Andy reviewed Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The hobbit by Corey Olsen
Review of "Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The hobbit" on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Read to my pal.
English language
Published Aug. 17, 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The hobbit
by Corey Olsen
4 stars
(148 reviews)
"The Hobbit is one of the most widely read and best-loved books of the twentieth century. In December 2012, millions will be introduced or reintroduced to J.R.R. Tolkien's classic with the arrival of the first of two film adaptations by acclaimed director Peter Jackson. Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" is a fun, thoughtful, and insightful companion volume, designed to bring a thorough and original new reading of this great work to a general audience. Professor Corey Olsen (also known as the Tolkien Professor) will take readers on an in-depth journey through The Hobbit chapter by chapter, revealing the stories within the story: the dark desires of dwarves and the sublime laughter of elves, the nature of evil and its hopelessness, the mystery of divine providence and human choice, and, most of all, the revolutions within the life of Bilbo Baggins. Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" is a book that will …
"The Hobbit is one of the most widely read and best-loved books of the twentieth century. In December 2012, millions will be introduced or reintroduced to J.R.R. Tolkien's classic with the arrival of the first of two film adaptations by acclaimed director Peter Jackson. Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" is a fun, thoughtful, and insightful companion volume, designed to bring a thorough and original new reading of this great work to a general audience. Professor Corey Olsen (also known as the Tolkien Professor) will take readers on an in-depth journey through The Hobbit chapter by chapter, revealing the stories within the story: the dark desires of dwarves and the sublime laughter of elves, the nature of evil and its hopelessness, the mystery of divine providence and human choice, and, most of all, the revolutions within the life of Bilbo Baggins. Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" is a book that will make The Hobbit come alive for readers as never before"--
Pretense reviewed Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The hobbit by Corey Olsen
Review of "Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The hobbit" on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Re-read this as a buddy read. What can I say about The Hobbit that hasn’t already been said? It is a fantastic piece of literature that showcases the beginning of Tolkien’s literary and linguistic genius. (Okay, perhaps that evaluation is a bit presumptive, since I’ve only read the one novel and his short Kalevala retelling by this point.)
Reading it a second time (about 7 years later!) was no less fun than the first—perhaps also because I finished it quicker this time, and in a more consistent timespan. I was able to get lost in the story fairly easily, and the characters were perhaps all the more endearing since I was not meeting them for the first time. My memory is terrible though, so I had forgotten a lot of the specific plot details, which did not lessen my enjoyment at all. Bilbo Baggins continues to be a delight. The …
Re-read this as a buddy read. What can I say about The Hobbit that hasn’t already been said? It is a fantastic piece of literature that showcases the beginning of Tolkien’s literary and linguistic genius. (Okay, perhaps that evaluation is a bit presumptive, since I’ve only read the one novel and his short Kalevala retelling by this point.)
Reading it a second time (about 7 years later!) was no less fun than the first—perhaps also because I finished it quicker this time, and in a more consistent timespan. I was able to get lost in the story fairly easily, and the characters were perhaps all the more endearing since I was not meeting them for the first time. My memory is terrible though, so I had forgotten a lot of the specific plot details, which did not lessen my enjoyment at all. Bilbo Baggins continues to be a delight. The developed world of elves, dwarves hobbits, etc. is as intriguing and genre-defining as ever. I also appreciated Tolkien’s narrative style here—it truly does feel like he is relating a myth that he might have heard from a mythical being.
Of course, I still have to go on and read The Lord of the Rings in its entirety. I haven’t started yet because it seems like quite the undertaking, to which one has to make a certain commitment. But I should really just get on with it. Tolkien has a remarkably captivating way with languages and creating mythology. Not having experienced LOTR yet feels like a massive oversight on my part…
Review of "Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The hobbit" on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Couldn't put it down in the end, and gave me great ideas for my own book.
Review of "Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The hobbit" on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
I read this years after reading The Lord of the Rings and having seen the first 2 Hobbit movies. The story is quite light and not nearly as dark as LoTR is but the writing style makes it a pain to read especially for non native english speakers like me. That's unavoidable though considering when the book was written. Overall, I liked the story a lot but the descriptions were at time a bit too detailed for my taste making it a bit dragish, plus the issue with the writing style drops this to 3/5.
Don reviewed Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The hobbit by Corey Olsen
Review of "Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's The hobbit" on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
A fantastic classic. This is my first read. I loved the animated movie as a child and its interesting to see the scenes and little bits like moods and character interactions that didnt make it into the movie.
Subjects
- LITERARY CRITICISM / Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Middle Earth (Imaginary place)