Ross Raymond Nunamaker

The third installment of the Big Read took place on Monday, May 4th (be with you) featuring chapters eight through fifteen presented by Robert Tally, Jr. an author and professor at Texas State University.

The crux of the presentation was on Bilbo’s turn to leadership, but some other interesting points were raised. Two, which struck me because they were both obvious and overlooked by myself were how each chapter introduces the reader to a new race in Middle-earth.

We get Bilbo a hobbit, then Gandalf, a wizard, the dwarves, trolls, stone giants, goblins, wolves, shape-shifters, eagles, elves, and finally men. The men, point number two, of Laketown operate in a democracy, not a monarchy, which is unique.
The presentation was well done and I couldn’t have been more fortunate for the breakout group I landed in. Miriam Ellis, 2026 Tolkien Society Art Award Winner, was in our group along with Katie McKenna, who works on the Prancing Pony Podcast, Nathan Epley, Ellen T, and Katey from the Triangle Tolkienists in NC.

We had a good discussion addressing the topics of leadership, the races, and I asked about the comment related to the description of dwarvish culture in light of the fact that dwarves never shared much about themselves, had great animosity with the elves from whom we gain most of the history and of course Bilbo and Frodo.

Time with this group wasn’t enough and the return to the main group caught us up in mid-sentence.

The next session wraps up the Hobbit and presenting will be noted author and Hobbit expert John Rateliff, whose History of the Hobbit is the gold standard. I have the one volume edition and couldn’t recommend the book more in general.