[Mithalwen]

But while I loved the hobbit as a child, having heard it read on Jackanory, I now find it virtually unreadable. Not because of the lack of female protagonists but because the style grates and unlike Pooh or even Alice, I don't get anything more out of it than I did as a child. the depths of the Hobbit are revealed in LOTR. It works best read aloud to small children (I heard this done as an adult when I was a matron in a boarding school and it seemed enchanting again). As a book to read it doesn't appeal anymore - not becasue I am a woman but becasue I am an adult.