Title: The Hobbit
Author: JRR Tolkien
Series: The Lord of the Rings (Prequel)
Genre: Fantasy
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Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit who wanted to be left alone in quiet comfort. But the wizard Gandalf came along with a band of homeless dwarves. Soon Bilbo was drawn into their quest, facing evil orcs, savage wolves, giant spiders, and worse unknown dangers. Finally, it was Bilbo-alone and unaided-who had to confront the great dragon Smaug, the terror of an entire countryside….

This stirring adventure fantasy begins the tale of the hobbits that was continued by JRR. Tolkien in his bestselling epic The Lord of the Rings.

I tried to read The Hobbit about seven years ago, but I couldn’t get past page 42.  Consequently, for the last seven years, I’ve had it in my head that The Hobbit was this horribly hard book that I’d never be able to finish.  I also thought of Tolkien as my nemesis because I thought I didn’t like his writing style.

Now that I’ve finished reading The Hobbit, I’m glad my future English class is forcing me to read it as well as The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  I realize now that the problem seven years ago was that I didn’t really like to read back then, not Tolkien’s writing or the story itself.  Now that I immensely enjoy reading, The Hobbit was a piece of cake and a lot of fun.

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” Narrator

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always said that I hated The Hobbit, but the only frame of reference I’ve had to back that opinion up with is the cartoon made in 1977.  I found it kind of surprising that I actually enjoyed the story.  I really got into the book and enjoyed reading about Bilbo and his adventures with the dwarves and Gandalf.  I was on the edge of my seat during a lot of the book because I wasn’t sure how they (Bilbo, the dwarves, and Gandalf) were going to get out of the scrapes they were in (and I couldn’t remember anything from the cartoon other than hating it).  I really enjoyed seeing Bilbo grow into an adventure-loving hobbit and seeing him save the day many times throughout the story.  I also thought it was interesting that Sauron was alluded to in The Hobbit with the character of the Necromancer.

I’m looking forward to reading The Lord of the Rings now more than I’ve ever been.  I think I’ll enjoy those books much more actually because of all the different elements in them.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to get through them all in the next two weeks so I can be prepared for my new class.