What should you do if your spouse becomes addicted to the Lord of the Rings movies and swoons at the very mention of Orlando Bloom's name? (Thud. Quick, fetch the smelling salts.)
How about taking the advice of a strange apparition that reveals itself in a dream? An apparition that looks remarkably like the director of the movies, Peter Jackson, but not quite remarkably enough to prompt legal action.
An apparition that recommends touring New Zealand in an effort to prove that its sheep pastures aren't really filled by frolicking Hobbits. Just sheep and the occasional zorbing local.
This is the hilarious tale of such a tour, featuring snow capped mountains and turquoise lakes, flightless birds and flying cattle, bungy jumping grannies and the carrot mafia, strange yellow eyes peering up from a road map and hotel receptionists always desperate to know win you are living.
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By Nina Osier
Oct 15, 2009
"Entertaining and informative!" As a U.S. of A. person, I needed the humor in John Gisby's title explained to me before I could fully appreciate his hilarious new book. People who go from door to door explaining their religious beliefs, and trying to make converts, are known as "God botherers" in Mr. Gisby's native England. Therefore, when one's wife begins talking incessantly about the Lord of the Rings characters and the actors who portrayed them in the recent film trilogy, why wouldn't it make sense to start referring to her as a "hobbit botherer"? You'll either love or hate the author's sense of humor. Since I found myself of the former persuasion, I had to read this book far more slowly than usual. I was seriously afraid of missing out on a nuance. A page that didn't contain at least one snort-producing barb proved rare indeed, as I joined the Gisbys on their 25-day odyssey through New Zealand. They fashioned their tour to include as many as... More > possible of the sites where Lord of the Rings was filmed, because the trip's supposed purpose was to cure Annette (author of Silent Screams, Shadows of the Rose, and Drowning Rapunzel) of her hobbit bothering mania by showing her first-hand that New Zealand really isn't another name for Middle Earth. You'll have to read the book yourself to discover how well those good intentions turned out. :-) You'll also learn a lot about a colorful land and its rich history, because in between nuggets of humor John Gisby provides plenty of solid facts about New Zealand. He's not only an entertaining writer, but an informative one, too. --Nina M. Osier, author of Rough Rider (2005 EPPIE finalist, now available from Lulu at http://www.lulu.com/content/167403)< Less
