[.ca] The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit (CD Collection) (ISBN 1565117077)

From Amazon.com:
Hobbits and wizards and Sauron--oh, my! Mild-mannered Oxford scholar John Ronald Reuel Tolkien had little inkling when he published The Hobbit; Or, There and Back Again in 1937 that, once hobbits were unleashed upon the world, there would be no turning back. Hobbits are, of course, small, furry creatures who love nothing better than a leisurely life quite free from adventure. But in that first novel and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the hobbits Bilbo and Frodo and their elfish friends get swept up into a mighty conflict with the dragon Smaug, the dark lord Sauron (who owes much to proud Satan in Paradise Lost), the monstrous Gollum, the Cracks of Doom, and the awful power of the magical Ring. The four books' characters--good and evil--are recognizably human, and the realism is deepened by the magnificent detail of the vast parallel world Tolkien devised, inspired partly by his influential Anglo-Saxon scholarship and his Christian beliefs. (He disapproved of the relative sparseness of detail in the comparable allegorical fantasy his friend C.S. Lewis dreamed up in The Chronicles of Narnia, though he knew Lewis had spun a page-turning yarn.) It has been estimated that one-tenth of all paperbacks sold can trace their ancestry to J.R.R. Tolkien. But even if we had never gotten Robert Jordan's The Path of Daggers and the whole fantasy genre Tolkien inadvertently created by bringing the hobbits so richly to life, Tolkien's epic about the Ring would have left our world enhanced by enchantment. --Tim Appelo

Lord of the Rings & Hobbit \oAbridged Box Set Audio Books\c:
The other reviews you see here DO NOT APPLY to this book. I am going to tell you about the Penguin Audiobooks; Abridged edition (October 10, 2002), ISBN: 1565117077. Sadly for me, I was unable to find any reviews on this particular audio performance of the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit from Penguin Audiobooks. Even sadder, when I placed my order, the word ABRIDGED did not appear in the product description!!!!! If you love these books or any great, epic tales and are over the age of 12, then this audio performance is NOT FOR YOU. Cease reading my review, and move on to another version of these absolutely essential works by Mr. Tolkien. And now, for parents: If you are looking for an engaging introduction to Tolkien for a child, read on and do consider this set. Although I personally prefer the unabridged CD's read by that wonderful actor with the rich voice, I can see where many children will be more engaged by this version of the series. In this version, the stories are acted out by a cast of characters, rather than being read straight through by one person. Some of the voices are quite amusing, and the story and language is laid out more simply. Most of the poetry is ommitted, and when the actors are called upon to sing, it is mercifully brief. (Who would have thought that the River Daughter would be tone deaf and ditsy? It's sacrilege, LOL!). Nuances of relationships and culture, the horror and gore of battle, the depths of despair at the ending of a world... these may be a little too far to go for some children. And for them, I can recommend this version. It will be JUST THE THING to pop in the CD player on a very long car ride. You will get less than half of the usual, "are we there yets?" Many people shopping for children may feel hesitant at the price... but know that you are getting a large number of hours, it's a very big set. A warning for die-hard fans: This is just my personal opinion, but I would prefer that Aragorn NOT sound like a cross between an American James Bond and Captain James T. Kirk! And I don't know what Island of Misfit Toys they scoured to get the Rudolph sound-alike they used for Samwise Gamgee, but I can tell you I do not approve. Bombadil and his wife are a serious disgrace. Did the casting director never read these books?

Overrated:
I played Dungeons & Dragons as a kid. I watched Dr. Who. I was -- and still am -- a geek. But I definitely leaned toward the sci-fi side -- while everyone was reading LOTR, I was reading Dune and Foundation. So, at the ripe age of 35, I decided to fill in the gaps in my geek education, and finally read LOTR. I struggled through the Hobbit, a story of a fat, lazy little person who steals a ring from a gaunt, pathetic creature, and who only has adventures because he is forced to by a wizard with a misguided sense of generosity. Maybe LOTR would be better... Nope. The story is repetitive, overly expository, and just plain dull. Several fat, lazy little people who like to eat and sleep (and not much else) go galavanting in the woods, where they get into some sort of trouble, because they are, at the core, morons. They are then saved by benevolent and (almost) omnipotent powers. Then someone recites a bad poem, or talks of legends that sound like they have sprung forth from the mind of a schizophrenic, or, worse, we get a long-winded description of the terrain. Please, kill me. I will not be reading the Two Towers or the Return of the King. In fact, I couldn't care less if the king returns or not. If I find myself wracked by curiosity, I'll go see the movie. And the movies have been great...somehow Peter Jackson has created brilliance out of dullness. Good thing he didn't take Tolkein literally, though I can't help but wonder if his inspiration comes more from hours playing D & D than from reading this tripe.

About the CD Audio Version:
I don't know why Amazon lumps these altogether. Stupid. In any case, I won't bother with a review of the story. Everyone knows what this is. I will give my impression of the CD set. This is a radio drama. Not a straight abridged reading of the book. This has voice actors, songs, music, effects. It's done as a play for the radio and I really enjoyed it. It was worth every penny. I very much enjoyed the Narrator. The voices of the other characters were not what I expected really and to tell the truth, I was a little disappointed at first. About half way into The Hobbit, that changed though. I enjoyed the voices more as I went along and became quite friendly with them by the end. I wished for more at the end of The Hobbit. I would recommend this set highly.

Master of Fantasy:
I read The Hobbit and the entire Lord of the Rings series when I was about 14 and these are the books that inspired me to read fantasy. These are the books that probably inspired many authors to write fantasy. Tolkien's works are ingenious. Pulling from his education and his experiance as an Anglo-Saxon professor at Oxford, Tolkien created works created a story that as almost a myth in itself. His characters are believable, if not sometimes a little too good-hearted, i.e Strider, but his use of the myths of the Anglo-Saxon (Middle-earth or Midgard) culture are really awe-inspiring. Not to mention the fact that Tolkien created a language that can actually be learned! It has been nice to see Peter Jackson do such a fine job in bringing these books to life. For anyone has seen the movies, but has not read the books, I highly, highly recommend them. Tolkien is the father of modern fantasy and I think I better understand books like the H.P. series or Wheel of Time series because I read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings...several times.

Lord of the rings and the hobbit box set:
I loved these books!! I have no doubt that I will listen to them over and over again!! Would recomend them to anyone.