the hobbit reading vlog // reading the hobbit for my 33rd birthday

I finally did it! I turned 33 years old, am officially an adult Hobbit, and read the beloved book by J.R.R. Tolkien for the first time in my life. I wasn't sure how my experience with it was going to go since I didn't grow up reading the story, but I was surprised by how it impacted me.

Let me know your experience with The Hobbit down in the comments! Who are your favorite characters?

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[hectatereads]

Glad you loved it! I’ve read it many times over my life, starting around 10 years old. It’s one of my comfort favourites

[cgg]

Bilbo wanting to defend the Elvenking makes sense, in my view 😅 If he's not trying to run away he has to make a stand with someone, and

-Bilbo really enjoyed his time in Rivendell (different Elves, but still)

-Bilbo became a burglar against his will and felt bad for stealing in the Elvenking's halls

-The Elves treated their prisoners decently

-The Elvenking immediately pivoted to Laketown when they needed help after Smaug's attack, saving many lives

-The Elvenking never demands any part of the treasure from Thorin, Bard or Bilbo

-The Elvenking is the only leader reluctant to start a war over the treasure when Dain arrives while Dain, Thorin and Bard have no qualms

-Gandalf is with the Elvenking during the battle

"They dwelt most often by the edges of the woods, from which they could escape at times to hunt, or to ride and run over the open lands by moonlight or starlight; and after the coming of Men they took ever more and more to the gloaming and the dusk. Still elves they were and remain, and that is Good People."

[esmayrosalyne]

Ooooh but if this vlog isn't just entirely too wholesome and heartwarming!! I read it for the first time when I was 18 (so kind my own coming of age moment lol it works I guess), but you are making me want to reread The Hobbit (with Serkis' narration) so badly now! Hope that the LotR books work just as well for you, I personally liked The Hobbit a lot more, but I think I also wasn't in the right headspace to read LotR when I did and I wanted it to be something it wasn't, if that makes sense? Maybe a slow immersion read would work better this second time around when I get to it! Thanks for taking us along on this lovely adventure 🥰

[Talking_Story]

This is so awesome to watch your journey.

[safinan]

I need to read this book, the whole book series… 🎥🎥

[ZOMGfantasy]

This was so much fun! Thanks for letting me relive my childhood through you, Tori! 😊

[elaineirving]

Glad you enjoyed it! I read when I was 10. It was a school project and as well as reading it in class we did other things like art projects. Me and my bestie were like twins so we got to paint Kili and Fili for the wall display. Total core memory!
My dad bought me my copy of the book and it was the version with Smaug on his pile of gold on the cover. I spent hours looking at that cover and a lifelong love of dragons was born! 🐉💛

[Cale__]

Half-expected running with backpack

Never read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

[BrianBell]

I always love your vlogs and this one is no exception! except any parts about bilbo. filthy tricksy hobbittssesses.

[twiceborn_by_grace]

I read The Hobbit and LOTR for the first time this year (actually this month). And I’ll probably never watch the movies again.

[majcikic]

I loved The Hobbit. I'm from Serbia, and it was the first book I read in English. My English teacher gave it to me when I was 11. I can't remember if I read it before or after LOTR, but I do remember I loved them all so much. 😊❤

[MagusMarquillin]

Love the thumbnail! And being named Tori, you fit in right well with Ori, Dori and Nori. 😋
-regarding Gandalf seeming rude in the first chapter: there's some really interesting writings in the book Unfinished Tales called "the Quest for Erebor" that goes deep into his thought process regarding choosing Bilbo and this adventure, it is best read after Lord of the Rings as Gandalf is reminiscing at the end of that story. In the Hobbit, they rudeness part of the comedy, but it's ultimately consensual since Bilbo does step up as a Took after he faints to say he does want a chance to prove himself to the doubters. Gandalf knew he needed some prodding to get there is all. I does play slightly different in the movie of course for nicer/on the nose Ian McKellen moment.
-Personally I love traveling in fantasy, and probably most my early fantasy, like the Hobbit, it's kind of the norm. I get offered a cool map of a new world, I want to visit as many places as I can.
- 16:50 I think the elves are are just simplified names for a children's book, they do have their own names also, and it gets much more complex. He knew nothing about the Lord of the Rings at this point, but he had much of the history of the SIlmarillion penned since the 20s (some of it written in the trenches). Actually, if you had read the 1st edition of the Hobbit (before LotR) you would read about some elves being "Gnomes", still Elves, but his name for the Noldor Elves at that time.🤓
- I don't think the black arrow is that important for the Killing of Smaug, it's more for building Bard's character (in a hurry). It was the movie that built it up much more. What really did in Smaug was his conversation with Bilbo, where wanting to show him how invincible he was he revealed his bare patch. Bilbo unknowingly passes this on to Bard through an evesdropping thrush. Tolkien likes having seemingly insignificant actions done with a brave heart can move nations, so though Bilbo roused the Dragon and gave him the clue about Laketown's defiance with his cleaver talk, he also gave Bard the key to kill him.
- I also love Bilbo and Thorin's reconciliation, brief and poignant: “No!” said Thorin. “There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly West. Some courage and some wisdom, blended in measure. If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But sad or merry, I must leave it now. Farewell!” 🥺💔
So glad you enjoyed it, and that you intend to keep going! My favorite character is...Bilbo Baggins of course, but I also love the conversational tone of Tolkien's prose that talks directly to the reader, much like C.S.Lewis would do. Thanks to my Tolkien obsessed mother, I've known and loved this story as long as I can remember.

