I'll address your second question now,
Fordim:
As I mentioned in my previous post,
The Hobbit is my least favorite of Tolkien's works. For me, it doesn't go as deep as the other works, and (yes, I'm going to say it) frankly Thranduil is a ridiculous old coot, there isn't enough of the Shire, and what's the big deal about the Arkenstone anyway? (Wow, that previous sentence, uttered in present company, definitely qualifies as my "most daring moment" as per
Lush's thread.
)
BUT....
There is one aspect of The Hobbit that Tolkien got exactly right, and that's the narrative tone of the story. It's conversational, genial, and there's something very English about the unhurried, parlor-room narrative writing, with its many asides and descriptions that seem aimed directly at
me, the very special reader (or, better, the one and only hearer of a story being told by a kindly elder). I think this is why the book responds so well to being read aloud--"doing the voices," i.e. a pompous Thorin or a scary Smaug, isn't the point, but rather the voice of the narrator carries the whole story through.
(Another thought--perhaps it's not particularly English at all--it could be that I only think so because it's so like the comfortable discursive tone adopted by Patrick O'Brian in his many, many novels, with which I'm currently much engaged.)