From the Bookshelf of EVERYONE Has Read This but Me - The Catch-Up Book Club…

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

J.R.R. Tolkien

Start date: February 1, 2020

Finish date: February 28, 2020

Discussion: CLASSICS READS

Why we're reading this: Group Pick for Feb '20 - Classics…more
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CLASSICS READS

James and the Giant Peach - *SPOILERS*
By spoko · 13 posts · 48 views

last updated Aug 28, 2025 06:59PM

James and the Giant Peach - SPOILER-FREE
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last updated Aug 13, 2025 03:25AM

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What Members Thought

Nov 29, 2009 Carrie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2024-books-to-read, read-my-shelves, re-read, classics, fantasy, favorites, j-r-r-tolkien, 4-and-a-half-to-5-stars, mgr, need-to-re-read

This re-read was just as wonderful this time around.

10 likes · Like · see review

Oct 11, 2009 Gaijinmama rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, fiction, re-read, classics, fantasy

Full disclosure: I am a life-long Tolkien geek. Mock me, and I'll cuss you out in Elvish. And then I'll breathe a bit of fire at you.
This is the prequel to The Lord of the Rings. I actually read LOTR first when I was 9 years old (back when dinosaurs walked the earth...) and it was rough going, so I highly recommend reading The Hobbit first. It explains a lot of things that are important to the trilogy. Also, unlike LOTR, this is a children's book. It's not just for children, by any means, but it ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Feb 06, 2009 Marla rated it it was ok

Shelves: middle-school, juvenile, fantasy, audiobook, young-adult, overrated, classics, zz-2009, barely-finished, movie-better-than-book

Tooooo loooooonng.

2 likes · Like · see review

Feb 19, 2013 Laurel Bradshaw rated it really liked it

Shelves: childrens-fiction, fantasy-fiction, daytimers-book-club

I first read this so long ago, that I do not remember reading it. Definitely written for children, Tolkien wrote this 30+ years before The Lord of the Rings. Here, the famous ring is just a magic ring of invisibility, without the dark overtones and corrupting power that it would acquire later. That is not to say that the book can't also be enjoyed by teens and adults, although I found the silly rhyming names of the dwarves to be somewhat distracting. Tolkien did go back and revise The Hobbit so ...more

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Mar 13, 2013 Laurel Bradshaw rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: literature

This was an interlibrary loan book, and I didn't have time to read every annotation before sending it back, but I read enough to rate it. It certainly seems thorough. Every text variant among editions is given. I was most interested in the historical bits - writers that may have inspired the Hobbit, etc. It also includes illustrations from multiple editions, though I would have liked to have seen all of an illustrator's work together rather than hunt them down spread throughout the work. ...more

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Jul 16, 2010 Elena rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-series, read-fantasy-sci-fict, read-audiobooks

I listened to the audio book, which was a dramatization, a radio show on its origin. A lot of voices, sounds, and songs. My only complaint is that I had a hard time understanding some of the creature voices. It is the prequel to The Lords of the Rings, and a children's book. LOTR is supposed to be better. ...more

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