I haven't read this for years but I remember thoroughly enjoying it at the time. Thought it was a really cool story, nicely condensed. The fact you actually care for, how many, 12 dwarves? Is good characterisation as well.

I still haven't read this. Gonna buy it in summer some time.

I read the Hobbit in 5th grade, but I have not read any of Tolkien's other works. I remember being drawn into the story and yet I hardly remember most of it now.

The start of my love for Middle earth. The Mirkwood sequence gave me the shivers though, and rightly so.

Heh, I had completely forgotten about Mirkwood until reading your post.

Think I'm going to have to go dig this and give it another spin now. I can't decide whether I love the Mirkwood or Smaug parts of the book best.

This is such a great book. It's interesting that it was written as a children's book and quite successful when it was first published in 1937. The publishers wanted to cash in, so they asked Tolkien to write a sequel; he first offered them The Silmarillion, which they rejected because they wanted 'more Hobbits'. Tolkien then gave them The Lord of the Rings, which is anything but a simple children's book. Tolkien had to do some revisions to The Hobbit in order to make subsequent editions 'agree' with Lord of the Rings; in the early editions of The Hobbit, Gollum freely wagers the ring in the riddling contest, and when Bilbo wins they part amicably. In later editions the riddling contest was rewritten to be much more confrontational and dangerous, with Bilbo finding the ring instead of Gollum betting it. As a result we get the now famous lines, "Thief Baggins! We hates it forever!" Great stuff.

I'm really interested to see how the Guillermo Del Toro/Peter Jackson film adaptation turns out.

Loved every bits and pieces of The Hobbit! I really enjoyed reading the book from start to finish and still remember all the names of the dwarves especially the big fat one called Bombur. And who wouldn't remember the famous line of Gollum when Bilbo took the Necromancer's ring and escaped from his subterranean habitat? "Thief, Baggins! We hates it, we hates it, we hates it forever!!"

Kinda sad though when Thorin Oakenshield succumbed from his wounds and expired. He was really defiant when Thranduil wanted a share of his loot and I really could not blame Thorin, since all the treasure belongs to his kin that died in Erebor.

I can't wait for the motion picture translation, although Pete Jackson will only act as an advisor to Guillermo Del Toro.