The Hobbit

De: J.R.R. Tolkien

Narrado por: Rob Inglis

Like every other hobbit, Bilbo Baggins likes nothing better than a quiet evening in his snug hole in the ground, dining on a sumptuous dinner in front of a fire. But when a wandering wizard captivates him with tales of the unknown, Bilbo becomes restless. Soon he joins the wizard's band of homeless dwarves in search of giant spiders, savage wolves, and other dangers. Bilbo quickly tires of the quest for adventure and longs for the security of his familiar home. But before he can return to his life of comfort, he must face the greatest threat of all-a treasure-troving dragon named Smaug. In his fantasy classic, master storyteller J.R.R. Tolkein creates a bewitching world filled with delightful creatures and thrilling dangers. Narrator Rob Inglis will hold listeners of all ages spellbound with his skillful portrayal of hobbits, dwarves, and enchanted beasts.©1966 J.R.R. Tolkien (P)1991 Recorded Books

Quite a journey

I read this book the first time many years ago. I was hooked instantly, and went on to read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I have loved these books ever since.

It was great this time 'round to have it read to me by a fabulous narrator. As I have read other reviews, I was struck by how many people were lucky enough to have a parent read this to them as children, or to read it along with a parent. I did not have that experience and am envious of it. So having Mr. Inglis read it to me is second best. That is not to say his reading is anything but amazing! and I also loved his singing of the songs. I want to believe he made the melodies up himself.

All in all, I was charmed again by this book, by the characters, the journey, the deep meaning, and the flow of Tolkein's writing. I rarely reread fiction, but this one is, and will be in the future, and exception to my rule.

Am I the only one?

I may be the only reviewer of The Hobbit who does not think it is perfectly enchanting. Honestly, I wavered between 3 and 4 stars... and I cannot quite explain why. So, I will start with saying that fantasy and young adult are both book genres that I mostly avoid, and that is influencing my view I am sure. But, I made up my mind to read the classics and this one was picked by a book club I am in so I read it. I actually had high hopes as I read the Harry Potter series finally a few months ago and it blew me away. Wow! It was such a revelation and pretty much had me convinced that I had been wrong about myself and that I was a fan of both fantasy and young adult books. And, perhaps this book simply doesn't live up to the HP standard.

I did wish that I had watched the movie at some point. (And that is something I cringe to say as a person who always finds books far superior to movies.) Perhaps the movie would have made all the creatures found in this book more real to me. Perhaps I would have better pictured the countryside, the characters, the details. But generally my favorite books paint such vivid pictures that I cannot help but see what the author wants me to see. And I wasn't quite there with The Hobbit. Several times I stopped the app, rewound and listened again. Several times I stopped the app and asked my son to describe a certain character. I just did not follow the story well enough. This may be all about me... or it may be that the book simply wasn't as good as HP and I had set the barre high.

Also, if I had not listened to the incomparable Jim Dale read those books I may have given Rob Ingliss 5 stars. He is very good. But, he is not even close to as good as Dale and I think -- because of the genre of book -- I was expecting that level of superiority.

When you wish

I love this story, I only wish that someone else loved it as much.

Happy to see this available, but these recordings of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, etc are the Library editions that were created over 20 years ago. It is hard to believe that the publishers don't feel that they had enough NEW interest in the books to make new recordings. of the books, certainly the hundreds of millions of dollars made by the films would have warranted new recordings of the book.

That said, Bob Inglis did a great job on this book; It is sad that I had listened to this before.

If you have never heard the book I highly recommend it to you.

Like Reading for the First Time

The Hobbit was one of my very favorite childhood books, and I decided to revisit the lonely mountain with the release of the movie this year. If you are like me, you most likely re-read books with more of a skimming mentality rather than a first time thorough read through. This is impossible with the audiobook as every phrase and passage are stated explicitely allowing your mind to become immersed in the brilliance of Tolkien's diction and storytelling. Its amazing how much detail and character development can be fit into such a small book (compared to the lord of the rings). It's truly as though you are going along for the adventure with Baggins and Company. Totally worth the money.

Great Listen

The story is great and the narration brings it to life really well. Two things that I found annoying were some of the voices like ogres and goblins and the songs (which should have been narrated and not sung).