In a mythical or just forgotten time, many creatures lived in places like the Shire, home to Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit. Hobbits are comfort-loving creatures with no real sense of adventure. A knock on the door and Bilbo’s life is about to change.
Calling this book a children's book is like calling "Alice in Wonderland" (see “The Annotated Alice”) a children's book. Yes, children can read this book, and it is fun. However, there is a lot more to this book than a cute story. And it has all the depth of the other Tolkien works, except it is shorter.
Many people view this story as a prequel to “The Lord of the Rings,” but it is a stand-alone story with a perfectly good beginning, middle, and end. When you read "The Lord of the Rings," there is enough description to forgo "The Hobbit." I find that reading The Lord of the Rings first gave me an in-depth background to better appreciate The Hobbit.
Many of the creatures and adventures will put you on the edge of your seat. You will recognize the personalities and grow along with Bilbo as he faces new challenges and learns to deal with life.
An informative book to read first would be “The Power of Myth” by Joseph Campbell. Then you get a clearer picture of why the story progresses as it does.
The Hobbit is one of few books that I would like to read again .
Published by Violet , 1 year ago
I like the setting and the characters in the story . There aren’t much about this story that I dislike .
I would recommend this book to those who are adventurous and explorers at heart .
The Chronicle of Narnia by C. S. Lewis ; The Golden Compass Series by Philip Pullman are similar books .
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