Alan Bliss's Introduction to Old English Metre first appeared in justified 12-pitch Courier back in '76 and remains the standard study on the subject. In Finn and Hengest, Bliss is somewhat more than an editor and Tolkien somewhat less than an author. According to Bliss's preface, his having given a paper on the implications of historical comparison between Beowulf and the Finnsburg fragment, he was advised that Tolkien had anticipated his conclusions decades before, and he then proceeded to get permission to edit Tolkien's lecture notes on the topic, which were in various states of development.

What results, though bound to be tough sledding for all but the very most scholarly of readers, is a window on a past that is far more remote from our contemporary situation than imperial Rome or 5th-century Athens, even though less distant in time: namely, the period immediately preceding the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain. This was a time of blood feuds between pagan proto-Viking tribes in the wake of the Roman's empire's all-but-forgotten withdrawal from northern Europe, a time when noble ideals could result in bestial atrocities, from which in turn could result tragedies that Aeschylus might have telescoped for the dramatic stage.

Which is not to say that what emerges from a close reading is presented in this way. These are classroom lecture notes, which assume a working knowledge of Old English and a general knowledge of its surviving written records, literary and prosaic (not that this is a hard-and-fast distinction in the surviving Old English documents from our present-day perspective). Nevertheless, what emerges is none the less affecting for the lack of melodramatic treatment, which would only distort and misrepresent the actual lives that were lived and remembered more than a millennium and a half ago, in the northwest corner of the European mainland which now comprises Denmark, Holland, Belgium and parts of Germany and France; nor do the scholarly technicalities detract from realization of the fragility of our links with people whose struggle for gentility in the midst of savagery differed from our own not in kind but only as a matter of degree.

And yet, if we can find our way to a sense of familial kinship with these stiff-necked, fur-clad barbarians, how should we despair of understanding each other?

A Guide to Middle-Earth is an A-Z guide to the names and events forTolkien's The Hobbit, The Lord of The Rings Trilogy and The Silmarillion. Also, every entry contains Translation (of the name from Eldain Languages to English), Also Called (+ the other meanings of the name) and Identificatin Coding (page references to 21 editions) sections. In Appendix, there are Chronology of FA (First Age) and Genealogical Tables sections. You can't find another book like this, it's the only and best guide (excluding The Atlas of Middle-Earth) for a Tolkien Fan. But a new -updated & revised- edition of this book is published; it's called The Complete Guide To Middle-Earth...

The definition of a classic is a book that is read and bought many years after it's publication. The hobbit is a book that thousands of children have been enchanted by all around the world, and will continue to for generations to come.

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit living a normal hobbit life. Then Gandalf the grey turns his quiet life into an adventure that will impact the rest of his existance. Encoutering races of men, elves, trolls, orcs, dwarves, dragons and goblins, he tries to change the way people forever look at the somber hobbits.

Tolkien will never be forgotten with classic characters that will live forever in the minds of thousands.

The art is fantastic the story is more complete than one would expect.

This is the trade paperback version of a 3 issue set that came out about 12 years ago. You would have to go to Tim Truman's Wilderness or Lone Wolf and cub to find a better comic.

As an adaption of a book, no other comic compares. Buy it.

Calling this book children's book is like calling "Alice in Wonderland" [The Annotated Alice ISBN: 0393048470] children's book. Yes children can read this book and it is fun. How ever there is a lot more to this book than a cute story. With 700+ reviews I am not going to rehash all the dissertations. Nor am I going to say this "rocks."

Many people look at this story as a prequel to [The Lord of the Rings ISBN: 0395974682]. Where in reality it is a stand-alone story with a perfectly good beginning, middle, and end. When you read "The Lord of the Rings" there is enough description to forgo "The Hobbit." Personally, I find that reading The Lord of the Rings first gave me the in-depth background to better appreciate The Hobbit.

Many of the creatures and adventures will put you on the edge of your seat. However you will recognize the personalities and grow along will Bilbo as he faces new challenges as he learns to deal with life.

I loved this book. I have never been able to read a book very easily because I could never pay attention long enough, but this book really caught my attention the whole time.

To begin with, a wizard visits the hobbit, whose name is Bilbo Baggins. The wizard puts a mark on the hobbit's door and then leaves. Later twelve dwarves visit the hobbit. They hire him as a burglar to help in their quest.

He finally decides to go along, but highly against his own will. They start on the journey and have all sorts of strange happenings that occur. They encounter goblins and are taken into the depths of a very large underground network of tunnels. Here, Bilbo finds a ring that is quite magical. He does not know it yet, but the ring will prove to be a very vital part of their quest.

