The Hobbit

The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien ★★★★★
I believe this is my third time through the Hobbit, this time reading it entirely on my iPad via Kindle. It is a great book to read when engaging in an adventure, and this time it was a bicycle ride with an old friend in upper Michigan. Bilbo Baggins was a Hobbit, called on by the wizard Gandalf to assist the dwarves in freeing their native homeland from the dragon Smaug. Tolkien skillfully combines the excitement of an adventure, with its many obstacles and dangers, as well as the excitement of the discovery of new lands and new friends, to induce one to leave ones’ comfortable habitat and journey to unknown lands. Tolkien skillfully mixes an exciting story with profound moral lessons to teach the necessity of doing what it right, even if it is costly. This, along with the Lord of the Rings, will remain one of my favorite books of all time.
The new Hobbit movie (which will be a trilogy, and only the first portion so far offered to the public) takes many liberties but remains reasonably faithful to the text of the story.