A delightful and charming story, made better by Andy Serkis as the narrator. Definitely a "product of its time", as women are barely even mentioned, despite the number of locations the main characters travel to, and the book contains fatphobia. 

This book was gifted to me before I was big reader. When I first got into reading, my uncle bought me this book and said every great reader and writer should read this book. It will make them a better person and a better reader and writer. My uncle passed the year I started reading which was 2015. This book has been sat on my shelf since then, it was the third book I ever owned, and I have been wanting to read it but have also been terrified to read it because of the expectations my uncle has put in my head.  

This book follows Bilbo Baggins, who lives a quiet, peaceful life in his comfortable hole at Bag End. He lives in a hole because he is a hobbit – they are a race of small, plump people about half the size of humans, with furry toes and loves good food and drink, Bilbo is quite content at Bag End, near the bustling hobbit, until he means a wizard. He is named Gandalf and he persuades Bilbo to set out on an adventure with the thirteen dwarves that make up Thorin Oakenshield’s company who is on a quest to reclaim the dwarves’ home and treasure from a dragon named Smaug. Bilbo’s journey takes him from his peaceful rural surroundings into a much more sinister territory. This book is set in Middle-earth.  

This book took me a while to get into and I don’t know if it was the world building, or the old words used or the storyline, but I struggled with this book. I don’t think I was really into it until about chapter 10 and there is 19 chapters in the whole book.  I loved the relationship between Bilbo and Gandalf. Gandalf acting like he knows what right for Bilbo and then just showing up every single time he needs saving and is like “I’m here oh sweet one.” I think what helped this book was the illustrations that broke this book up, I think it would help with the younger audience, I mean – it helped me. 

I don’t think if I will carry on with this series, but this book will always be cherished by me due to the sentimental reasons behind it. 

Pretty good and holds up quite well to what I remember as a kid enjoying. I really enjoyed the sort of overview narration of the book, skipping over the monotonous parts of the journey as compared to the films 

J R R Tolkien has created a vast world with beautiful imagery and lovable characters. It’s witty, fun, and keeps the reader engaged and interested to know what happens next. I adore this book and am excited to read the rest!! 

I took a break while reading it for the first time, so I started listening to it on audiobook as a refresher, until I caught up to where I’d left off in my physical copy. However, Phil Dragash’s audiobook with the soundscape composed by Howard Shore HOOKED me and I couldn’t stop listening. They do a phenomenal job at bringing out what’s beautiful about Tolkien’s writing, and I immediately wanted to listen to the next one. It’s on Spotify under the show name Roads Go Ever On and I highly recommend, if you want to hear such a great story come to life 🥰