chanting,   













please be advised that I have not read all those books; a huge portion of them but not all. Frankly, there are probably more half-read than I would like.  I do think I own all of them, except Madame Bovary.  At some point in my life, I will have read them all.

On the sidebar, you will see a list of books I am currently reading followed by some alphabet soup.  Here's the key for that: WEMBC - Well-Educated Mind Book Club;  pb - paperback; hb-hardback; iBooks - digital format.  I must confess to not being sure how I feel about digital books.  And to be honest I've only read one and a half digitally.  There is a huge debate raging about whether or not digital books will totally replace and/or do away with regular print books.  For once, I'm on the fence.  I am sure that will be a post at some point, probably when I read Steve Job's biography, which I did have to get digitally; seemed wrong or disrespectful some how not to.

The genesis for this blog title really came about because I was wondering how the hobbits sounded in Tolkien's own mind when he was writing and creating them.  In the movies, almost all the Hobbits, except Samwise Gamgee, speak with a British accent. And that lead me down the path of thinking of how other books are affected by their movies, a subject which will come up often as I am fascinated by it.  Lest you think this will be a blog about Hobbits, and Tolkein, alone, you are mistaken.  I'm sure at some point they may be the subject of a blog post but they will certainly not be the only subject, I promise. I think the question is like the chicken or the egg one.  Tolkein was decidedly British.  But it's a question that will never be answered until Heaven when I can ask him.

I hate to go to blogs daily, expecting new content and being disappointed.  So that doesn't happen to you, be advised this blog will be updated weekly, probably on Wednesdays.  I may post more but don't expect it.  I am a wife and homeschooling mom, meaning the child needs to be educated and the house cleaned occasionally.  I wish I could spend all my time blogging!

So, welcome to my blog!  And see you next week when I will be discussing The Help and the outcome of the Academy Awards.