The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Hey,
So I know usually write about the translation of historical books to film, and although The Hobbit and J.R.R.Tolkien's works are not technically historical fiction, they have recently been portrayed as films.

Anyone who knows me well will know I am a huge fan of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films. I have watched all the extended editions, all the extra features and read the books and appendices. I also have Lord of the Rings Chess, Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit and am hoping to get Lord of the Rings Risk soon!

Now I recently read the Hobbit as having watched the Desolation of Smaug in the cinema twice and wanting to go see it a third time, and having got the Unexpected Journey on extended edition for Christmas and watching all the extra features, I thought it was about time to read the book.

I finished the book two nights ago and although the plot did capture me and I was caught up in it, I believe that is because I have become attached to the characters that I saw portrayed on screen. I developed affection for the dwarves and Bilbo because of the way they were portrayed on screen rather than how the characters were developed in the books. I actually found that apart from Thorin, the rest of the dwarves were put in mainly for background noise. Thorin's character was developed and you could understand where he came from and how he felt but you didnt really get much info on his relationships with the other dwarves.

Whereas in  Peter Jackson's movie, there is an obvious relationship between Thorin and his bestie Dawlin and his father like figure Balin and the relationship he has with his nephews Fili & Kili. I really related to the character of Fili and Kili, Fili having all the pressure of being the oldest and the next in line to the throne after Thorin and Kili having less pressure and being able to have more fun as the youngest and without the pressure of ruling on his shoulders. However I felt all these emotions because of the characters and Peter Jackson's film making skills not the book itself.
This meant that when I was reading the book, I was feeling rather put out by the lack of emotional depth I was feeling towards each character through their actions in the book compared to when I read it as though it was an extension of the films.
I have decided to write a post for each film compared to that part of the book and anyone who has also read the books and seen the films are welcome to comment.
When I watched the Hobbit, An Unexpected Journey for the first time, as a fan of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings, I was very excited about seeing his next adaption of a Tolkien film.

I thought the first film was very good as an opening, it thoroughly developed the characters, you understand the relationship all the dwarves have and the scene with the dwarves at Bilbo's House certainly introduced you to them and let you established which ones are your favourite, and which stood out. Personally I am a fan of all the dwarves but a few of my favourites are Fili & Kili mainly because lets face it they are hot!

I also particularly like James Nesbitt as Bofur, the Irish accent and the humour, and also Adam Brown as Ori along with his on screen older brother Dori played by Mark Hadlow they are funny together specially in the extended bits of the Rivendell Scene, I also like Graham McTavish, a Scottish actor who pays Dwalin. I think the casting choices have been fantastic, the mix of well known actors, New Zealand actors and British actors make for a very interesting mix when put opposite each other.
I particularly liked that Hugo Weaving came back and that they managed to tie in the start of the Fellowship of the Ring with the start of an Unexpected Journey where Frodo is running of to wait for Gandalf to arrive in East Farthing Woods, which is where we first see Frodo in the Fellowship.

I also liked that they put lots into the Troll scene as it is particularly good scene in the book too and quite an iconic moment, The trolls are also briefly showed in the Fellowship on the Extended film when Frodo is in transaction into becoming a wrath after being stabbed with a Morgul blade on Weathertop.

  I also thought the way they read the moon runes on the map was very clever and very cinematically dramatic.

I also felt that the expansion of Radagast as a character was very good and actually brought a lot to the film and made for an interesting new character to explore.
I also liked the CGI effects that were used in the Goblin Town scene and felt that Azog was a very scary villain and the added affect of a type of orkish speech helped to make him seem real and fierce.
The development of the Necromancer as Sauron was very interesting and added a certain amount to the films and the story line and ties it in very well to the Rings Trilogy and the Battle of Middle Earth. Although many people have stated that it shouldn't be there because it is not an original part of the Hobbit book, I think it is very clever of Peter Jackson to add it in too his adaption.
I also as an added point loved the edition of some of Tolkien's songs and thought it was great that they were incorporated into the films.
Overall as a first film adaption it set me up nicely to 1) want to read the book and 2) wait for the next film impatiently. Now having read the book I feel that the first one was actually done very well and although yes it expanded many things that are not focused on in the book, these only added more depth and excitement to the story.
I will post a review of the 2nd instalment of the trilogy very soon :) The Desolation of Smaug!

