I really wanted to like Hobbit Virtues. I thought it'd be a cozy little book telling you how to live like a hobbit. Instead, it's a dry series of essays tying virtue ethics (something I don't know much about) to Tolkien's works.
The best parts are learning more about Tolkien’s life and how his experiences informed his beliefs and, therefore, his writing. Tolkien famously dislikes allegory applied to his work in Middle Earth, of course, but seeing his beliefs through the virtue ethics lens provides some connective tissue between, say, his time serving with brave officers in WWI and how he writes Faramir.
And yet, I found it dull. A real slog to get through. But you might like it! It's worth giving a shot. But be warned, if you don't like it from the get-go, it'll just be more of the same.
