Читать книгу An A-Z of JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit - Sarah Oliver - Страница 34

There is no word in Irish Gaelic to describe elves like the ones that feature in The Hobbit so they had to invent a new word: ‘Ealbh’.

In September 2012, HarperCollins published a Latin version of The Hobbit called Hobbitus Ille to celebrate the book’s 75th birthday. It was translated by Mark Walker and the publisher stated it was ‘great for students learning Latin, but also for fans who want to dip in and find favourite passages.’

The first line reads ‘In foramine terrae habitabat hobbitus’ (In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit).

In April 2012, it was announced that Tolkien’s oldest grandson – Michael Tolkien – was to release two fantasy books for children with Gerald Dickens, the great-great grandson of Charles Dickens. Michael Tolkien is a keen poet and critic, having retired from teaching in 1994. He was born in Birmingham and the two books will be based on stories read to him as a child by Tolkien. Gerald Dickens will narrate the audio book versions. The first book is called Wish and was influenced by the 1923 Florence Bone tale, The Rose-Coloured Wish. Rainbow is the second book and is again influenced by the work of Florence Bone, only this time by her story, The Other Side of the Rainbow.

Tolkien fans are hoping that The Hobbit movies will inspire people to pick up a copy of the book and read it for themselves rather than just enjoy the films, because although they are said to be true to the book, there are differences. On 25 March each year it is Tolkien Reading Day, a joint venture by the Tolkien Society and fan site TheOneRing to encourage people to pick up a classic Tolkien book and read it.