Historic Appreciation

"Historic Appreciation" may seem an odd blog title but all will be revealed as you read.
Basically I went to visit Woburn Abbey recently which for people who don't live in the area is in the county of Bedfordshire.

  Now Woburn Abbey isn't famous for anything in particular except perhaps its extensive Deer park which covers many many acres of land, however while looking round we discovered a true historic treasure hidden amongst the classic tapestries and brocade covered furniture.

Not only did we get to view some small drawings that Queen Victoria drew with her husband Albert for the countess who lived at Woburn Abbey but we also came across one of the most famous historic paintings of an English monarch that there ever was. The most brilliant, utterly fascinating and strong woman that is Queen Elizabeth I, She was one of the strongest monarch that England has ever had and proved to many a men that a woman was capable of thinking, making decisions and coping perfectly well without a man at her side. As you can probably tell, I am a big Fan!
However the original portrait we came across of her was the famous and classic portrait of her with the Spanish Armada.

When I saw this painting in Woburn Abbey just casually hanging there, I was amazed because one I thought this  can't possibly be the original and two if so why aren't people more excited! This is an iconic portrait as everyone knows, now I'm no artist or de vinci but even I can see how important and impressive this portrait of her is!
There are many symbols that have been placed into this painting, the first is clear in the two "window paintings" behind her. On her left is the Spanish Armada with their ships being blown up and set on fire by the English ships, whereas in the right is a very stormy sea where the Spanish Armada is being thrown about by the sea and being destroyed.
The pearls that Elizabeth is wearing symbolize not only England's wealth as a country but show that she is parading her virginity and chastity to the world. She is wearing black and white as they are her favorite colours and the white on black creates for a dramatic affect while again symbolizing her virginity.
Her hand rests on a globe while her fingers cover the Americas, showing England's dominion of the seas and plans for expansion and domination of the New Worlds.
On her right is a mermaid which is carved onto the chair of state which can represent the wiles of females luring sailors to their deaths which could be to show her defeat of the Spanish Armada or as a contrast to the virginal status of the queen which is demonstrated elsewhere throughout the portrait.
Overall it is one of the most famous paintings of her and I was amazed to think I had seen the original. However many other people I have told my story to of seeing were not very enthusiastic about it and some didn't even know to which painting I was referring too.
Some of the other original paintings which were also on display were
 
Phillip II and Mary I - a famous painting as although Mary was Queen of England in her own right. she is shown here in the position of Consort, also the couple were never together for long enough periods of a time to actually sit for this portrait so they were each painted separately and then painted in.

This is the most well known painting of Jane Seymour who was Henry VIII's third wife who gave him his son Edward and who he asked to be buried next too.
I would encourage anyone who has an interest in the Tudors to visit Woburn Abbey not because the place is particularly well connected to Tudor History but just to gawk over the originals of some these famous portraits of Tudor monarchs.
I would like to think that some of the people who read this blog post will appreciate the painting and what it represents however I realise now that many will not.
love laura :)

Review of the White Queen BBC series

So after having watched the 10part series referred to as "The White Queen", I am now reading all the books I can about the different woman within the War of the Roses and have become fascinated by the woman involved. As we all know the series was based on a series of books by renowned historical author Phillipa Gregory, she has recently released a new book called "The White Princess" which is also part of the series and is about Elizabeth of York also known as the first Tudor Queen as she married Henry VII to try and bring the two houses of York and Lancaster together to end the War of the Roses, known back then as the Cousins War.

Having read all the other books in this series with avid attention, I pretty much consumed the contents of this book as soon as I could get my hands on it and am now desperately searching on amazon for other books about this fascinating little focused on member of the Tudor Dynasty.

