The Hobbit

J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" begins with one of the most inviting opening lines in all of literature — "In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit" — and what follows is a story so perfectly pitched, so warmly imagined, and so enduringly delightful that it has served as the gateway to fantasy literature for generations of readers. Bilbo Baggins is a thoroughly respectable, thoroughly comfortable hobbit who wants nothing more than a quiet life of good food and regular meals. That life is upended when the wizard Gandalf and a company of thirteen dwarves arrive at his door and sweep him off on an adventure to reclaim the Lonely Mountain and its treasure from the dragon Smaug.

What makes "The Hobbit" so special is not its plot, which follows a fairly conventional quest structure, but its voice. Tolkien narrates as if he were a particularly gifted uncle telling a bedtime story — conversational, wryly humorous, occasionally addressing the reader directly — and this warmth transforms what could be a standard adventure tale into something intimate and deeply human. Bilbo's reluctant heroism — his homesickness, his surprise at his own courage, his growing realization that he is capable of more than he ever imagined — is endlessly relatable.

The novel also serves as the perfect introduction to Middle-earth, offering a lighter, more accessible doorway into the vast mythology that Tolkien would expand in "The Lord of the Rings." The riddle scene with Gollum, in which Bilbo discovers the One Ring, is one of the most perfectly constructed scenes in fantasy literature — tense, funny, and fateful in ways that the reader only fully appreciates later.

"The Hobbit" earns its place on this list because it is, quite simply, one of the most perfectly realized adventure stories ever written, and because it opened the door to a literary tradition that has brought joy to hundreds of millions of readers. Before Tolkien, fantasy was a scattered, marginal genre. "The Hobbit" — published in 1937 and immediately embraced by both children and adults — demonstrated that fantasy could be sophisticated, emotionally rich, and taken seriously as literature.

The novel's genius lies in its deceptive simplicity. On the surface, it is a children's book about a small creature on a big adventure. But Tolkien, a scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature and Norse mythology, wove into this seemingly simple tale a profound meditation on courage, greed, hospitality, and the costs of war. The Battle of Five Armies, which closes the book, carries a moral weight that resonates with Tolkien's own experience as a soldier in World War I — the idea that glory in battle is a lie, and that the real heroes are those who come home to tend their gardens.

Bilbo Baggins is also one of literature's great protagonists: an ordinary person who discovers extraordinary reserves of courage, not through magic or destiny but through loyalty, kindness, and the simple refusal to abandon his friends. In a genre often dominated by chosen ones and prophesied heroes, Bilbo's ordinariness is itself radical and deeply hopeful.

"The Hobbit" has sold over 100 million copies since its publication in 1937, making it one of the bestselling books of all time. It was a favorite of C.S. Lewis (who reviewed it enthusiastically) and W.H. Auden, helping to establish fantasy as a respectable literary form. Peter Jackson adapted it into a trilogy of films (2012-2014) that grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide, though the films were more divisive than his "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The novel has been translated into over 50 languages and has been continuously in print for nearly nine decades. "The Hobbit" is credited with launching the modern fantasy genre and has directly inspired countless authors, game designers, and filmmakers. The Tolkien Society and the annual celebration of Hobbit Day (September 22, Bilbo's birthday) attest to the novel's enduring cultural presence. The riddle game between Bilbo and Gollum has become one of the most iconic scenes in all of fantasy literature.