The Hobbit, after all these years

I'm re-reading The Hobbit. It's been a looong time since I last read it.
I don't remember when, but it was many years prior to the Jackson LotR.
I've only gotten as far as The Gang getting to the goblin cave and there
are few things that have struck me so far.

- It has much more of the feeling of a children's book than I remembered.

- Most books with trolls would name them things like Shnurnk, Waggfrump,
and Grfnozul. JRRT avoided the obvious and named his trolls William,
Bert, and Tom. I think those are fantastic names for trolls.

- Gandalf doesn't seem to be as knowledgable as in LotR. He also seems to
be a bit more of a comical character than he becomes in the later books.

- There seems to be a slight implication that Elrond isn't an elf.

- The elves themselves give a different impression than in LotR -- less
serious and more like happy hippies.

Those are just some impressions, maybe things will change as it goes along.

Wayne