it was like hella singing in this book

n  “In a HOLE in the ground there lived a hobbit.”n

Bilbo Baggins lives a quiet, peaceful life in his comfortable hole at Bag End. One day his comfort is shattered by the arrival of Gandalf the Wizard, who persuades Bilbo to set out on an adventure with a group of thirteen dwarves. For the dwarves are embarking on a great quest to reclaim their treasure from the dragon Smaug, and they wish Bilbo to act as their burglar.

This was my first time delving into the world of J.R.R. Tolkien and I can now say that I understand why people call him the father of fantasy. His writing is beautiful and so other worldly, it was so easy to become immersed and captivated by the story and his writing.

Bilbo Baggins is such a loveable character, as were many of the dwarves and Gandalf the Wizard. Of course, being a hobbit, (who don’t like adventures) Bilbo didn’t want to go on this journey, but it seems by pure coincidence that he was the hobbit for the job and I loved seeing how he developed throughout the story.

I was surprised, sad and scared and excited in all the right places. I could picture so clearly all of the places like Bag End, Rivendell and Gollum's lake in my mind's eye and even found myself chuckling at Tolkien's little jokes in the writing. The stunning illustrations by Alan Lee in my edition made my journey there and back again that bit more magical!

For someone who often struggles to enjoy fantasy, I absolutely adored this beautiful tale. I can genuinely say that I’m looking forward to continuing with the series!

n  “There is nothing like looking, if you want to find something. You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.”n

4.5/5

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If you've ever wondered which literary world would be the best to live in, wonder no longer, cause there's a BookTube Video to answer that!

n  The Written Reviewn:

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n  In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.n

Bilbo Baggins, living comfortably in his hobbit-hole in Bag End, finds himself on the wrong end of an adventure.

Gandalf the Grey has come recruiting for a burglar willing to raid the home of Smaug (a dragon) whose taken over the ancestral home of the dwarves.

These dwarves, who number thirteen, are deeply suspicious and are unwilling to proceed unless their number is rounded up. Evil is afoot and they refuse to ignore common sense (aka superstition).

Gandalf soon finds that persuading Bilbo ends up a quest in and of itself!

n  'I am looking for someone to share in an adventure...it's very difficult to find anyone.'
'I should think so — in these parts! We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!' n

Reluctantly (very reluctantly), Bilbo joins on this journey...and soon finds out that quests are not very friendly to hobbits.

n  Is it nice, my preciousss? Is it juicy? Is it scrumptiously crunchable?n

And yet, despite the hardships, trials and tribulations...Bilbo finds himself eagerly plunging ahead.

n  Already he was a very different hobbit from the one that had run out without a pocket-handkerchief from Bag-End long ago. He had not had a pocket-handkerchief for ages.n

Absolutely. Love. This. Book.

I've read it so many times, and yet each time through, I find myself just absolutely enamored with the book as if it is the first time.

n  Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?n

It just has such a wonderful feel - I want to read it over and over and over again.

I absolutely love Bilbo's reluctance to adventure - he and I would get along splendidly! So many characters are just ready to run off and do things...but I would always be like, "What about my books? My blankets? My turtle???"

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Agatha, my turtle, for reference

But, even moreso, I adore how Bilbowcomes out of his shell and he grows into hismself.

n  You certainly usually find something, if you look, but it is not always quite the something you were after.n

And, above all, the world that J. R. R. Tolkien is absolutely magical.

n  Elvish singing is not a thing to miss, in June under the stars, not if you care for such things.n

Such an enchanting book - one that I truly, truly treasure.

n  May the hair on your toes never fall out!n

Audiobook Commnets
Read by Rob Inglis...and honestly, was not a big fan of the audio. You'd think that the narrator would be able to muster SOME enthusiasm for such a wonderful story.

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Mel

El libro es bueno, pero esperaba más. Quizás debí haberlo leído antes que El señor de los anillos, pero creo que no es lo más importante. Al principio fue difícil seguir la historia, pero después que Bilbo reclamaba tanto que se quería ir a casa, hice una pausa y leí todo otra vez, hasta que lo entendí, en sentido de personajes y lugares. A medida que el libro avanzó, Bilbo ya no reclamaba tanto para irse a casa y siguió con el grupo.
Por otro lado, los enanos me causaron cierto rechazo a veces, ya que no los veía totalmente comprometidos con la misión. Sentí que no estaban muy interesados en ayudar a Bilbo y solamente lo hacían porque tenían la obligación de ello.
Buen libro, entretenido y quizás un poco difícil de entender, pero una vez comprendiendo todo, se disfruta.

It's amazing to think that this was first published in 1937… Tolkien's modern classic AKA 'There And Back Again'. Peerless and beautiful, Middle England mash-up with Northern European mythology. Gandalf, Bilbo and a band of dwarves get caught up in dragon robbing plot... as in a plot to steal treasure off of a dragon! A story made even that better, for its usage of Hobbits, its look at conformity and standing out in a crowd, and personal growth! 8 out of 12.

2013 read

I thought all these little creatures like dwarfes and hobbits were not for me. But... I must alter my vision. Tolkien created with them one of the best stories I ever read. So, a full 5 stars for these little people. I hope they still live happily and in peace. They got also in my favourites list; what a prestation.

this is not a review.

this is smack-talk.

me and a buddy saw the first two films in the peter jackson trilogy (for a second time) this weekend. he says he loves actor lee pace just like i do, but that his character, thranduil, was campy as fuck and also what the hell were they even thinking?

to which i reply:



y'all know i like 'em long, lean, and unavailable.

aint nobody gon' talk shyt 'bout muh boo.

