Opinion: Columnists  Sunday Reflection: There and back again
"Out of the frying-pan into the fire." "The gathering of the
clouds." "The last stage."  Headlines describing the impending
fiscal cliff? No. Actually, these phrases serve as chapter
titles for J.R.R. Tolkien's best-selling novel "The Hobbit."
Translated into more than 50 languages with 100 million copies
sold and a new film trilogy by Peter Jackson, many more fans
will no doubt come to know and love this classic.  For the
unread, Tolkien's tale centers around 13 dwarves and a hobbit
who experience many harrowing and life-threatening adventures on
their journey to the dwarves' former stronghold to face a
seemingly invincible dragon.  Tolkien's subtitle, "There and
Back Again" (which Jackson uses for his third film), best
captures the transformation of his protagonists and the truth
they discover about themselves -- not unlike another group of
real-life men who took a life-changing trip remembered each
Christmas: the journey of the Magi.  Many lege