machapma's review
4.0
My husband and I read these to our children. A great way to spend many quiet evenings.
anindistinctaccountant's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
mary412's review
3.0
Have just started reading The Hobbit. Not a great fan of fantasy. Oct. 2, 2010 - I just heard that Peter Jackson is going ahead with plans to film The Hobbit. I bet I'll like the film better than the book.
Read this form book group. Almost everyone had a special edition, beautifully bound, four-color pictures. Mine was a 50th. Anniversary edition.
Read this form book group. Almost everyone had a special edition, beautifully bound, four-color pictures. Mine was a 50th. Anniversary edition.
pirate_jesus's review against another edition
4.0
Hot take: B+? I read it as intended, as one epic, which was daunting if not only for the length so I took every chance to eek out a few pages (worst dental patient ever). I will say LOTR does not hazard the same pitfalls as its predecessor (took me 6 tries over a 30yr period), but for the love of Goldberry WHY is it written like a musical?! Everyone is always singing! Alladat aside, Tolkien is an absolute and undisputed genius. For my money, more detail has never gone into a work of fiction, right down to the linguistics and anthropologies of his imagined peoples. That alone earns him the largest credit. As a fan of the movies (read: extended cuts only, and nunnadat prequel BS), I also feel compelled to address Petey Jackson’s changes were for the best, so as not to lose anything in translation between separate audiences. Not the least of which was his superb decision to snuff Tom Bombadil. I actually recommend you skip over his part in the book, too, and it will not effect the story in the slightest. #readingrainbow #alladat #nunnadat #ineedarootcanal EDIT: Sam was absolutely the main character.
vaeryy's review
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
mdwsn27's review
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.75
ariaslibrary's review against another edition
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (a Capricorn, which explains a lot), or Grandpa Fantasy as better known, is the biggest nerd. Why you may ask? Not because he created a world for his language but because his greatest work is basically fanfiction.
I’m not joking. Excluding the whole History of Middle Earth since I’ve just started to read them, I have finished my re-read of Middle Earth including the appendixes and JIRT was a genius in worldbuilding. Why?
This is the reason the main five works: The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, are basically Tolkien playing historian.
Now, unlike his bestie Clive Staples Lewis, Tolkien was a perfectionist and took his sweet time writing his books. I mean he literally went back and changed the Hobbit so as to match up with what he had planned for Lord of the Rings. He was very aware of this part of his personality and so added a certain aspect to deal with any possible plot-holes (like he perfectionist he was).
Basically
The Red Book of Westmarch was written by Bilbo, Frodo and Sam as a recounting of the events during Bilbo’s adventures, the War of the Ring and a translation of history.
In Rivendell, Bilbo translated the events of the Silmarillion and possibly got first hand information from people like Glorfindel. But since it was a translation, there is a possibility of Bilbo having mixed up words and meanings, possibly even names. Not to mention biases or mis-remembering from the narration of elves who were alive during that time.
The Hobbit is a first account narration from Bilbo himself BUT there were earlier editions of the book that had Bilbo and Gollum’s conversation occur differently . So what does old Rolkien Tolkien do? Says that Frodo and Sam later on learned the truth of what happened and made the necessary changes in their narration of Lord of the Rings. I see what you did there, you sneaky sneaky.
Now to the big daddy itself, The Lord of the Rings. The events are narrated by Frodo and Sam. So how did they know what happened when they separated from the fellowship? They had it told to them of course. So who’s to say there weren’t mistakes or exaggerations when telling Frodo and Sam what happened. After the book was finished, it was shared and landed itself in Gondor, where our favourite King resides. The scholars there may have corrected some mistakes made or you know, made a few tweaks to make themselves look better. (Aragorn is literally flawless)
Many corrections and edits are made to our favourite hobbits’ narrations, but as the years go by, copies of the Red Book of Westmarch start disappearing or getting destroyed. Magic has left Middle Earth and as we reach modern (well the 1900s) England, on a walk, Professor Tolkien stumbles upon an old red book in the woods but it is written in a language he can't read. He finally gets an understanding of the language and decides to translate it into English. Kuduk becomes ‘hobbits’ and Maura, Ban, Razar, and Kali become Sam, Frodo, Merry and Pippin (I laughed so hard when I read this) and other words into digestible words in English. Then tragically, the Red Book is destroyed in a fire that starts in his office and all that remains is a charred piece of paper which Tolkien sends to his publisher.
Lord of the Rings is a translation of a translation, of a translation, of a translation and that’s why there’s multiple different accounts of events. Canon could be anything, we don’t know which specifically.
So basically, the books are based on real life events…
Genius!
Now, that’s how you do world building... or write a history book...or fanfiction.
I’m not joking. Excluding the whole History of Middle Earth since I’ve just started to read them, I have finished my re-read of Middle Earth including the appendixes and JIRT was a genius in worldbuilding. Why?
The Red Book of Westmarch
This is the reason the main five works: The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, are basically Tolkien playing historian.
Now, unlike his bestie Clive Staples Lewis, Tolkien was a perfectionist and took his sweet time writing his books. I mean he literally went back and changed the Hobbit so as to match up with what he had planned for Lord of the Rings. He was very aware of this part of his personality and so added a certain aspect to deal with any possible plot-holes (like he perfectionist he was).
Basically
The Red Book of Westmarch was written by Bilbo, Frodo and Sam as a recounting of the events during Bilbo’s adventures, the War of the Ring and a translation of history.
In Rivendell, Bilbo translated the events of the Silmarillion and possibly got first hand information from people like Glorfindel. But since it was a translation, there is a possibility of Bilbo having mixed up words and meanings, possibly even names. Not to mention biases or mis-remembering from the narration of elves who were alive during that time.
The Hobbit is a first account narration from Bilbo himself BUT there were earlier editions of the book that had Bilbo and Gollum’s conversation occur differently . So what does old Rolkien Tolkien do? Says that Frodo and Sam later on learned the truth of what happened and made the necessary changes in their narration of Lord of the Rings. I see what you did there, you sneaky sneaky.
Now to the big daddy itself, The Lord of the Rings. The events are narrated by Frodo and Sam. So how did they know what happened when they separated from the fellowship? They had it told to them of course. So who’s to say there weren’t mistakes or exaggerations when telling Frodo and Sam what happened. After the book was finished, it was shared and landed itself in Gondor, where our favourite King resides. The scholars there may have corrected some mistakes made or you know, made a few tweaks to make themselves look better. (Aragorn is literally flawless)
Many corrections and edits are made to our favourite hobbits’ narrations, but as the years go by, copies of the Red Book of Westmarch start disappearing or getting destroyed. Magic has left Middle Earth and as we reach modern (well the 1900s) England, on a walk, Professor Tolkien stumbles upon an old red book in the woods but it is written in a language he can't read. He finally gets an understanding of the language and decides to translate it into English. Kuduk becomes ‘hobbits’ and Maura, Ban, Razar, and Kali become Sam, Frodo, Merry and Pippin (I laughed so hard when I read this) and other words into digestible words in English. Then tragically, the Red Book is destroyed in a fire that starts in his office and all that remains is a charred piece of paper which Tolkien sends to his publisher.
Lord of the Rings is a translation of a translation, of a translation, of a translation and that’s why there’s multiple different accounts of events. Canon could be anything, we don’t know which specifically.
So basically, the books are based on real life events…
Genius!
Now, that’s how you do world building... or write a history book...or fanfiction.
vinny617's review
adventurous
funny
inspiring
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.5