This handsome pocket-edition hardcover was among the books donated to the Nashua Public Library for distribution to the Little Free Libraries.

This is, of course, the tale of Bilbo Baggins and his adventures with a party of dwarves, in which he discovers a long-lost magic ring that will feature strongly in The Lord of the Rings. But the main focus of this book is the introduction to Middle Earth, and especially to the (usually) home-loving hobbit-folk. Even as Bilbo becomes more and more self-reliant on his wanderings, he finds that his home seems ever more precious... This story's much simpler than LOTR, but has its own richness and detail - and it has a dragon, which is always fun!

I admit that I took a surprisingly long time to get into this book, way back in high school; for years I'd pick it up, read the first line - "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit" - and put it back unread. It wasn't until I'd graduated from high school and was given copies of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings as a graduation present from the librarians (I worked summers at the library) that I actually delved into it - and then it didn't take long before I was hooked. Since then I've read the books many, many times over, and I still enjoy them.

Now for the recent Peter Jackson films... I found the first installment, An Unexpected Journey, entertaining but a bit too overdone - too many near-slapstick fight sequences, especially those in the goblin realm, and with a different tone than that of the book. I've determined to try and take the films on their own merits, but it's hard to avoid wishing that they'd been truer to the original! That said, I did enjoy the ticklish romance between elf (and non-canon character) Tauriel and dwarf Kili, however unlikely-to-impossible that would have been in the novels, and it was fun seeing Legolas sniping at his father (who was portrayed amazingly well too). But there were lots of other elements I didn't care for, with motivations rearranged completely, some key characters undercut for the sake of the romantic subplots and the insane gold-saturated-halls bits, and in general a lot more "preparation for the videogames and action figures" than adherence to the soul of the original. I didn't care for the last film at all, and while I may have teared up a bit here and there, I felt that the film did not do justice to Thorin's parting words, some of the most powerful and memorable from the book. Ah, well!

[There's a TV Tropes page for the book, with lots of entertaining tidbits - just beware of spoilers if you haven't read the book yet. And the Jackson films have their own page.]

I left this book in this Little Free Library on this beautiful day; hope someone enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]

*** Released for the 2019 Movie release challenge. ***