Joemyjoe’s #CBR5 Review 4: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

My dad just read The Hobbit to us, and I really liked it.

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who lives in The Shire, a nice green part of Middle Earth. He likes to eat,  smoke his pipe, read his books, and relax. And then one day, a wizard named Gandalf comes to his house and invites him to go on an adventure. Bilbo says NO, because he likes his life and isn’t interested in changing it. Later, 13 dwarves come to his house, thinking Bilbo is going on this adventure with them. They eat a LOT. Bilbo tells them NO, but the next morning changes his mind and runs after them.

The adventure is that the dwarves are trying to find their old home, the city under the mountains (Dale), and the treasure that is there. The city was destroyed 60 years ago by Smaug, the ferocious dragon.

The hobbit, wizard, and dwarves set out and meet good people (Elrond and his elves, and shapeshifters) and bad (goblins, orcs, and wargs). They get attacked by goblins and giant spiders. Bilbo finds a magical ring (and a weird creature named Gollum) that makes him invisible when he wears it.

They are a brave bunch with a lot of courage. When Smaug is finally dead, they find their way into the mountain to get the gold and treasure.

My favorite part was the scenes with Bilbo and Gollum talking in riddles about his “precious” ring.

Bilbo, who started out as a quiet little hobbit, became a brave hero. He brought some of the treasure back home to the Shire (only about 2 small chests of treasure, not 1/14th of the gold as he originally said he would take)! He lived a long and happy life, and eventually told his nephew Frodo all about his adventures.

We watched the first movie this weekend, but I liked the book better.

You can read more of Joemyjoe’s reviews on his mom’s blog.

Julia’s #CBR5 Review #2: The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

Like many people, I have FEELINGS about The Hobbit. FEELINGS that make it impossible for me to review this book without bias. FEELINGS so inexorably linked to childhood, happiness, and nostalgia that every time I read this book I fear that something will be lost or missing. Luckily, nothing ever is; reading this book again is like curling up in a familiar bed with a huge cup of hot cocoa after coming in from the cold. This book is comforting from cover to cover.

In the first chapter, we meet Bilbo Baggins. A curmudgeonly little fellow who loves nothing more than tending to his garden, eating good food, and blowing smoke rings from his pipe. He is a hobbit: a 3 foot tall, pointy eared, furry-footed creature who has no desire for any adventures of any kind. His life is interrupted by Gandalf the Grey, who invites a merry gathering of dwarves into Bilbo’s home. Dwarves are a short, stout, stubborn mining people. The dwarves that visit Bilbo once lived richly inside the Lonely Mountain until it was ambushed by Smaug the dragon, and their home and gold was lost. Small and light on his feet, Bilbo is asked to join their quest as their burglar, and so he does.

Malin’s #CBR5 Review #3: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

This is the first time I read The Hobbit myself. Many years ago, while the husband was still my boyfriend, he discovered that while I had read The Lord of the Rings several times, and in more than one language (Norwegian, then English), I had never actually read The Hobbit. I was never a huge fan of the long preface that explained about hobbits in LOTR, and frankly am one of the many people who think the first stretch of book, where they walk and walk and nearly get eaten by a tree and then walk some more (before Aragorn shows up, frankly) is dreadfully boring, and I didn’t really see why I’d want to read a kid’s book all about hobbits. More fool me, right?