After the goblins, they meet a man who is both Man and Bear. They manage to ask him for food and lodging for a while, though he does not like strangers. At night, Bilbo hears sounds of scratching and thumping, but does not dare to get up for fear of being eaten by Beorn, who is the Man/Bear. In addition, Beorn's animals have the ability to communicate with him and can do most anything that a regular man can.

The Mirkwood Forest is quite peculiar in itself. The group of twelve dwarves and Bilbo must travel through a forest that is extremely dark. Although it is daytime, the forest is very dimly lit because all the trees form a canopy, which blocks all the light. Near the end of the forest, they become lost. They are forced to battle huge spiders and are eventually captured Wood-elves.

Bilbo slips on his ring in time and is able to follow the elves as they take the dwarves to the cavernous hideout. Each dwarf is questioned to try to find out why he is traveling through the Mirkwood Forest. None will give the answer that the Elf King is looking for, so he throws them all in prison.

While the dwarves are in prison, being quite well fed, Bilbo figures out a means of escape for all of the dwarves and himself. He also has time to learn quite a lot about the inside of the elf cavern. Bilbo gets the chance when a guard and another man go and taste the new wine that has been brought. Both become drunk and fall asleep. Bilbo is able to get all the dwarves out and himself.

After this, they are not far from the dragon's lair. Smaug has taken all of the dwarve's treasure in gold and jewels and is in a cave on the Lonely Mountain. The quest of the small company is to reclaim the treasure that is rightfully the dwarves'. Bilbo faces Smaug and...I cannot tell you what happens, that would ruin it. They also face a war, but you will have to read to find out.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters were very well developed and easy to remember. I usually lose track of who is who in a book, but this book was easy to keep track of the characters. The book is actually quite believable if the reader looks past the fact that the characters are dwarves and a hobbit. I was quite lost throughout the book wondering what the characters were actually feeling. I felt this was a very believable story.

I have never been able to sit down and read a book as easily as I did this one. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants a good book. It keeps the reader on the edge of his or her seat and has action in almost every page that is read. I recommend this book to anyone, no matter who he or she is. This book is deserving of five stars.

What I liked about the Hobbit was how J.R.R. Tolken described every thing in such detail. For every person he described from the persons height and weight and clothes to the way the sun shines on there hair and length of their beard. I also like how he made up a whole world in his head and some new languages. I believe the topic of the story is courage and the theme is to have the courage to stand up and do what you are afraid of. When Bilbo confronted smog the first time but then go back and stand there and talk to him about stealing his gold and make fun of him. To confront the spiders in the woods or even sit and talk riddles with golem when he knew if he lost golem would kill him. I would recommend this book to anybody, but I would recommend it to people who love adventure, and lots of detail. The book is also for people who like twists in the book. I would also recommend this book to people who are looking for a good story and not a message.

This chronologically-organized bibliography provides a list (sometimes descriptive, sometimes not) of Tolkien criticism up through 1984. It also contains brief bibliographical entries for Tolkien's own published works. Needless to say, the overwhelming majority of listings pertain to Tolkien's fiction-- especially his masterwork, _The Lord of the Rings_. However, it does include reviews and responses to his more scholarly publications (for example, it lists reviews of his and Gordon's edition of _Sir Gawain & the Green Knight_ as well as responses to his articles "Chaucer as Philologist" and "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics"). In terms of its comprehensiveness, this book is far more thorough than any other Tolkien criticism bibliographies (e.g Richard C. West's). Johnson is to be praised for including articles that appeared in the major Tolkien fanzines (Mythlore, Orcrist, Amon Hen, Minas Tirith Evening Star, Seven, etc.) and for including information on which university libraries actually have these periodicals. However, it should be noted that her survey of these fanzines is not comprehensive-- reviews of secondary works about Tolkien that appeared in fanzines are not generally listed and there are some even more obscure items that got left out here. Some of those missing, in fairness, are really minor self-published items and are extremeley rare and obscure-- things that only had 100-issue runs and only lasted 1-2 issues. While unlikely to be found even in excellent research libraries, many of them are available for consultation in the Marquette University Special Collections (which has a very large collection of Tolkieniana). If a second edition of this essential bibliography ever appears (and one should-- it's been almost two decades since the first one!)-- I hope it includes not only post-1984 material, but also some more fanzine content from these obscurities.

Interesting, very intersting. If you have ever wondered what made J.R.R. Tolkien write his epic master piece, or are curious about what he was like growing up, this book is a must fo you. Of course being a biography it can be a bit dull at times, but so what that how life is boy! This book afirmed that the respect and admiration I have for J.R.R. Tolkein was not just me blowing his importance out of proportion, for he truly always has, and always will be, a master of fantasy!