He's only in parts of the first book, so you just have to get through those and you'll be fine..
Somewhere in my flat is a Hobbit audiobook, recorded on 5 (or 7) vinyl records and spoken by the (now dead) actor Nicol Williamson. I'm moving in the next few months, so I will be able to find it again. Then all I need to do is find some way to play the records and transfer them to mp3. I remember his Gollum was brilliant.