The Hobbit

Rating:
Summary: Great introduction to LOTR which is magnificent masterpiece!
Review: I do love this book very much. I read it many times. This book and "Lord of the Rings" gave me an inspiration to create the musical cycle "Music of the Elves".

Rating:
Summary: Second best
Review: Thirty years ago, I read this book. I decided it is the best book ever written. Now I have started on my fifth reading. I was wrong. It is second only to The Lord of the Rings.

Some say that fantasy is a lower form of the art of literature, because the highest art occurs when the artist puts himself and his real world into his work. But this is exactly what Tolkien did. As a scholar of ancient literature, he created a World like unto that which he studied, a World more wonderful than the creation of any other human.

He created Hobbits who liked to draw maps and study ancient tongues and write about their adventures in their [his] World.

His Hobbits faced the terror of giant spiders--as a child Mr. T. fell on a tarantula and was sick for days from the bite.

His peace-loving Hobbits came to understand the horror of war, and found within themselves the courage to go forward, even in this understanding, to do what was needful. Lieutenant T. was leader of one of the few platoons which actually reached the enemy trenches at the Battle of the Somme, the bloodiest battle in history, where the English advanced into a hail of machine-gun fire so fierce that the generals at headquarters could not believe the casualty reports.

Mr. T. was raised and remained a devout Catholic. In the Lord of the Rings his Hobbits, along with good and valiant Men and Dwarves and Wizards, faced the evil Orcs of the Dark Lord of Mordor. It is not hard to notice that the Wizards are like Angels without wings, the Orcs like the imps of Hell, and the Dark Lord an enemy worthy of Satan himself.

"Here is beauty that cuts like a knife and burns like cold iron." -- C.S.Lewis, in the first review of The Hobbit.

Rating:
Summary: very well writen and detailed
Review: Sorry, I have to give it a 9, only because LotR is better (which is the sequal). I feel sorry for everyone that just doesn't understand fantasy and gave it a 1. I guess that is the real test of a book though: does it draw out peoples emotions. Almost all the reviews gave it a 10 or 9, then the next most given was 1. This is a big leap: form best book ever writen to worst, not even something in the middle, only extrems. Another way to tell if a book is good is by reading all the reviews of it and how manny: a bad and unremarkable book is unnoticed, while a good book is talked about. All the other reviews told about the plot and it's merrits, read them and this book. If you like it, read LotR.

Rating:
Summary: The Beginning of J.R.R. Tolkien's Literary Success
Review: When I was in 4th grade, I read and excerpt from this book in an anthology: the chapter entitled "Riddles in the Dark." When I was in 9th grade, a friend was reading a book called The Two Towers. I asked what it was about, and when she said, "hobbits," I remembered that I had always wanted to read the book from which that excerpt had been taken. So I obtained the Hobbit, and read it, and the books for which it is a prequel, The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I was swept up in the epic nature of the tale, in the characterization, in the heroism. Whether one likes the tale or not, and I've found few who don't, there is nothing here to criticize: no gratuitous violence and no sex at all (amazing). An old fashioned Englishman's tale of a world where manners still count, where education, poetry, music, and values such as loyalty, honesty and courage are still the stuff of heroes. I have read the books dozens of times. It is so easy to pick up one just to read a passage, and be swept up in the story again. I read the whole Hobbit and Lord of the Rings to my son, out loud, twice. Now he is a teenager, and has read them on his own several times. This is great literature, and will be considered classic some day. I only envy those of you who have never read it, because I would like to have the opportunity to read it again for the first time.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely First Class
Review: My father read this book to me as a child...and I fell in love everything about it. I usually re-read it once every year or two...I enjoy Tolkien's very descriptive writing style...which has helped me in my creative essays about motorcycle riding....just a fantastic book, filled with creativity, imagination...all the best.

Rating:
Summary: A Splendid Tale told by a master
Review: This is certainly a classic which appeals to the adventurer in all of us.

Rating:
Summary: I enjoyed it...
Review: It was a good book, and I see how some people rate it a 10 and others rate it a 1. The book has some good and bad points. The students are right it does have some weird hard to understand point of views, but get used to it you could not write something as well as the Hobbit. I also see the point of views of the 10s they have a very good emagiation. So Im on both side and I would say it was a good read

Rating:
Summary: A message to the people who critizised this book
Review: I have noticed that the people who have given this book a bad name have either had the book forced upon them by a teacher or just simply tried to be smart-asses. Like them, I guess you could say I too had the book 'forced' upon me by a teacher, but unlike them I thought that it was a god damn MASTERPIECE. I cannot believe how cold some people can be. It makes the rest of us, who have worshipped this book, feel really down to see people sink to such deph's. I hope they realize that The Hobbit was written by one of the greatest writers of our time. It is a book that will be rememberd for generations to come and all the people who spat on J.R.R Tolkiens work will be long forgotten. To anyone who is reading this message, pay no attention to those kind of people. Do not let them make you think differently about The Hobbit. Thank you for your time.

Rating:
Summary: THE HOBBIT IS FIRST CLASS READING!
Review: This is not the best book I have ever read, however it is impossible to put down once opened. I found myself spending every free moment with this book and became completeley absorbed in it's characters. The only strike against "The Hobbit" is that it is way too short. I intend to read much more J. R. R. Tolkien!

Rating:
Summary: Read this book.
Review: Any one over the age of 16 who has not read or had this book read to them should be shot. I read this book when I was 11 and still have not found a fantasy story to beat it. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, ( the other three books that go with this one) are just as good. Don't pick up another book untill you've checked this book out. Watch the movie of it too. It needs alot to compare with the book, but the animated hobbits are pretty cute.