Rating: 
Summary: Childish but readable
Review: I read this book after watching the first part of the "Lord of the Rings" movie at the year 2000. I loved the movie and you could tell, I guess; but this book struck as directed toward the younger readers.I do not mind the juvenile material, but the conversation was more that I can stand. And other than that it was a fine story. If you had watched the "Lord of the Rings" movie, you'd know that it started with a hobbit (one of the Hobbits which is a tribe of halflings) named Bilbo, who was trying to have a big party for his elleventeen birthday (111 in the hobbit tongue, don't you think it is very childish for me, sigh). This story, "The Hobbit," is the sole account of Bilbo's adventures, and is the predecessor of the "Lord of the Rings." Gandalf, who appears in the "Lord of the Rings," appears here too, and is one of the integral components of the story. He introduces Bilbo to 12 dwarfs (or dwarves as he insanely like to write it). The 12 dwarfs take Bilbo, who reluctantly agree to accompany them, on a trip to kill a dragon (what can be more childish). These dwarfs have some strange (childish) names, like dori, ori, nori, oin, and gloin. They encounter some trolls, goblins (or orcs), and Bilbo meets a strange creature called Gollum. He gets his ring from there. They meet some more odd creatures and then reach the place where the dragon is. They actually kill the dragon and then have a big fight with some other armies. Bilbo forsakes the dwarfs, for some reason or another. Things must be fixed, so Bilbo becomes a friend of the dwarfs one more time. He gets his share from the treasure of the dragon (all dragons must have treasures, you did not know that? oh my!) and then goes back to his hobbit hole, where he lives. You are welcome to read, you might not get bored, but I am not all that enthusiastic.
Rating: 
Summary: Underrated in comparison to Lord of the Rings.
Review: The Hobbit is probably the most underrated of all Tolkien's writings and it is not hard to see why. Hobbit is written in the style of a book for children and consequently, many people set it aside after the first few chapters. What a mistake! For Hobbit may be childlike in its writing style (in fact, children enjoy reading it tremendously) but there is nothing childish about it. On the face of it, Hobbit is the tale of an adventurous treasure hunt, sprinkled with wizards, dwarves, elves, dragons and of course hobbits. In actuality however, slotted (chronology-wise) between the Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings (LOTR), Hobbit sets the stage for the climactic struggle with Sauron in LOTR. In fact, Gandalf in LOTR refers to the events in the Hobbit, both the finding of the Ring of Power and the destruction of Smaug. As compared to LOTR, Hobbit is a sunnier book, with hints of troubled times, yet filled with humor and adventurous optimism; hence perhaps its appeal to children too. For fans of LOTR, Hobbit is a must. It answers a lot of questions that LOTR raises about prior events. Do not get put off by its apparent lightness and you will find it rewarding. Ideally, read Silmarillion first, then Hobbit and finally LOTR. But even if (as most people) you first read LOTR, Silmarillion and Hobbit will still delight you. The Leatherette edition is particularly good with quality binding, paper and illustrations and would make a great gift.
Rating: 
Summary: The Perfect Mix
Review: Adventure, great plot, and likeable characters are all key factors in making "The Hobbit" an entertaining piece of literature. Bilbo Baggins is a character of many possibilities, he grows throughout the entire novel, from a homebody to a well-known hero. To read any of J.R.R. Tolkien's works, is an adventure within itself, for each of his books are connected. His talent for story-telling along with his creative nature have pieced together "The Hobbit", a story, later followed by "The Lord of the Rings" series. This 272 page novel tells an interesting tale of a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, and a journey with his dwarven friends. Bilbo knows very little of the outside world, he has lived in the same area for over 50 years. As the reader should notice as the book progresses, Mr. Baggins is taking steps. Bilbo is slowly transforming from an quiet nobody, to a humble hero. I am rating this novel a 5 out of 5, because I found nothing that I disliked. The great plot, pleasant characters, and the fascinating adventure, each play their parts and keep the reader locked.
Rating:
Summary: terrific!
Review: honestly, havent finished the book yet... im halfway done but having read half of the work, i can already say how good the book is and i have already become a big fan of tolkien, and it encouraged me to read more of his works... so rare can one see a book as good as this...
