Growing up, my favorite book was always The Hobbit. I remember it as a children’s title, but now it seems that many libraries catalog it more in YA and adult fiction. Published originally in 1938, it is the story of Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit (no surprise there), one of the many creatures of “middle – earth,” which is an entire world Tolkien created especially for his four novels concerning hobbits. The premise is that hobbits live in delightful homes under the earth, containing tunnels furnished quite nicely, if one goes by the description of Bilbo’s home in the Shire. Bilbo is visited by Gandalf, a wizard, and a large group of dwarfs, who convince Bilbo to accompany them on their dangerous mission to reclaim stolen dwarvish gold, now guarded by a fierce dragon, Smaug. And that’s as far as I’ve gotten so far in my re-reading of The Hobbit. It really is such a great fantasy story, and the system has 96 copies of the 1966 printing, so that says quite a bit as to its popularity. It will be the 75th anniversary of the title in 2013, so it is still going strong.
The Hobbit is really the prelude to the three adult books of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return Of the King. All four novels contain the theme of the quest for power, and many feel that Tolkien may have been referring to the evils of warfare, particularly Hitler and WWII, in his Lord of the Rings trilogy. The three novels of the trilogy were first printed in 1954, 1955, & 1956 respectively, and 63 years later the first movie was released, The Fellowship of the Ring, in 2001, with the next two following in the next two years. I think J.R.R. Tolkien just might be my favorite writer of all time.