the coffee philosopher

Posted on December 27, 2012December 27, 2012 by the coffee philosopher

I Don’t Know If I Want To See ‘The Hobbit’

You would have thought that I would have bundled myself and the family out of the house at 11 pm in order to have seen it at 12:01 am on its opening day. After all, I did that with The Lord of the Rings films.

But I felt myself reluctant.

What I have read about the movie makes me uneasy. Turning it into a trilogy. Apparently, making the raid into the dungeons of the Witch-King of Angmar part of the story, rather than a tale told by Gandalf within the story. In general, making The Hobbit more epic, when the joys of the novel were in its slightness.

Built on a great, mythic foundation, but ultimately the story of friendship and the story of a sedentary man (or hobbit, actually) growing into himself as a resourceful and (when necessary) brave traveler. And the book within the book – the book that Bilbo Baggins writes about his adventures (and which Frodo completes) is titled There and Back Again. ‘Back Again.’ Not an epic. Not really, half the title of Bilbo’s book references the joys of returning to family and friends, hearth and home. Coming back changed, but coming back, nonetheless. In fact, it was only after this adventure that Bilbo adopted his cousin/nephew, Frodo, as his heir. He left a solitary bachelor and came back appreciating the family one makes for one’s self.

This is a very different kind of thing than an epic and that’s just fine.

So, I fine myself reluctant.

Posted on December 27, 2012December 27, 2012 by the coffee philosopher · 1 Comment

The Path of Daggers

So, I finished it. It helped, of course, being able to start around the midpoint.

I was reading it while helping out at the Downtown Holiday Market, using my usual sales pitch of ignoring customers while burying my nose in a book. I think this tactic works because people feel compelled to actually buy something, because otherwise they’ve risked interrupting me in the midst of expanding my mind whilst reading for absolutely no purpose.

A man in his late thirties (good Lord, my age!) stopped, after having bought a onesie and a dress for his fourteen month old daughter, to talk with me about the book and series.

His feelings seemed similar to mine. It’s not that it’s great series, but there is something compelling and addictive about it and once you’ve invested something in what is, really, a huge investment overall, you feel like you have to see it through to the end.

The Path of Daggers is a pretty good. The best in a couple of books, at least. It is quite sprawling and Jordan doesn’t have the feel for sprawl that George R.R. Martin has. Martin is able to create and maintain a wide variety of very interesting secondary characters, but Jordan isn’t as able to make them compelling. But, he does give some good space and good story lines to several of the main companions. Also, the main character, Rand al’Thor, is allowed to be less grating and depressing to read.

It’s the Lord of the Rings effect. Frodo, on his own, would be insufferable to read about. Thankfully, he is always in the company of more enjoyable fellows (Samwise Gamgee, mainly) and plenty of column space is devoted to the always fun to follow adventures of Merry and Pippin and the gentle ribbing and budding love (yes, love; not romantic love, of course, but The Lord of the Rings is ultimately about the great love between friends and brothers in spirit) between Legolas and Gimli.

Tolkien possibly could write about romantic love, but chooses not to, on the whole (I have always suspected that he lacked the talent for romance, knew it, and so chose not to; but he does do some good depictions of comfortable, conjugal love, as between Tom Bombadil and Goldberry). Jordan can’t write romance, but chooses to do so anyway.

All that criticism, I know. But I did say that ‘The Path of Daggers is a pretty good.’ And it is. The propulsion of the plot picks up and you can start to feel as if he’s not just adding plot threads to drag this out, but is starting to pull things together. Conflicts are coming to a head and you can taste resolutions in the air.

Posted on December 26, 2012December 26, 2012 by the coffee philosopher

A Return (Of Sorts) Of Print Books?

There has been a slowdown in the growth of e-readers. They seem to be finding themselves supplanted by more general purpose tablets (something which was widely predicted to eventually happen).

Tablet computers are more general purpose content consumption devices. I own an iPad (a gift from a lovely woman), but I only rarely read books on it. In fact, very nearly the only thing I read with a clear print correspondent are comic books (I read my comics in a mix of old fashioned print and iPad; at present, I consume three DC titles: Action Comics, Batman, and Aquaman).

When I want to read, I use my nook or a print book.

Studies suggest I’m not alone: people don’t read books on tablet computers. They read lots of things, but not books.

Could this presage some growth in print books? After all, so long as people read, they will read books, and if dedicated e-readers decline and if people are not reading on tablets, could we not see a rise in the three dimensional book as object?