Rating:
Summary: The Hobbit
Review: "The Hobbit," by J.R.R. Tolkien, is a fantasy adventure about a group of dwarves going on an adventure with the assistance of a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins. The wizard who suggested Bilbo as the last member of the team is named Gandalf. Gandalf chose Mr. Baggins because he is no ordinary Hobbit, he is a burglar. Hobbits personify small people, roughly half the size of humans, with hair on their feet, round bellies, and love food and comfort. This is why Mr. Baggins is such a successful burglar, noone would suspect it from him. The adventure that the Hobbit and thirteen dwarves embark on is to a land called Lonely Mountain, the home of the evil dragon Smaug. The fourteen plan to reclaim the dwarves' lost treasure that Smaug has taken. Along the path to Lonely Mountain are many dangerous obsticles they have to avoid. They are captured or almost killed by trolls, goblins, wood elves, spiders, wargs, a Gollum, and Smaug. During the close encounter with the Gollum, Mr. Baggins finds a golden ring on the ground. He finds out after the Gollum's riddle contest that it is no ordinary ring, for it has the power to make whoever wears it, invisible. This ring comes in handy throughout the rest of the book during their later close encounters. In the end of the book, the original fourteen reach Smaug the Dragon and......you'll have to find out for yourself. The main character, Bilbo Baggins, symbolizes a big adventure for such a small character. He symbolizes that no matter how small and worthless you or others think you are, if you really try you will be able to accomplish anything. The theme of the book is teamwork, the thirteen dwarves would never have been able to accomplish what they did if Mr. Baggins didn't accompany them. The narration is told as a third person point of view, "Bilbo had escaped the goblins, but he did not know where he was." The tone of the book was told in a much warmer and more humorous way than most fantasy books that I've read. This is shown during the whole adventure, "Old fat spider spinning in a tree! Old fat spider can't see me!" The Hobbit is one of the best books I have ever read. Other books I would recommend would be all four "Harry Potter" books. I would recommend "The Hobbit" to anyone who likes magical and imaginary tales. Never during the book could I say that it was boring or too long. "The Hobbit" was so good that it has lead me into reading the next book in the series, "The Fellowship of the Ring."
Rating:
Summary: One of the best and most entertaining books I've ever read
Review: Who would have known that J.R.R. Tolkien's dark, war-ravaged epic fantasy Lord of the Rings would have sprung from such an innocent, light-hearted adventure? When a peace-loving Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins has his humble home visited by the legendary wizard Gandalf the Grey and an entourage of 13 dwarves, Bilbo finds himself embarking on a quest that will take him all across the great lands of Middle Earth, meeting a host of characters and creatures both friendly and not, and stumbling across great treasures and wild predicaments. I truly feel sorry for anyone who would dismiss the Hobbit as a "children's book." While it may have been intended that way, it hardly reads as so. The Hobbit is intelligent, gripping, sophisticated and wondrous. I found that I always had a smile on my face for the greater portion of the book. Tolkien's vivid and often times comedic approach to Bilbo's situations help convey an intriguing and entertaining story that can be enjoyed by anyone. The characters, for the most part, are very well developed. The main characters (Bilbo, Thorin, Gandalf) get the most attention, but Tolkien balances the 12 remaning Dwarves and other side characters quite well. Bilbo's encounter with Gollum is chilling and memorable, and the finding of the Ring seems so very insignificant in the grand scheme of things...yet who would've known that such an innocent discovery would have led to the tragic, dark and terribly evil events to follow in Tolkien's legendary Lord of the Rings? This book should definitely keep you enthralled and reading to the very end. Like I said earlier, though this may have been intended to be a children's book, it hardly reads like one at all. I don't ever remember reading any books way back when I was a kid that were this epic, descriptive or intelligent. All you need is an open mind with a little twinge of fantasy, and you'll definitely enjoy the Hobbit. You can't read the Lord of the Rings without reading the Hobbit out of principle. I don't know why I waited so long to read this book, but now that I have, I am very glad that I did. It's probably one of the best books i've ever read. I very highly recommend it to anyone remotely interested in fantasy. Most of the fantasy today is inspired by The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. This Leatherette Collector's Edition of the book sports some illustrations inserted into key areas of the book,gold embossment on the cover of elvish 'moonletters' and runes, as well as a leather sheath for the book. Definitely worthwhile for any Tolkien fan! On a side note, if you REALLY want to add dimension and life to the characters, I suggest watching The Fellowship of the Ring and The The Towers either before or just after you read this book...Gandalf and Bilbo and company just have so much more personality afterwards!
Rating:
Summary: The understanding of it all
Review: This piece was enlightening to read because I have just recently watched, "The Lord Of The Rings" and I didn't understand it very well. After reading this book, I got what was going on in the movie. This book is well written and can easily get lost in time reading it because of the detail in the book. The story line keeps reader's in anticipation as to what is going to happen next. This book gave the before look at how the hobbits lived and more in depth about Frodo. It explains the living styles of the hobbits(like what they enjoyed doing to their work habits for a day's time. This book really gave me a great understanding on the hobbits so I could follow the sequels more carefully and in a more perspective way. Everyone needs to read this book before continuing in the movies and books to come.
