Books like The Hobbit, according to Reddit

The read-alike list

Ranked by co-mention strength — how often each book shares a thread with The Hobbit, normalized so ubiquitous books don't dominate.

#1

The Lord of the Rings

J. R. R. Tolkien

A gardener, a burglar's heir, and seven others walk a piece of jewelry to a volcano because destroying it is the only way to stop a war.

88 shared threads · mixed

#2

Watership Down

Richard Adams

A handful of rabbits abandon a doomed warren and cross open country to build a new one, dodging a tyrant colony along the way.

14 shared threads · praised

#3

A Wizard of Earthsea

Ursula K. Le Guin

A prideful young mage summons a nameless shadow to prove his power, then spends years learning to face it instead of running.

38 shared threads · mixed

#4

Dune

Frank Herbert

A duke's son survives his family's betrayal on a desert planet and becomes the prophet who leads its people to war.

75 shared threads · mixed

#5

Ender's Game

Orson Scott Card

A six-year-old is drafted into a war academy that trains him to command a fleet, and he doesn't find out what he actually did until it's over.

50 shared threads · praised

#6

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell

Susanna Clarke

Two rival English magicians revive magic itself, and neither can predict what the fairy they bargained with actually wants.

20 shared threads · praised

#7

Assassin's Apprentice

Robin Hobb

A bastard prince trained as an assassin narrates sixteen books of loss, loyalty, and one very long grudge against fate.

16 shared threads · praised

#8

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Douglas Adams

Earth gets demolished for a hyperspace bypass minutes after a man's house is demolished for a road, and his best friend turns out to be an alien with a towel.

34 shared threads · praised

#9

The Once and Future King

T. H. White

A boy called Wart is tutored by a shape-shifting wizard for a throne he doesn't know is coming, and the joke turns tragic by the final book.

9 shared threads · praised

#10

Foundation

Isaac Asimov

A mathematician predicts the fall of a galactic empire and hides the fix inside an encyclopedia nobody will read for a thousand years.

38 shared threads · panned

#11

The Eye of the World

Robert Jordan

A farm boy's village burns in one night, and the Aes Sedai who saves him says the Dark One marked him before he could walk.

21 shared threads · mixed

#12

Neuromancer

William Gibson

A burned-out hacker banned from cyberspace takes one last job to breach the AI that might already own a piece of him.

41 shared threads · praised

The overlap, in numbers

Where each pairing actually shows up. Click through for the full Reddit verdict on each book.

1. #1 The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien — 88 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
2. #2 Watership Down by Richard Adams — 14 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
3. #3 A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin — 38 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
4. #4 Dune by Frank Herbert — 75 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
5. #5 Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card — 50 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
6. #6 Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke — 20 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
7. #7 Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb — 16 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
8. #8 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams — 34 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
9. #9 The Once and Future King by T. H. White — 9 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
10. #10 Foundation by Isaac Asimov — 38 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
11. #11 The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan — 21 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF
12. #12 Neuromancer by William Gibson — 41 shared threads , mostly in r/printSF