The Road Goes Ever On

Today, friends, is Hobbit Friday. For those who are not enormous Tolkien geeks, this means pretty much nothing. You can skip to the next paragraph if you want to. But for we who are, September 21 marks the day that J.R.R. Tolkien first published The Hobbit 75 years ago. And tomorrow, is of course, the birthday of both Frodo and Bilbo Baggins, the heroes of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, respectively. So for me, this day has been celebrated by eating a second breakfast, watching the trailers for the new adaptation of The Hobbit (being released in December), and wearing a replica of the One Ring on a chain around my neck--although it does seem to fit perfectly on my finger... maybe I could just slip it on for a second...

 But even for those who do not subscribe to various Tolkien-related newsletters and message boards, Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is still highly anticipated. Simply put, it promises to be spectacular. Stories of epic journeys have always intrigued me, speaking to that place of deep wanderlust that lives inside mankind, which is probably why these are some of the oldest stories ever told. Everyman leaves home to find adventure, and grows along the way. Even the most homebody-ish of us seems to want to live vicariously through these characters that get dragged into a journey, often reluctantly, and come out all the better for it.

So, without further ado, here is just a sampling of the great journeying and adventure stories, both with reluctant adventurers and eager ones, that we have here in our collection at the library. There's something for everyone, from Under the Tuscan Sun to The Odyssey.