i read it a couple of year's before i'd even heard of mr Tolkien or his LoTR trilogy and thaught it was great, it wasn't till a friend told me that it was a prequel (of sort's) to a series he was currently reading (yes the LoTR series) did i really get into it and read it again a couple of times while i was waiting for my friend to finish his copy of LoTR (he had all three books in one nice hard back editition), i just can't understand why no-one can read as fast as i can. [/brag mode]
I read it about 6 years ago, for school.. The only thing I can remember is the battle near the Lonely Mountain.. I intend to read it again soon, but I'm busy with school, and reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen-series by Steven Erikson (which I definatly recommend everyone to read)
I read it a while back at uni because I was bored. Not a bad book in it's own right, although he perfected the style better in the LotR (obviously). Only problem is, that it only lasted 3 hours. I might buy it though, and reread it, as it'll go nicely with that trilogy bookset of mine.
I read The Hobbit like 3 times before I ever even touched the Rings trilogy. I just couldn't get into them. And, I still say that The Hobbit is my favorite out of all four books. Before you castrate me, sometimes Tolkien just gets a little "deep" with all his names of people, and lands, and kingdoms. The trilogy was hard to follow, especially when I was younger. (Read The Hobbit when I was like 9) In The Two Towers, I got extremely bored slugging through all the kingdom of men mess, what with all the names, and explaining who was the son of who and what land was here and there and in the old days.... blah blah blah. Plus, Tolkien, in my opinion, disappoints in his descriptions of battles. I still haven't read Return of the King, because I burnt out on TTT, but I'll pick it up and read it in time for the movie next year.
i had the same problem maniac. i've read all the bookes, enjoyed them, but got lost with all of the names... like blah-blah son of blah-blah. that's what it was like when i finished them :-?
Actually, I thought The Two Towers was the best of the LotR trilogy, and the battle at Helm's Deep is one of the best battle scenes I've ever read. RotK was a little disappointing for me.
I also think that The Hobbit was one of the best books written by Tolkien. I read LotR first and read the Hobbit last, but still liked it the best! I hope they go back and make a movie about it after they finish the LotR movie series.
are you joking? i mean it can be read even by a 6 year old kid without any problems,but i think it's adressed to 13+year olds
I got the hobbit from my aunt and i (as usual) let it lay until the summer when i was bored and started reading it, then i read it once and again and again and again and again and when i started reading it the next time my mother realised that i liked the book so she bought the lotr series wich got me hooked, Yes i have read it but i have lost count of how many times.
The Hobbit was a childrens book. Tolkien wrote it for his son, I think. However, he was persuaded to publish it, and then ended up massively expanding it into the popular series of books be all know today. At least, that's what I've gathered.
So is the Harry Potter series. And although that set is writen a more juvenile voice than The Hobbit, it has more adult fans than child fans. I am old enough to have anticapated the USA release of TLotR trilogy, & then waited for the authorized release. I read "The Hobbit" after that, say mid 20s. A good read, but I prefered the trilogy. Perhaps if I had read "The Hobbit" first....