This 4 CD set was an early Christmas present to me from me! I purchased The Sons of Hurin for my grandson, who was reading The Silmilarian.. We are both fans of JRR Tolkien, I thought it would be interesting to hear Tolkien read a selection from The Hobbit and hear his inflections in 1952. My grandson spent a few hours at our house this past weekend, and when he was listening to the first CD, he knew immediately the passage Tolkien was reading. It was the challenge Gollum made to Bilbo Baggins to solve three riddles. Evidently, Peter Jackson had access to this recording because the voice of Gollum in the movie is extremely close to Tolkien's own voice!

This audiobook is definitely not for the person who says, "I enjoyed the Lord of the Rings movie but I never read the books."
It is for this person:
1. You have read the Hobbit and the trilogy, including the appendices, at least 2 dozen times.
2. Two of those times were reading it out loud to family members.
3. You can recite "Elbereth Gilthoniel" in the elvish, as well as a half dozen other poems from the trilogy.
4. You have been fascinated by the news that Professor Tolkien used to appear as Beowulf to his classes, reciting the epic in Old English.

In other words, the audio collection was perfect for me. Too bad the set merely contains excerpts and miscellaneous poems, as recorded in a 1952 cassette tape recording. You can hear pages rustling and doors opening and shutting in the background, and the sound quality is not good.
However, these highlights were not to be missed:
1. The Riddle Scene from The Hobbit. Amazing dramatization of Gollum by the author!
2. The voice of Fangorn the Ent. Tolkien has a delightful accent with a Scottish "burr" to his rolled r's.
3. The Elvish poems. I've always wondered how the words were really pronounced. The Master knows!

The four disc set is concluded by readings by Tolkien's son Christopher from the Silmarillion.

I was so delighted when I discovered the existence of this collection. You don't need to have read/done all the things the top review mentions to appreciate Tolkien reading his works aloud! This collection is a treat for any Tolkien fan.

Superb read-aloud recordings of Tolkien HIMSELF reading his own Middle Earth works!

VERY recommended!

To hear JRRT reading Gollum's riddles; or some "poems" (like the song for Boromir)

Half of this CD collection is pretty much what is advertised- JRR Tolkien reading excerpts from his books. The other half is Christopher Tolkien reading from the Silmarillion which, honestly, I skipped. Still an excellent collection, however.

This is a treasure!! One gets to hear Tolkien's own voice reading portions of his books, pronouncing Elvish words, and singing some of his songs/poems. A must-have for any Tolkien fan!