The Hobbit

[Melissa]

Funny.

[Alexandra]

Really, that's interesting! I do remember that several girls were talking about how great this book was in 6th grade. I was a very good reader, but when I tried at that time I couldn't get into it. Because of that I didn't try again for a long time. I didn't actually read it until High School, to give it another try since everyone said it was so good, but not expecting to like it. But I loved it. But the story (the others more so) is peppered with history of Middle Earth that can be rough going. I think I can see why someone couldn't plow through it.

[Vanessa]

I must say, I am a fan of LOTR, but found The Hobbit a chore and a bore. When Thorin Oakenshield died I felt like "Good riddance - greedy a**hole!"

[Tara]

I read this book so long ago, I think in either 6th or 7th grade. I remember there were times when I was a bit bored. I haven't read it since, but I did read the LOTR trilogy and loved those. I was thinking of going back and getting reacquainted with Hobbit because I heard rumors that Peter Jackson is trying to get the film version up and rolling.

[Caroline]

I didn't hate The Hobbit, but I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as I did The Lord of the Rings (which is a lot, but I've never considered them one of my "loved" books). The writing in The Hobbit didn't seem as advanced as that in LotR, I think, and the story seemed to drag. I even grew up loving the horrible horrible cartoon version of The Hobbit, which I re-watched recently and was just sad.

[Jason]

I always liked the Hobbit more than LOTR. It was the trilogy that took me two tries to get through when I was younger. Now I've read both many times.

Shame you don't like the cartoon, Caroline, I still think it's awesome in all its 70's glory. especially the sequence with the spiders in the woods...

[Caroline]

I think I ran into the problem of it not living up to my expectations--it'd been at least 15 years since I had last seen it, and nothing ever seems to be as good as it was when you were a kid. I normally like cheesy old movies, but it was just disappointing after so much time. Although, The Hobbit animated is still no where near as bad as the LotR animated. I tried watching that one with one of my friends and we only got about 15 minutes in before we just had to shut it off.

[Tara]

I did enjoy the animated Hobbit movie and I'm really curious about what Peter Jackson will do with the live action version. I read about the problems Jackson has had with trying to get Hobbit made in an issue of Entertainment Weekly.

I also enjoyed the LOTR movies more than the books. I did like the books, but seeing all "fleshed out" was awesome. Plus, it had Liv Tyler and Viggo Mortensen and Sir Ian McKellan, what's not to love!?!

Who did the voice of Bilbo in the animated version of Hobbit? Does anyone remember?

[Elizabeth]

Oddly enough, I enjoyed The Hobbit more than I enjoyed Lord of the Rings. I think they could have cut a ton out of LotR and still had a good book. Many times while reading LotR I'd be like, How did I get here?

[Nathan]

Oh my God. I wrote a negative review of this book and a handful of my dear friends reacted as if I'd just compared their mothers to Hitler. I don't get it. To me, this book and all of the Rings nonsense is nothing more than a dull meandering about a vaguely closeted elf and his friends. I think Tolkein was probably a MI-6 agent with a mission to bore the masses into submission.

NC

[Vanessa]

Tara - Bilbo Baggins in the Rankin Bass animated Hobbit was voiced by Orson Bean.

[Tara]

Thanks Vanessa!

[Caroline]

I absolutely loved the live-action movies, and re-watch them often enough to probably be weird (I have to have something going while I'm cross stitching, might as well be LotR, right?). Peter Jackson did an amazing job bringing the series to live, and it'll be a shame if he doesn't get to do the same for The Hobbit.

I definitely understand where you're coming from with it being boring, Nathan. While I absolutely love how fleshed-out and detailed Middle Earth, there are times when Tolkien drives me a little batty with his meandering descriptions. I think it was in The Two Towers where he starts off talking about someone's ancestors in the middle of a battle? Yeah, that put some serious dampers on the action. Despite that, I still think they're great adventure stories.

[Maria]

I can sort of understand how you could find Lord of the Rings boring, but The Hobbit? It's short and fast-paced and it has all the cool stuff that LOTR has, but in condensed form! And - Gandalf! Smoke rings! Dark forests with sleeping draught rivers! Mysterious doors that open for a minute once a year in extraordinarily poetic circumstances! Yeah, that book is totally my precious.

On the other hand, I haven't reread it in over a decade. It was just about my favourite book when I was eight. Maybe I'd find it very flawed now, or more suitable for kids than adults, who knows. And people are right, Thorin was a jerk.

[Mark]

I first tried to read The Hobbit in 8th grade. It seemed pointless then, but in the summer of 2005 it seemed totally awesome. Then I went on to read the Lord of the Rings. It was a magical August, sitting out in the sun on vacation. I recommend to anybody who finds it boring now to wait about 30 years and try again. By the way, that happened to me with Hemingway's books, too.

[Bronwyn]

That's very comforting Mark, I felt the same as you about both Tolkien and Hemingway when I was in high school, but now that I'm over ten years older I think I'll give it another go.

[Dfordoom]

I thought both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings were dead boring. I preferred The Hobbit because it was shorter, so the pain was over sooner.

[Rachel]

i thought the hobbit was fantastic. i remember reading it when i was little and enjoying it, and then i read it again a few years ago and i loved it. the comedy, the intrigue, the action - fabulous!

[Kate]

My sister says she hated it because Gandalf is so all-powerful and just comes in to save the day, so why doesn't he prevent bad things from happening?

[Emma]

The Hobbit, I liked. The Lord of the Rings, not so much.

@Kate - Is your sister an atheist by any chance? ;)

[nina]

This book isn't long! It's fairly short! I liked it :) Not my favourite, but it was okay :D

[Abi]

When people criticise The Hobbit I feel like my childhood's being violated... I first had it read to me when I was about 5 and I read it so many times myself our copy practically fell apart. It holds a very dear place in my heart.

[Ronando]

My god... there's a hate forum for "The Hobbit: There And Back Again" by Bilbo Baggins? ...what is this world coming to? Come on people, read it in context.. like the Bible. I saw a couple here say that you might enjoy it more if you gave it a couple of years. I agree. Go reread LOTR and then give ol' Bilbo a chance.

The Hobbit? sigh.

[Maria]

If I had to reread LOTR first I'd never read "The Hobbit" again! I love TH but loathe LOTR. Tolkien was in need of a good editor who'd cut that down to half its size when he wrote that.

[Kellyn]

This is sad. I just don't see what's so utterly terrible about The Hobbit. I really enjoyed it quite a bit and have reread it several times.