ACTIVATE MEME BATTURR

This is a reread from when I was younger. I enjoyed it again. Tolkien pretty much set the standard in regards to the fantasy genre. The story combines action, adventure, legend & lore, and the effective use of mythical beings. One could read endlessly about Tolkien; there's numerous publications about the man and the world he created.

I have always been a Tolkien fan and look forward to reading 'The Silmarillion' and 'The Lord of the Rings'. I've heard they are tougher and more dense in the Tolkien-lore but I'm not going to let that deter me. I liked the LOTR movies and thought The Hobbit movies were OK. Having said that I suggest this book if you are new to fantasy. Thanks!

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."

That book literally killed the bloody movie, they missed with everything in the novel:
The unexpected party.

Tom and Bert and Bill.

The battle in the goblin caves with the foe-hammer and the goblin-cleaver and The Great Goblin.

The riddles in the dark.

Out of the frying pan into the fire.

The Eagles.

Beorn`s meeting.

The battle with the giant spider (specially this one).

The Elvenking's Gate.

The Barrel-Riders.

The (OMG) conversation with Smaug the Magnificent.

Smaug vs Bard The BowMan.

The theft of The Arkenstone of Thrain.

The Clouds Burst And The battle of The Five Armies.

Everything is different when you read the book and you find out how silly the movies was, I highly recommend not to watch it.
It`s been a very good ride :)

Professor JRR Tolkien had made his mark as an authority on Anglo-Saxon language and mythology, by the time he wrote The Hobbit, in 1937, but the novel was his first great literary success, and of course what introduced many to it's majestic sequel, The Lord of the Rings.
85 years later, it still enthralls millions of readers, both young and old. It is a wonderful story to captivate readers aged 10 to 110. It has inspired much creative work, including the theme of a popular computer game during the 1980's. In essence Tolkien was the father of the Sword and Sorcery genre of literature, which has provided the material for so many successful novels, movies and games.
Lighter in tone than the Lord of the Rings, it nevertheless contains many references to things deeper and darker than on the surface, such as Gondolin, the last White Council, the Necromancer, and the ring.
The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion provide a deeper journey into Tolkien's Middle Earth. But younger readers can also enjoy it, for it's own benefit.
I first read the book, when I was twelve. It wet my appetite for all things Tolkien and led me to then read the Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.
The Hobbit is the story of the adventure of Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit of the green and pleasant country of the Shire, recruited by the wizard Gandalf and a company of Dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield, to wrest the Dwarves inheritance from the Dragon Smaug under the Lonely Mountain. The company must first battle Trolls , Goblins , Wolves , and Giant Spiders , and comes into contact with Elves , Eagles , Men and other inhabitants of Tolkien's wonderful world.

What makes The Hobbit such a seminal work in the fantasy genre? Is it the nine hours of over-budget, sensorially explosive movies by Peter Jackson? Nope. Is it a complex tale of multiple human kingdoms slaughtering each other for an Iron Throne with buckets of blood and guts and plenty of sex? Nope. Is it simply wonderful writing. As simple and boring as that. Does that mean that I was incredibly disappointed in the movie adaptation (not to say abortion)? Yep. Does that mean I don't love Game of Thrones (books and TV shows)? No, they are great too. But the seminal work, the Divine Comedy that created the language and inspiration for George R.R. Martin as Dante created Italian from the common vernacular in Florence and Ravenna, was The Hobbit. The book, even for a slow reader is most likely able to be finished in 1/3 the time that Peter Jackson spent telling the story in 70mm film. Unlike Peter Jackson's version, there are no orcs and the element of danger is more psychological than psychical: Bilbo Baggins is battling his fears and his provincialism and growing up. The Hobbit should be read as the Odyssey of Middle Earth - a voyage of self-learning and maturation that is more about the monsters in Bilbo's imagination than those encountered in his baptismal voyage into the unknown with Gandalf. Gandalf. Honestly, would there EVER have been a Dumbledore had there not been a Gandalf? Did any Tolkien reader NOT picture Gandalf when Rowlings talked about Dumbledorf in the first Harry Potter book?

Bilbo does encounter some monsters and even outsmarts Smaug the Dragon (wow, I mean what a perfect name for a dragon! More evocative than Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion in my opinion - and again would they even have existed had Smaug not preceded them?) and he saves Middle Earth before returning to the Shire. He is not the same person he was before leaving. He is Ulysses without a Penelope waiting for him (unless his pipe is secretly called Penelope in his expanded imagination or his Penelope is a symbol of his vast library in Rivendell).

In literature, there is nothing quite like the Hobbit in its simplicity and beauty and its symbolic voyage: we are of course introduced to the elves, the humans, the dwarves...but they are all on the outskirts of the story. The Hobbit is about one small hobbit fighting his greatest fears...and winning.

Fino's Tolkien Reviews:
The Hobbit
The Fellowship of the Ring (LOTR 1)
The Two Towers (LOTR 2)
The Return of the King (LOTR 3)
Lord of the Rings 1-3 - General Comments and Observations
Raymond Edward's Tolkien biography