The Hobbit, or There and Back Again (1937)

In the land of the little people…

By far, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien’s first book in his Middle Earth saga…The Hobbit, is my all-time favorite book.  It, along with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, is the gold standard for the fantasy genre.  I find it a bit amusing that this work is billed as a children’s book…although I read it as a youngster, I could reread it today, and once again tomorrow, still loving the story…appreciating all of its depth, advanced themes and concepts, as well its literary brilliance…

So…you probably won’t get a first edition to read in person or online…it is a prohibitively expensive volume.  But…you can buy a facsimile of the original, or one of the later boxed editions…this one is quite nice and is the copy I read.  Another option is the free online edition…just as good, and of course…free.

Of little Hobbits, wizards, trolls, dwarves and dragons…enjoy this, one of the greatest fantasy books of all time…