Rating:
Summary: The Hobbit
Review: During the course of our English Independent Reading Project, I have read the book, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. It is a fantasy story about a group of dwarves, Thorin Oakenshield, and Bilbo Baggins that must journey to the Lonely Mountain to reclaim the land of the dwarves. The group must be very courageous to overcome the dangers of their trip as they encounter goblins, trolls, and giant spiders. It is the teamwork and courage that finally gets them to Smaug, the great golden-red fire dragon, who is terrorizing the entire countryside.
In The Hobbit, Smaug is controlling the land of the dwarves, finally the dwarves decided to take back their land and restore their homeland. They needed a little help, Gandalf had decided Bilbo Baggins was the perfect hobbit for the job, he would be the thief. Bilbo Baggins was a quiet peaceful little hobbit. All he wanted was to be left alone to his beautiful hobbit hole where he could eat lots of meals and smoke his pipe. Bilbo heard a knock on the door and before long he had thirteen dwarves and one wizard sitting at his table and eating all his food, it was then, without a choice, that Bilbo was the final man for the trip. As the journey started it seemed so simple because the great wizard, Gandalf was along. As soon as they were left to travel alone, they got themselves in a bit of trouble. They worked together to find their way and save each other from dangers. They met trolls who wanted to eat them, goblins who ate their horses and wanted them dead. Giant spiders that wrapped them up in a web so fast that only Bilbo had enough courage to fight them off. It was also Bilbo alone that had to confront the great dragon Smaug, the terror of the countryside.
As expected, there is a lot of action that goes on in The Hobbit-such as when giant spiders became very angry because they could not see Bilbo, due to the ring, but could hear him making fun of them, calling the spiders "attercops". Bilbo is fearful of these spiders but he still finds the courage to sing "Old fat spider spinning in a tree! Old fat spider can't see me! Attercop! Attercop! Won't you stop, stop you spinning and look for me?" Bilbo found himself running around being chased, singing songs to get the spiders away from the dwarves, who are hanging on a limb of a tree from a web, cutting down the webs that the spiders are wrapping around the trees to trap Bilbo in, and killing these spiders all at the same time. Practically all the spiders in the place came after him: some dropped to the ground, others raced along the branches, swung from tree to tree, or cast new ropes across dark spaces. Not only that, but as soon as Bilbo had managed to cut down one of the dwarves, who at this point is very weak, the dwarf uses the rest of his strength to help get the others and stop the spiders. The Hobbit uses great detail. J.R.R. Tolkien really knew how to explain action seens so that a person could visually imagine them, probably almost to what the author wanted them to be portrayed as. Tolkien, gets you right into the story in the first chapter, introducing main characters and explaining the conflict. Tolkien starts his action off simple, with a confrontation with trolls, and ends with big action, like the big fight with Smaug. I believe that while Tolkien is wrote these fantasies, he somewhat relates the ideas of these actions to his life, real life. The Hobbit is a book that really kept my attention, so much was always happening and I didn't want to put the book away.
You can see as you read this book, Tolkien wanted the courage of man to stick out, that bravery can get you very far. Don't hold back even is the fear is killing you. Work as a team and never leave anyone behind. Bringing peace and security will be your ultimate reward.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read for Young and Old
Review: The Hobbit is a fantasy legend. This is where the world of Middle Earth was created, and this book is a classic. Tolkien develops a world of conflict, and diversity, in which you are instantly sucked into. The character development is absolutely spectacular, and is a most reader not only for fantasy fans, but for fans of superb literature.
Rating:
Summary: The Hobbit
Review: In a hole in the ground, lived a hobbit...
This is how the wonderful tale of The Hobbit starts. My father has read the whole series. When I was young, he let me watch the cartoon of The Hobbit, and I loved it. I watched it all the time. So finally, the time came when I was old enough to want to read the book. I picked up the book and by the time I finished it, I wanted to read LOTR. The Hobbit is truly a masterpiece, for all ages, and is not corny or just for kids. I beleive that any adult would enjoy this book as much as I did. It's a great experience, and it makes me want to beleive that the whole thing is true and that I could round up some dwarves and go on an adventure to steal from a dragon!...for, that is what Bilbo Baggins did... Now I am reading LOTR, and am I big fan of J.R.R. Tolkien. I saw the first two movies now. I suggest you follow my path and read all of the books. Someday, I hope to read The Silmarillion.
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