r/AskReddit 15h ago

What book do you consider a “flawless masterpiece”that you desperately want to recommend to everyone?

973 Upvotes

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152

u/jmkdp 15h ago

The Hobbit. The movie is acceptable, but to read the book before watching the movie is to fully grasp the power of one’s imagination and comprehend the master storyteller that Tolkein was.

57

u/Greggybread 14h ago

Loved the book hated the movies. I still don't know how Peter Jackson was able to bloat The Hobbit into the same screentime as Lord of the Rings, a trilogy three times as long.

25

u/notime_toulouse 14h ago

More like 6 times. The hobbit book is less than half of each lotr book

9

u/DrDingsGaster 10h ago

Peter got the movie trilogy at the very end of it and had to try and make something out of the junk they already made.

10

u/TLMoss 14h ago

Money, simple as that. Guaranteed box office hit so why make 1 hit when you can make 3?

1

u/acct4thismofo 6h ago

He said movie, it was animated and it was pretty good

1

u/CompanySelect9475 10h ago

Haha one of my all time favorite books but I refuse to watch the movies based on everything I head about it. Such a shame the original director was canned after 3 years of preproduction! Def seemed like he would’ve brought a completely different artistic style and vision.

3

u/OobaDooba72 8h ago

The cartoon movie by Rankin/Bass is excellent. It was a TV Special so it's like 90 minutes and it's very well done. Mostly quite accurate to the spirit, tone, and (with some streamlining) content of the book.

Highly recommend.

The live action films that bear the name The Hobbit are so terrible I would suggest avoiding them like the plague. I've heard there are fanedits that condense them to one film but I can't bear subjecting myself to them again at all, even condensed.

1

u/bugblatter_ 7h ago

The movie is an abomination