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Summary: A wild adventure with some wild friends
Review: This book takes you on a magical adventure and keeps you reading until the very end of the book. It's about Mr. Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit (which is a humanlike mammal with big feet) goes on a big adventure to some of the most dangerous areas. He learns all the traditions of dwarves, giants, elves, goblins, and many more. But he also learns how to keep his "special" little ring safe. I enjoyed this book so much, I decided to name my dog, Bilbo...and our license plate was customized to Gandlf backwards. (Gandalf is Bilbo's good friend) I would describe this book as "serious fiction". And J. R. R. Tolkien's writing is continued in the Triology. If you liked this book, I would reccommend a Redwall book. Or, if you liked Redwall, you would love this.
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Summary: The most beautiful copy of the book that started it all
Review: I remember when I was a child, my father used to read me stories every night. Before I knew how to read, like every child, I liked to look at the pictures. Even as a child, I noticed that sometimes the story was better than the pictures, and sometimes the pictures were better than the story. Although there have been countless versions of The Hobbit, this version has the illustrations to match the wonderful and timeless story. The story is about a young hobbit who is rudely torn from his comfortable surroundings to embark on a heroic, sometimes horrific, sometimes hysterical adventure. The Hobbit started a fantasy tradition that has only gained momentum with time. Tokein's discriptions of the adventuring party's trials and tribulations are both heartwarming and at times gut-wrenching. The pictures in this version definitely do this classic justice. I especially enjoy the rich picture of the dragon Smaug hording his vast treasure and the evil swamp creature Gollum harrassing poor Bilbo the Hobbit. Of all the versions of The Hobbit, this one is the most richly illustrated and the one that is totally worth getting
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Summary: Don't buy the audiobook
Review: Please note that this review is specifically about the non-BBC audiobook version.I adore "The Hobbit." My first memory of my father is hearing him read the first page of the book to me as a very young child, and I've read the book countless times since then. Given my long commute currently, I've become a big fan of audiobooks. I picked this up with high hopes. What a let down. The audiobook is abridged, although the package didn't note that anywhere, the abridgement choices are odd at best (leave in Beorn but take out almost everything of Rivendell?), the voice actors seem to be interested in portraying the characters as comically and unpleasantly as possible (I want to give all of the elves in the audiobook some throat lozenges) and to top it all off, the sound quality is incredibly poor and inconsistent....
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Summary: Awesome Edition
Review: The Hobbit is a great book all by itself, but this nice edition makes it even better. It has a nice leather cover, good paper, and drawings by Tolkien himself! When I look at it, I want to read it again and again! I really advise you to buy this edition.
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Summary: This is where it all begins. . .
Review: This is the book in which the great JRR Tolkien introduced to the world at large the epic saga of that great hobbit, Bilbo Baggins.
For those readers who are unfamiliar with hobbits, permit me to quote the Professor in his (accurate) description of our people.
"They are (or were) a little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded dwarves. Hobbits have no beards. There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear quietly and quickly when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along, making a noise like elephants which they can hear a mile off. They are inclined to be fat in the stomach; they dress in bright colours (chiefly green and yellow); wear no shoes, because their feet grow natural leathery soles and thick warm brown hair like the stuff on their heads (which is curly); have long clever brown fingers, good-natured faces, and laugh deep fruity laughs (especially after dinner, which they have twice a day when they can get it)."
Also, it must be said, hobbits do not tend toward adventure! A loving family, a comfortable home, a good meal, a pipe of tobacco, and a pint of beer are generally all that is required to make us happy.
HOWEVER, in recent times, hobbits HAVE begun to have adventures and to participate more fully in the deeds of the Wide World. This story is the beginning. . .
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Summary: The Hobbit
Review: The Hobbit is a wonderful story.You will love the characters and the adventures that they have. I found it most interesting how they got out of there problems. THIS IS A MUST READ! p.s.If you want to read this book you have to have a good deal of time on your hands.
