Hobbit 2.0

Welcome to the "Digital Spring Quest"... You're just a Hobbit citizen... Not a hero, not a warrior, you're not even a burglar, nor are you an Arab woman in Egypt or in Iraq or in Iran... Maybe you're a Kiwi-Hobbit, but not necessarily... However, you can start the Quest "Hobbit 2.0" with an "Arab Spring Quest" - or, for that matter, with a Chinese one, with a dragon to fight - that is, if you'd like... My point being: as a citizen of the Shire, you intend to defend your rights...

 

This is where the Quest "Hobbit 2.0" begins: you're at home, sitting at your desk, behind your computer...

 You can fight for your own rights, or for other people's rights, or both... It's just up to you... In this Quest, involving a Hobbit 2.0 and an Iraqi woman, all you need on both sides is a computer and a working internet connection (this can be quite the challenge)...

"A London mum and Iraqi teacher should have nothing in common. Yet now, despite their differences, they're the firmest of friends . . . Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad by Bee Rowlatt [Hobbit 2.0 living in London] and May Witwit [Iraqi woman in 2006] is a touching and poignant portrait of an unlikely friendship.Would you brave gun-toting militias for a cut and blow dry? May's a tough-talking, hard-smoking, lecturer in English. She's also an Iraqi from a Sunni-Shi'ite background living in Baghdad, dodging bullets before breakfast, bargaining for high heels in bombed-out bazaars and battling through blockades to reach her class of Jane Austen-studying girls. Bee, on the other hand, is a London mum of three, busy fighting off PTA meetings and chicken pox, dealing with dead cats and generally juggling work and family while squabbling with her globe-trotting husband over the socks he leaves lying around the house.They should have nothing in common.But when a simple email brings them together, they discover a friendship that overcomes all their differences of culture, religion and age. Talking About Jane Austen in Baghdad is the story of two women who share laughter and tears, and swap their confidences, dreams and fears. And, between the grenades, the gossip, the jokes and the secrets, they also hatch an ingenious plan to help May escape the bombings of Baghdad . . .Bee Rowlatt is a former show-girl turned BBC World Service journalist. A mother of three and would-be do-gooder, she can find keeping her career going while caring for her three daughters (and husband) pretty tough, even in leafy North London. May Witwit is an Iraqi expert in Chaucer and sender of emails depicting kittens in fancy dress. She is prepared to face every hazard imaginable to make that all-important hairdresser's appointment." (Amazon)