The Hobbit (1937)

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction. The book remains popular and is recognized as a classic in children's literature.

The Hobbit is set within Tolkien's fictional universe and follows the quest of home-loving Bilbo Baggins, the titular hobbit, to win a share of the treasure guarded by Smaug the dragon. Bilbo's journey takes him from light-hearted, rural surroundings into more sinister territory.

The story is told in the form of an episodic quest, and most chapters introduce a specific creature or type of creature of Tolkien's geography. Bilbo gains a new level of maturity, competence, and wisdom by accepting the disreputable, romantic, fey, and adventurous sides of his nature and applying his wits and common sense. The story reaches its climax in the Battle of Five Armies, where many of the characters and creatures from earlier chapters re-emerge to engage in conflict.

Personal growth and forms of heroism are central themes of the story, along with motifs of warfare. These themes have led critics to view Tolkien's own experiences during World War I as instrumental in shaping the story. The author's scholarly knowledge of Germanic philology and interest in mythology and fairy tales are often noted as influences.

The publisher was encouraged by the book's critical and financial success and, therefore, requested a sequel. As Tolkien's work progressed on its successor, The Lord of the Rings, he made retrospective accommodations for it in The Hobbit. These few but significant changes were integrated into the second edition. Further editions followed with minor emendations, including those reflecting Tolkien's changing concept of the world into which Bilbo stumbled.

The work has never been out of print. Its ongoing legacy encompasses many adaptations for stage, screen, radio, board games, and video games. Several of these adaptations have received critical recognition on their own merits.
Source: Wikipedia

The story of Bilbo Baggins and his wonderful adventures with the band of Dwarves who he always seems to get them out of sticky situations. Bilbo is constantly reluctant to go on the adventure at all, but ends up being the saviour a number of times. Nice lead up to the next series and the introduction of the main character, The One Ring! ( )

This was my introduction to Tolkien and I loved every minute of it. I watched the LOTR trilogy first and fell in love with those movies, so reading this book made be appreciate them even more. I plan to read the trilogy now.

The book reads like hearing your grandfather tell you a story near the fire place. It is meant to be read out loud, so if you have kids then this is a must! The characters are memorable and I love how Tolkien explained in detail things about the hobbits and dwarves and the different types of land they journeyed across.

The story itself has twists and turns and is very adventurous! Highly recommended! ( )

This is one of my favorite books and I love coming back to it and re-reading it. I read it this time to my boys, which was quite a bit of fun. I got to pseudo-sing the songs to them (I'm not a great singer) and reading the riddles and such out loud was a lot of fun.

I love the personal tone that Tolkien takes in this book as he writes to his readers. Starting with the description of the Hobbit hole, a painting of wonder and mystery is enveloped. The history of Middle-Earth hangs vaguely in the background, touched upon with the discovery of weapons from a past age, or referencing a historical war.

At the heart of this book, it is an adventure story. There is not the climatic battle of good versus evil in this book, like most (high) fantasy of today. Instead, it is about a non-adventuring soul that is pressed into going on a blasted adventure. Only the character of Bilbo Baggins is really developed. All the other characters are almost puppets that he encounters. Most of the dwarves are only known by name and their hood color. Perhaps Gandalf and Thorin are developed a bit more then other characters. It is very interesting how the elves (two different groups) are described and interact with the dwarves.

I loved this book so well that I used it as one of my speeches in a college class many years ago. We spoke in a pitch dark room, and I told a brief story of The Hobbit. I started out with the riddle: "This think all things devours, birds, beasts, trees, flowers, gnaws iron and bites steal, and grinds hard stone to meal, slays kings and ruins town, and brings high mountain down" and I ended by saying "what is the answer to the riddle? it is time, which I am out of". I especially loved the whole moment and the group that I was with all seemed to greatly enjoy my speech. Just writing about it gives me chills. ( )

Even better the second time around. ( )