[Imladris]

My post will be short as Child and Sophia the Thunder Mistress has said most of what needs to be said.

I love the Hobbit...sometimes I love it even more than LotR and the Sil (well...it doesn't take much for something to make me like it more than the Sil...but heh). The Hobbit is realer to me, in a certain aspect, than LotR ever was. In the Hobbit I know Bilbo...I can relate to him and the dwarves. In LotR it is different. Though still real the characters are untouchable. Far off. Who could ever hope of relating to Aragorn or Frodo, or even Sam? Tolkien made them to be figures afar off, figures that were unrelatable. In part, that is why I like the Hobbit better sometimes than LotR.

And as for the laughing elves who sang silly songs....I love that. Combined with the somber elves of LotR the elves are instantly changed from just being silly (or somber) to a complex race.

I love the Hobbit. As Lalwende said, there's a big dragon in it. That talks in riddles.

Bloody brilliant.