I was kind of the same way.Stephen R Donaldson in the GI wrote:...I never saw the appeal of the Hobbits, and Bilbo's birthday party made me want to quit reading half a dozen times. (Years later, when I read "The Hobbit," I did so entirely out of a sense of obligation to LOTR. I never actually enjoyed it.) The process by which I fell in love with the books was so gradual that I didn't notice I was in love until I reached the Mines of Moria
I read the Hobbit first, and I found that it started out like it was for kids, but it aged as it moved along.
When I read LOTR I felt the same thing...I mean, I like the Hobbits; once they were on their way, but Bilbo's party, and then the Scouring at the end I found fairly Childish.