The Hobbit

Should I read it? I really enjoyed LOTR and was thinking about reading this next.

Yes

/thread

>reading children's books

The Hobbit's great but just bear in mind it was written for children, whereas LOTR was for an adult readership.

Definitely one of the greatest children's books of all time though

It's his best work by far and a great read.

>whereas LOTR was for an adult readership.
This is such a meme. LOTR is way more simplistic than The Hobbit.

>This is such a meme. LOTR is way more simplistic than The Hobbit.
so what? there are simplistic stories for adults and complex tales for kids. The hobbit is obviously written as a tale for kids and has a very different style to lord of the rings

But what about LOTR is for adults then? The language isn't any more complex either, the themes and conflicts are simpler and the characters even more so. The only difference is scale of the conflict but it's still pretty easy and understandable for a kid.

He wrote it as a cashgrab for the same audience that liked The Hobbit, doubt Tolkien expected adults to love it so much, that's what his unfinished work was for.

>LOTR is way more simplistic than The Hobbit.
Objectively wrong

Wrong in terms of language, themes, plot... in fact wrong in every way except for the complexity of dwarf songs which is probably greater in the Hobbit

It's good, OP.

> LOTR and The Hobbit's settings were clearly inspired by the British and Scandinavian countryside
> Peter Umbalungo Darn Ere films it in Didgeridoo Trevva Ta m8 World

It's fucking boring as shit, same with everything in LOTR after they get to Rivendell.

The Tolkien reading list is:

>On Fairy Stories
>Hobbit
>LOTR
>Silmarillion

If that's not enough, at that point you can sperg out with the History of Middle Earth volumes I guess. Or get into medieval romances.

>moria
>boring

Unfinished Tales is very much worth it before one spergs with the History of Middle Earth

>children of Hurin
>Tuor's discovery of Gondolin (follow this up with History of Middle Earth Vol. 2 - The Fall of Gondolin)
>the story behind the 5 wizards
>Gandalf talking about the importance of the events of the Hobbit in the wider scheme of things
>how Gandalf and Aragorn tracked the One Ring and events right before LotR
>history of Numenor

Lots of awesome stuff in there. Only issue is it's a bit frustrating because as the title says, the tales are unfinished

>not reading children's books

Yes it's cozy af

For ultimate coziness read Capek's Tales from two pockets or Hasek's Svejk.

It is fantastic and one of the best children's books in modern English literature, but... The Lord of the Rings is different in that it begins with a sentimental and light-hearted tone, then assumes for the majority of its narrative a formality and sincere epic quality that is overflowing with high drama and a deeply intense sense of place and history. The tonal shift is very impressive and unusually successful, basically all of post-Tolkien fantasy features some attempt to imitate it, and it is mostly absent from The Hobbit. It is warm descriptions of way-stops and adventures the whole way through, more or less. So the LOTR focus on fear and toil, the psychological unease and danger, the elaborate background details, all that is minimized in the book.

It is still an excellent read and enjoyable precisely because it avoids that tonal shift, but it is much lighter and not quite the same.

Only thing written by Tolkien worth reading, aside from his Beowulf translation. And yes, I've read The Silmarillion, and it was autism incarnate.

>up to rivendell

I just got up to book two, why is that?