Cultivating the Hobbit Habit

Author's Rating:

Pros: Masterpieces of Fantasy, Best of their Genre

Cons: None

Author's Review
Tolkien's Gift

Tolkien's masterworks are The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. As a rule for the past many years, I have re-read these excellent fantasies annually. I've developed the "Hobbit Habit," you might say. Every year, I become reacquainted with the gentle, peace-loving Hobbits, the dwarves, the elves, men, and the wizards. I'm also reminded of the terrible orcs, goblins, dragons, and even worse enemies faced by the good folk. Bilbo and his nephew Frodo are an unlikely pair of heroes, but true to their character, they rise to the occasion and display an uncanny mixture of both courage and wisdom.

In my opinion adults even more than children are starved for good fantasy. And good fantasy is what Tolkien provides. My only complaint is that the four books total only slightly more than 1,500 pages, and I want more. Oh well, there's always next year.

First Reading

I first read The Hobbit and the trilogy as a college student in the 1970s. Tolkien's incredible narrative style pulled me in to the tale, and I was enthralled with the characters and their foibles.

I was aware that these books were written from the late 1930s into the decade of the 40s, and that World War II was raging at the time. I was tempted to imagine that Tolkien was commenting on the war in some kind of secret code (and my suspicions were shared by many), but that emphatically was not the case, as he makes clear in the preface to the revised edition of the series. These books, like history, and in a way they are a fabricated history, speak to the present day without being allegorical.

Sharing the Experience

As a superlative storyteller, Tolkien writes in a prose (with many poems and songs interspersed in the text) that simply begs to be read aloud. We started reading The Hobbit, which is a little less scary than the trilogy, aloud to our children when they were around five or six. The story was engaging to them, but still kept our attention. The often-repeated cry at the end of a session was, "Don't stop, Daddy!"

A few years later, we read the entire trilogy aloud to our kids. At eight or nine, they could deal with the frightening terrors of The Lord of the Rings. Today it is gratifying to see my teenage children voluntarily re-reading these wonderful books.

Read it Again, Sam

Every year when I read these tales again, I am caught up in the world of Tolkien's imagination. Even though I know what will happen next, I read on in eager anticipation. Having just finished The Hobbit and well into The Fellowship of the Ring, I am already feeling anticipatory regret that this adventure will be finished too soon.

Frodo Lives!