I'm a bit further into the book now and amazed that things about the storyline are coming back to me (if I remember correctly, I've read this book only once and that was years ago). They're pretty vague memories, but still memories, because reading further shows them to be true.

What I didn't remember was how brutal this book is. I mean, these 'adventures' are pretty much war (can't remember when Tolkien wrote this, but I'd be surprised if this doesn't include his experiences) and ending lives seems to be no big deal. o_ô

Another thing I didn't remember: the narration, argh! Maybe I'm just in a grumpy mood recently or it's due to the translation, but the narration drives me crazy! There are 2 things that annoy me about it: 1. The short sentences and addressing the reader. I know, it's written for children, but still. 2. Horribly outdated words! I know, the book is old, so that's to be expected. The weird thing is that I've read older books, but the old words didn't annoy me there. These older books were in English, though, and I'm reading The Hobbit in German - maybe that's the problem. Or it's not the right kind of old. Too old to be modern, too young to be classic.