Book Review: The Hobbit

I know. I know. I'm 27 years old and I just read The Hobbit. It should be illegal. But let me explain. Everything I've head about Tolkien is that his books are so difficult to read...so I put it off. When I saw the preview for the new movie I thought I should probably read it first. Now that I've read The Hobbit, I'm thinking that The Lord of the Rings trilogy must be what everyone was going on about because The Hobbit really wasn't that difficult. I went into it focusing a lot on what I was reading so I wouldn't have to reread anything. My strategy? I read it in my head like I would read it to my students. That way I know I understand it and it's much more animated. Anyway, I guess I should review the book since that's what the post is titled. I ended up really liking it and would defnitely recommend it to someone else. Bilbo and his band of merry men - I mean dwarves - go through the adventure of his lifetime. Their goal is to reach The Lonely Mountain where Smaug, the evil dragon, is lording over the gold, jewels, and treasures of the dwarves ancestors. (Apparently dwarves are all about some gold.) They meet goblins, wolves, elves, eagles, a bear-man, wizards, trolls, and people-men along the way. I'm sad to say that not everyone survives, but the rate of survival is pretty good considering the number of people went on the journey. I wonder if anything from The Hobbit carries over into The Lord of the Rings. Hmmm. Well, I wasn't very into the trilogy movies when I saw them so I probably won't read those books until later in life. Maybe when I'm retired. But don't let the reputation of the trilogy scare you out of reading The Hobbit. It really is worth the read.