AIBU to dislike the book The Hobbit?

[Davespecifico]

I finished reading it with DD recently. I found it so so dull. It reminded me of a more literary Dora the Explorer adventure. Am I a philistine?

I tried so hard to read this as a child and again as a teenager, but just found it really boring. I felt like giving up right at the beginning when they spent about 3 pages saying good morning to each other but persevered for too many interminable pages more before deciding to switch to a book I actually enjoyed reading. Maybe it gets better later.

I don't mind long books, or fantasy, or books with archaic language, or even (sometimes) books with over detailed description I even got through a volume of Proust once ffs but I just find Tolkein tedious for some reason. Would far, far rather read Pratchett.

Loved them both as a child. I read the Hobbit much younger then I read LOTR, probably 7 or 8 for Hobbit, 11 or 12 for LOTR.
My children also loved the Hobbit, both were around 8yo when they were read it. DD began LOTR, but found it hard going at 11, so it's on pause.

I do enjoy the Hobbit, but have tried twice to read the LOTR trilogy and given up twice mid-way through the last book which was incredibly dry and excruciatingly over-detailed if I recall.

I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy first and couldnt put the books down, thought they were brilliant ( although I may have skimmed the pages & pages of elvish poetry)
So i eagerly got the Hobbit to read afterwards albeit aware that I was reading them in the wrong order and couldnt believe how bad it was. Hated it.

I also hated the first few Harry Potter books, imo they didnt get anywhere near good until the Goblet of Fire.

YANU, Tolkein's as dry as dust.

Attempted 1st of LOTR books and had sudden epiphany about three quarters of the way through that I actually didn't give a shit about the big footed bore and his journey. Didn't finish it.

However, my best friend loves Tolkein and re-reads LOTR frequently. Each to their own.

I find it difficult to read. A wise man once said, "We don't need the back story on every fucking tree branch", which accurately sums up The Hobbit/LOTR. I don't mind the films though.

And I love Harry Potter. The two aren't comparable. LOTR/Hobbit is undoubtedly better literature, but HP is a much easier/more enjoyable read.

I've always hated bloody Tolkien, but The Hobbit is the worst. I did enjoy the computer game on my Spectrum back in the day. though it was massively frustrating!

YANBU, it's clearly personal taste, and no one has to like any book just because it's considered a classic.

I loved and still love the Hobbit, and LOTR. I can't count the number of times I've read them both. I find the complete world they inhabit fascinating and magical, and I like the endless detail.

Didn't like it or LOTR. I don't enjoy fantasy. Nothing wrong with not enjoying something that isn't to your taste.

Love both the Hobbit and LoTR. Read the Hobbit, from the library, the first time when I was 5 (anyone remember the black white and green stylised Lonely Mountain cover - beautiful). Had to find out what happened next, so got my first copy of LoTR for my 6th birthday. Read it to death, so got a new de luxe version in my mid teens. But taste in books is a personal thing. You don't have to love something because others do, or because it's a classic. For instance, I find Thomas Hardy turgid, boring, and uninspiring, and struggle to get into his work at all. Other people would find Hardy much preferable to Tolkien. Which is fine: we're all different.

SuperBeagle I never thought I'd see the day when ERB was being referenced on MN

Liked the Hobbit, didn’t like LOTR. Well to be fair I only read fellowship and stopped halfway through the second book as it was dull

Snap! Only I stopped because I thought that by that stage, it had all got much too silly.

Underslung I was hoping someone would pick it up!

Davespecifico what you and DD need are Terry Pratchett's Tiffany books.

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00354YA7M/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1&tag=mumsnetforum-21

I love the Hobbit (and the Lord of the Rings trilogy) but I can't get into the Harry Potter series, I've tried many times but it isn't happening for me. Similarly I love Dostoyevsky but cannot abide reading Dickens (although I like movie versions of his stories).

For those who have said they don't enjoy reading Dickens I'd recommend the audio books read by Martin Jarvis. He's brilliant at doing just the right voice for each character, but even makes the long descriptions (which I'd probably end up skipping if I was reading) sound interesting.

btw I'd describe The Hobbit and LOTR as fantasy classics rather than Classic novels iyswim. If you enjoy them, that's great but I don't think having read them or not has any impact on whether you could be considered well read.

It's one of my favourites. I can't wait for my kids to be old enough to read it!

Couldn't get on with LOTR though.
Did read all the harry potters, think I've outgrown them now though. 😂

Oh and I LOVE Jane Austen!

One book that did take me a few years to read was The Invisible Man by HG Wells - mainly because of the language he uses - every few words I was using a dictionary! 🙈

I really like The Hobbit, but that's colored by having first read it during a magical just-the-two-of-us camping trip with my dad when I was around 10.

It's fine not to like Tolkien, or any "classic"! I like lots of "Dickensian" things, but reading actual Dickens leaves me cold.

Classics are classics for a reason, but nobody could possibly read and appreciate all of them equally. It's nice to acknowledge the positive qualities other people find in works of art, but no one has infinite time to spend reading, and you should feel good about choosing things you actually enjoy!

SuperBeagle One of my favourite ERBs!