Post #51: The Hobbit

The Hobbit: 70th Anniversary Edition

J.R.R. Tolkien

Post number 51 is for J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. It's a book that's been on my to-read list for the past three years, so it's nice to finally scratch that one off. I wish I'd read this one prior to The Lord of the Rings books, because it was easier to get through, and perhaps would have prepared me for Tolkien's wordiness. Of course, it also could be that this book was simpler because I'd read the LotR books, although I doubt it, as this one was originally written for kids.

Quick spoilers follow.

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This book tells the story of Frodo's uncle, Bilbo, who's coerced into an adventure via Gandalf, who's informed a company of dwarfs that he's a burglar. He ends up going across Middle-earth with them, during which time he's involved in a great many adventures. He's nearly eaten by a group of trolls, captured by goblins (then, as the dwarfs and Gandalf are escaping, he's hit on the head and gets left behind, during which time he gets involved in the riddle exchange with Gollum and steals the One Ring), escapes a murderous group of spiders in Mirkwood, burgles the Elf-King's halls while rescuing the captured dwarfs, escapes down the river on a barrel, before finally getting where they were headed, where he meets Smaug the dragon and fights in the battle of the five armies. The story ends with his return to Hobbiton, where the town was in the process of auctioning off his belongings as he was "presumed dead". He ended up having to repurchase many of his own items with the gold and silver he got in exchange for his burglaring, although he never did recover all of his silver spoons. :))

I liked this book, as it was very full of adventure, and was rather non-stop. Bilbo was a wonderful narrator whose inner thoughts were oftentimes amusing. I liked the glimpse of Middle-earth prior to the happenings in The Lord of the Rings, and liked the glimpses of some of the characters that we meet later in the trilogy. It also got me even more interested in Tolkien's world, so much so that I just ordered another book off Amazon called The Unfinished Tales, some of which I've already read, like the "Disaster at Gladden Fields" (i.e. the recounting of the death of Isildur) and the history of the palantiri. My next Tolkien book to read will most likely be The Silmarillion, although that will have to wait for a while, as I have some library books and some more books off my to-read list to get through first. (One thing I love about The Unfinished Tales is that there's a glossary in the back with all the names/places/terms/etc. from Middle-earth, which is much more handy than getting online and searching Wikipedia, as much as I love Wikipedia. (It's one of my favorite sites, in fact.))

Anyway, if you've never read anything by Tolkien, this is the best book to start with. And if you had trouble with the Lord of the Rings books, don't let those deter you from reading The Hobbit. It's really a rather delightful story that I will no doubt reread several more times in the future.

(In my LotR kick, I also just purchased this Faramir figure (not at the listed price - I did it via the used function, although the one I'm receiving is actually still in its package), which I'm rather excited about. There are a few others that I'd like to eventually own as well. Not sure what I'm going to do with them, but at least I'll have them when I figure it out. :-P)

Comments

[janicu]

I read this one a lonnnng time ago (if I recall correctly, I was interested in it when I found it on the bookshelf of my parent's friend's house and they gave it to me), and it was my first Tolkien book. All I remember is that it is by far my favorite!!

[Panda.ink]

[this is good]

Yeah I liked it ALOT better then LOTR books, which I never finished reading bacause the frist book bored me to tears with all the Walking and also the amount of detail in every page, it's not a book you can skim.

 But I'm glad you like The Hobbit cause it is such a good story, I read it to my sisters kids and they loved it too :)

[Merin]

I had to start FotR over several times because I kept getting confused with the Tom Bombadil stuff. :)) I finally realized that the only way to get through it was to read it for a significant amount of time; it's not a book you can read a bit of and put down, and then go back to, because of his wordiness. Once I got past the Tom Bombadil and Barrowdowns sections, it was much easier to follow, and I was able to finish it pretty quickly. And once I got through FotR, the next two were much MUCH easier.

But I agree that <i>The Hobbit</i> is by far my favorite thus far, although I do like all of the stories I've read in the <i>Unfinished Tales</i>.

[Panda.ink]

now i'm going to have to make and effort then ;)