The Hobbit

About The Hobbit

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit (1937) is the entry point to Middle-earth — Bilbo Baggins recruited by Gandalf and thirteen dwarves to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug. Lighter and more child-friendly than The Lord of the Rings, it introduces the world, the hobbits, and — crucially — Bilbo's encounter with Gollum where he finds the One Ring. The natural reading order is The Hobbit first, then the three LotR volumes. Published in 1937 to immediate success, it was Tolkien's first published novel and the direct cause of the request for a sequel that became The Lord of the Rings.