[laurenthompson]

I'm even more excited to read The Hobbit for the first time now! Really enjoyed this style of video. I hope you'll do this or something similar for the LOTR books as well. 🧙‍♂️

[idastokbaek]

Yay! I love this!

The Hobbit is such a happy book. Not at all the scope and tone of LotR, but that’s why it’s precious—cheerful and lighthearted, but with Tolkien’s mastery.

My children like The Hobbit as well. I read it out loud to them, a chapter each eve before bedtime, and everyone enjoyed it =)

[MoniquetheBookGeek]

I so loved watching this video and seeing your reaction to your first Hobbit read through, Tori, and am happy you had such a nice birthday. 😊The Hobbit holds such a special place in my heart. It is the only story that was a favorite of mine as a super young kid that's still a favorite today that I can't go long without revisiting. My first exposure of middle earth was the 1977 Hobbit, 1978 Lord of the Rings, and 1980 Return of the King animated films that were broadcasted on TV regularly in the early 80s, when I was a toddler-preschooler, and I watched them any time I could throughout the 80s, renting the videos from the library when they became available. Read the Hobbit book for the first time around the age of 10, though my mom believes she may have read it to me earlier than this. My first reading of the Lord of the Rings trilogy came much later, in 2022, after 20 years of enjoying the Peter Jackson films, and I loved picturing the film characters in my head while reading. I'm due for a reread of this series, which I have planned for later this year.

[thatsci-firogue]

I'm not going to comment on the songs, i couldn't find a note in a bank 😅

How Hollywood thought they could get 3 films out of such slim book baffles to no end to this day. Such a blatant display of greed. A duology of films or a miniseries would've done much better justice to the story.

NGL I wasn't sure what you'd make of it, so I'm pleasantly surprised 😊 I read it for the first time at 17 and again at 23 in December 2019 (read LotR for the first time very shortly after that re-read)

[stuartgreenhalgh]

I read this book for the first time this year and I'm 59! I agree with everything you said, bear guy was great, Bibo obviously was awesome and I was shocked to find myself weeping when Thorin died 😢. Great review 👍

[Yesica]

I know there is audio of Prof. Tolkien reading some of his own works. I'm not sure how much or if he does different voices for the characters. The few clips I've heard, the quality is (understandably) not the clearest. I've never been an audiobook person either. The funny thing is, I came across a Youtube channel called Now Read This where he read The Hobbit and I LOVED IT! I think I had meant to use it only as a supplement here and there, when my eyes would get tired of reading the very small print on my copy. I couldn't stop listening!

Anyway, happy belated birthday! I was an adult when the movies came out. Hearing various Booktubers talk about the movies being their childhood makes me feel as ancient as Galadriel. I never read the books as a kid either. I don't even remember hearing about them or seeing them in the library. I MUST have, at some point. But, like Gandalf in Moria, I have no memory of it.

I was even a latecomer to the movies. I somehow missed all they hype for Fellowship. It wasn't until TTT was coming out that I couldn't ignore it any longer and thought, "OH, ALL RIGHT. I'll go see it just to know what the fuss is!" The rest, as they say, is history.

I meant to read all 3 books before Return came out. I didn't quite make it. I think I got about 1/2 or 1/3 of the way through. I watched Return in the theater 10 times. I've never done that before or since. The first time I saw it, I started crying when Pippin sang to Denethor (I had no idea Billy Boyd could sing!) and I didn't stop until all the endings were done, all the credits rolled, and the screen went black. From the point where Sam carries Frodo until everything went black, it was pretty much full on sobbing.

I'll shut up now.

[Yesica]

OH! You've never read LOTR? Hm. Well, just go into it knowing it's different. The Hobbit is very much a children's story. I don't mean that in a bad way. But it is very straightforward, very simple, moves quickly, and (obviously) is much shorter. LOTR is very lush and long and you're in it for the journey. You're in it to be with these characters. You're in it to revel in his beautiful language. I am no stranger to long or more challenging books. But it did take me until at least the middle of Return of the King before the style and rhythm of the language fully "clicked" in my brain. It's like when you hear someone with a heavy accent and you can't fully understand them for a while and then... suddenly you can. And then it was burned there forever and nothing ever since has rivaled it for its beauty. After my first read, I had the worse book hangover of my life. I'd start other things and put them down over and over because nothing else came close. I thought I'd never be able to enjoy reading anything ever again!

Alas, I'm having the reverse problem right now. Or maybe it's the other-side-of-the-coin problem. I am struggling my way through The Brothers Karamazov. I can't tell you who's who and what's going on. I'm losing the will to live here. I feel like I never want to read anything ever again. Sigh. Who knows, I may still end up loving it. But... it is not this day.

[bookwormdreams]

I enjoyed The Hobbit much more while listening to Andy Serkis read it. My reread of the book was also an immersion read and this time I didn't skip the songs because Andy Serkis did such a wonderful job with them. I think his narration will finally make me read The Silmarilion. (m)