Customer Reviews

A Hobbits Journal: Beign A Blank Book With Some Curious Illustrations Of Friends And Foes Of The Nine Companions

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have this book and it is a blank journal for YOU to write in. Most every page is illustrated with creatures/characters conceived from Tolkien's works. These other reviewers who are saying that this book was a great read have no idea what they are talking about and have obviously never even seen this book.

The title should perhaps make it more clear that this is not a book written by Tolkien; in fact it is not written by anyone because it is a blank journal book. However, I was immediately attracted to its beauty as a journal. The parchment is old-fashioned and of excellent quality; the sketches that occupy every other page or so are beautiful and depict the characters and event in the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit wonderfully. It would make an excellent gift to any Tolkien fan, child, or to yourself!

I couldn't tell this from the catalog but this is a Blank Book to be used as a journal. There are sketches of Tolkien characters and scenes on each page and a short poem on the back cover. I don't believe it actually is by JRR Tolkien.

Having skimmed the reviews, I was looking forward to a fun little book filled with Sam's point of view. I had been under the impression that this was a collection of notes by Tolkien (and perhaps others - he is listed as the editor after all) about Sam and about other characters as perceived by Sam. Imagine my surprise when I opened it to find a (nearly) blank journal - especially when the viewable sample pages held such enticing text. After a second look, however, I was won over by the quality of the drawings and the beauty of presentation. Don't be mislead by reviewers who tout this as a great read - but do consider it for its own merits!

A fabric covered bound book with sketches by Sam Gamgee, there are illustrations that surely could have come from Tolkien's books AND sketches of things a hobbit might have seen on his journey, things that might not have been covered in the books.

As journals (outside of the LOTR's family) this one is very good -- plentiful space on the pages for writing.

If you're an avid fan and just can't stand an artist's eye that differs from your mind's eye, or that of the movie, you might not like this. If you are a free-spirit, with an open mind for creativity, this offers other fascinating views of key characters and a Hobbit's Life.

Presented in 2 colors with a slim ribbon bookmark sewn in, you truly can't find such a fine gift for such a fair price!

In the late 1970's Michael Green came out with three books from Running Press titled "A Walk Through the Shire, "A Hobbit's Journal," and "A Hobbit's Travels." When I saw this 2002 book titled "A Hobbit's Journal" that featured 4 illustrations on the cover I had my hopes up that Running Press was re-issuing the 3 volumes with new material in a hardback version. Alas, it is not so. This book is the same blank journal as its predecessor from the 70's. Not that this is a bad thing, mind you. It is actually very nice to have a hardbound version of the original.

The book is very well illustrated on the whole. Gandalf, Tom Bombadil, and the hobbits look great. Legolas looks terrible. The idea that this is Sam's journal is really irrelevant - some of the scenes shown are things that Sam never witnessed in the story but may have had described to him by other members of the Fellowship after his adventure was over.

The major criticism I have of this book is that after 3/4ths of the illustrations are printed, the book starts over from the beginning and reproduces the same illustrations from the opening of the book. This was unnecessary. As I've said, Running Press had access to TWO other illustrated books by Green. They should have either combined all the past works or just printed a single volume with no repeats.

The book is, however, a nice addition to any Tolkien collector's library that happens to lack the original titles.

~Lotho Sackville-Baggins~

Full agreement with prior reviewers who pointed out: This is not a book by J.R.R. Tolkien, any more than a blank book with Obi-Wan Kenobi on it is by George Lucas. It's simply a very short blank book with some illustrations (which are, BTW, not by Tolkien either).

It's very short, as blank books go, and I thought the illustrations were a bit off. Not simply because I envisioned most of the characters differently, but because such characters as Legolas don't resemble humanoids at all. (Elves are supposed to have noses, ya know). Other characters simply don't look right -- I thought Boromir was all wrong, for example, and Bilbo and Gandalf too. The paper is of nice quality, though.

Some of the accompanying illustrations were nice, but others (such as the unicorn) simply looked odd. The title is misleading -- you would expect for this to be the adventures through Sam's eyes, but all it has is a brief blurb about him, and that's it.

I don't really recommend this as either a blank book or a Tolkien fan's possession. It just isn't worth it.

This is as it says on the cover ' Being a blank book with some curious illustrations of friends& foes of the none companions'. It is a journal for you to write in or look at the very good artwork, by the artist Michael Green. It should certainly enrich your Tolkien experience. Some particularly great illustrations here are: ' The long wait of Arwen Evenstar', ' Bombadil', ' Another daughter of the river king', 'By the doors of Durin', ' Another notch for Gimli's ax', ' Saruman', 'Shield- Maiden of Rohan', 'The Palantir is taken', ' Oliphant', 'The darkness of Denethor', ' The trial of Gondor', 'Ghan Buri Ghan', 'The mouth of Sauron' and 'Rosielass Gamgee '.
The drawings of Aragorn and Elrond though, seem incorrect.
To clear up misconceptions, the book was published in 1979, 7 years after the passing of JRR Tolkien, and 22 years "before the movie hype began".
It is a pleasant illustrated journal.
And I just love that wonderful , wistful poem at the back of the journal , Lay of the Passing Ages.

I think this journal is great. It's small and just the right size. You do have to be carefull with the cover though since it's paperback, but other than that it's perfect! You almost don't want to write in it!

This is a nice little journal with lovely illlustrations, but the quality wasn't that great. I was rather disappointed.