THE HOBBIT

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again, usually referred to by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a children's classic fantasy novel by J. R. R. Tolkien first published in September 1937. It received immediate and wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction.One imagines the title has not been out of print since first publication.

I read it first as an adult, people kept buying it at our bookshop (1970's) so I thought I had better read it to find out what was causing the constant and ongoing demand. I read it in paperback, was captivated, and decided I should buy myself a hardback edition to keep in my home library. Then in 1976 George Allen & Unwin Ltd. published a deluxe edition and it is that edition which sits in my office today beside the slipcased India paper edition of The Lord of the Rings published in 1969.

The Hobbit remains one of the books I most admire and I have therefore been interested and somewhat confused over the very public spat between Sir Peter Jackson and Actors' Equity over the proposed movie version of The Hobbit.

Today the whole situation was made much more clear for me by an excellent, and I think fair and balanced account by the NZ Herald's writer and media watcher John Drinnan in his always interesting Media column in the The Business Herald. If you are at all interested in just what is going on here then I recommend you buy the Herald today and read his piece.

And more this am at stuff.co.nz