The BBC series was very good however I believed it fell into the classic trap of focusing on the very simple route of detailing the many different battles of the War of the Roses, and missed out on many points that I felt were important, that made you really connect with the woman and characters so much in the books. But were forgotten or missed out in the TV series, which made me feel that other people watching the series who haven't read the books wouldn't understand and relate to the characters so much.
An example of this would be when in the book Elizabeth, the York Queen, met with Elizabeth Shore and in the book Elizabeth shows her anger about Edward having Elizabeth Shore as his mistress for a number of years by saying "He didn't love you" and she very sensibly and meekly replies"No, he never loved anyone like he loved you, There was never any doubt in my mind but there was one queen on the throne and the same queen in his heart. He made sure that I knew that. Everyone knew that. It was only ever you for him."
Elizabeth replies with "you were dear to him , I was jealous of you because I knew that you were very dear to him, He said you were his merriest Whore" This to me is a brilliant piece of writing and conveys so many emotions and really makes you feel for those to characters and how strong any woman would have to be to acknowledge that their husband betrayed them with many other woman and to never know if one of those woman may have captured his heart. I believe this is an important moment for the character's development, however was completely glossed over and forgotten about in the series.
Some of the woman were portrayed differently to how I viewed them in the books, which is always a problem when something you love is being turned into a film, or TV series and you worry that your characters will be ruined when they are portrayed by actors on screen.
Classic example would be Twilight, I personally enjoyed those books however I felt the actors who played the characters in the movies and the way in which the characters were portrayed was very different to my view of them in the books and how I imagined they would be. Therefore it is always a worry when a book you love is going to be adapted for the screen
However although some characters were not portrayed in the way I saw them when I read the books, Many characters were portrayed very well and the actors that were playing them were very suited to characters.
The only character who I felt I couldn't relate to was Anne Neville, for some reason I could not relate to her as she was portrayed on screen whereas in the book "The Kingmakers Daughter" which was from her perspective I really felt for her and definitely had sympathy with her and her predicaments.
If I were to view it as seperate completely from the books then  I would say it was good and had lots of drama and held my focus, but seeing as it had 4 very detailed books to work form it could have been much richer and more detailed. Compared to the previous BBC series The Tudors which was 5 series long and gave so much detail and information and drama, The White Queen would not come up as good, however I do not believe that this is a reflection on Phillipa Gregory's writing as having read most of her other books, I know her books are excellent.
Overall the series was definitly worth watching, but the books that the series was based on much much better, for anyone who found the tv series interesting, the books are a must read!!!
love laura :)

The White Queen BBC series? Background info

So one of my main historical love ins is with The Tudors, big surprise there! :P Philippa Gregory is one of the best historical fiction writers of our time as she covers a broad time period and researches each charatcter throughly, and one of her books "The Other Bolyen Girl" was made into a film starring Eric Bana, Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson, which catapulated her to world wide fame as a writer. She recently released a series of books based on The War of the Roses entitled "The Cousin's War" There are currently four main books in the series but there is fifth in the pipeline
.The books are titled;
 "The White Queen" which is written from the view point of Elizabeth Woodville's perspective who is most famous for being the mother of the ill fated Princes in the Tower and the mother of the future wife of Henry VII.
 
 "The Red Queen" which tells the story of Margret Beaufort, her quest to put her son, Henry Tudor on the throne and her desperate love for Jasper Tudor who Henry is the ward of.
 
 "The Lady of the Rivers" is the story of Jacquetta Rivers, the mother of Elizabeth Woodville, and her story of constantly fighting just to stay alive.
 
"The Kingmaker's Daughter" the story of Anne Neville, the daughter of the Earl of Warwick, also known as the "kingmaker" and her marriage first to Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales and then to her childhood crush Richard, Duke of Glouster. later Richard III.
 
The BBC have produced a series of episodes based on these books titled "The White Queen". 
In my next few blogs I will be writing a review on each episode the BBC show and giving my views as to whether it is historically accurate and true to the books.
People are welcome to comment as to whether they agree or disagree depending on their views of each character!
Just so everybody knows The White Queen television series is on BBC at 9:00 Sunday Night and there will be 10 episodes.
I seriously recommend watching it :)
love laura x

Hey everybody :)
I decided to start a blog as I love reading historical novels and have many opinions about the views authors have presented for their readers. As an example, one historian/author may believe that Elizabeth I had an illegitimate child by Tom Seymour who was married to Catherine Parr after she had outlived Henry VIII which is a view drawn by examining certain historical facts however another historian/author may believe that she didn't, due to an examination of other historical facts. The most fascinating thing for me personally is that we will never know whether she did or didn't because of the fact that it was so long ago and there will never be any certain evidence which can very much frustrate historians.
Anyway I will be reading as many novels as I can and writing a review about how the author has presented the characters and how I view the characters. People are welcome to comment or question as I would love to hear other peoples opinions if they have read the same book but felt differently about the characters.
:) Laura