With Peter Jackson’s take on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit coming out at the end of the year I realized to myself that I remember almost squat about the book. I could have sworn I read it years ago back in school but I only have vague images in my head. So while at Half Price Books with some pals, I decided to pick it up along with The Silmarillion. At under $2.00 each, it was hard not to pass up especially with the credit I received from the items I gave to the store.
Did I ever forget a large chunk of the book! I did not realize that the meeting with Gollum came so soon nor did I realize there was much after the meeting with Smaug the dragon. So much in between and so much thereafter long forgotten. …if I did really read it in its entirety. Nevertheless, reading every bit of it and being wrapped into Tolkien’s fantasy world again was quite the thrill. It’s enjoyable to see how Bilbo matures, acts cunning, and be very brave when faced with the situations he encounters when he was nothing more than a timid, reluctant fellow at the start of his journey. The unique characteristics of the dwarfs were interesting and Gandalf, well, he was ever the bad ass. It was great reading his character again and his adventures before The Lord of the Rings.
There are some events that I did not expect based on the development of characters that had me stating “ooh, swerve!” There were also events that my memory was incorrect on so it made it nice to learn how some events truly unfolded. If there were any points that dragged, I did not notice since I was so engrossed in the book eager to know what happened next. It doesn’t help with the way that Tolkien writes to describe his world and characters that easily creates a mental visual to be immersed into.
I was surprised at how fast I went through the book but it really wasn’t that long when compared to the lengthy The Lord of the Rings. It was a great adventure to read and it has me quite hyped the movie. I don’t think I can wait until year’s end for this to come out in theaters. Now I just need to go back in time, kick myself in the ass, and tell myself to put down that stupid game controller and read some damn books.









