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Summary: A Pleasure As Ever
Review: How nice to pick up The Hobbit again as an adult. Even years later, this book is delightful. It's such a pleasure to follow Bilbo and the dwarves to the Lonely Mountain, and it's a pleasure to read some of the other reviewers, kids who've read the story over and over like I did. This is a great edition, the Alan Lee drawings and paintings are gorgeous, and he appeals to the Tolkien-phile with incredible attention to the details of the story. Two quibbles: one map is in the beginning of the book and the other at the end - how odd, it keeps the reader flipping back and forth. Why not just put them both up front together. Second, some pages fell out of my new book even before I'd read them. That's a bit disappointing when you've paid a bit more for the fancy illustrated hardcover volume.
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Summary: The Book That Started My Love of Fantasy!
Review: This is the perfect fantasy book for readers! It has just about all you need to look for: A strong plot with smatterings of suspense, adventure, and mystery, wonderful characters described so well you can almost hear them talking, and a map at the beginning so you can track the journeys of the characters. The plot is this: Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, is visited one day by Gandalf, a roving wizard. Although Bilbo insists he does NOT want the adventure Gandalf offers, Gandalf decides that Bilbo is perfect for the job, and brings along thirteen dwarves when next he comes to call. The dwarves are going to go off and reclaim their stolen home(and treasure) from a dragon named Smaug. They set off the very day after their visit at Bilbo's, with Bilbo a nervous and reluctant member of their party. Although Bilbo often wishes to be at home with the kettle singing for tea, he gets none of it as he witnesses Gandalf outsmarting trolls, gets taken down to Goblin Town in the bowels of the Misty Mountains, finds a powerful Ring that makes the wearer invisible, and has to fight giant spiders to save the dwarves. Eventually, all the dwarves are captives of the Mirkwood elves, and Bilbo is trapped inside their castle, always wearing the Ring to avoid discovery. He eventually rescues the dwarves in an ingenious plan: floating them down to the Dragon's mountain in empty barrels discarded by the Mirkwood elves. Bilbo and the dwarves are received ecstatically by the residents of a lake town near the mountain, but soon after Bilbo's birthday they are off to the mountain. Bilbo gets them all inside with a vital clue provided earlier, and drives the dragon nearly mad with frustration. The dragon is eventually slain by a lake townman, who convinces his townsfolk that the treasure is now rightfully theirs. This leads up to a climactic battle of five armies. This is a marvelous book for anyone who needs an escape from life's dreariness. I would recommend it to anyone who is old enough to read.
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Summary: Magnifico!
Review: I know I always say this......But the Hobbit & The Lord of The rings are The Best Books I have EVER, EVER Read. When I started reading a could not put it down, although it may be fantasy, anybody will enjoy except people with NO taste in Books!!!!!! It was an Excellent, Brilliant, Intriuging, Maginficant, Melancholy, Exciting & VERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRY Enjoyable, I am nine years old but an iffinity sqaured person would lurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrve this Book, Thankyou for taking the time to read my reveiw!!!!!!!!
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Summary: Fantastic Fantasy!
Review: After reading the Harry Potter books, and countless reviews saying that they were no where near Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit series...I thought I would check it out. Tolkien is the master of fantasy, it has been determined, I decided to judge for myself. I had started reading the Hobbit a few times before, and enjoyed it, though I would always put it down for something slightly more riveting, interesting, or something that just came out :::cough Harry Potter book 4:::: and I had to read. When I finally picked it up again, determined to read it before I read the LOTR, and determined to read them before the movie, I was pushed gently at first and then given a sudden yet enthralling shove into the Middle Earth. The adventures of Bilbo Baggins are like no other. They are calm enough to make you feel cozy inside, yet interesting enough to make you keep reading. Tolkien's gift for writing, though celebrated many times, is never as strong as the first time you read the first page of the Hobbit. I lived through each moment, and found myself picking up the book subconciously and just reading it, as though I was thumbing through my life story, as oppose to that of Bilbo. Tolkien created one of the most subtle and real realities I have ever come across. He created a totally believable spiecies of creature (many, actually), a totally believable plot and a wonderfully magical tale that will leave you all warm inside, and wanting more! The perfect push-off point for the Lord of the Rings. Every time the LOTR got slightly boring, or slowed down, I just remembered how calmly I had been able to read the Hobbit, and it kept me from giving up altogether. Definitely a "must-read" to anyone who enjoys good literature, and a great starting point for people who are wary of fantasy. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go sweep my hobbit-hole now.
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