Maybe South Africa (where I live) is still clinging to a traditional reading culture, but the bookshop was bright, colourful, filled with the latest releases and had a huge display of all kinds of books devoted to The Hobbit and LordoftheRings, both movie and book guides.
I'm sure anybody who has not read (or remembered) the books will enjoy the films and go away thinking they have seen JRR Tolkien's TheLordofTheRings but I wanted to see thebook on the big screen - not an interpretation of it.
This Hobbit is every bit as grand as LordoftheRings, and it will be interesting to see how it plays as an adaption ofthebook, as well as an original story.