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was just wondering.am thinking about buying the single volume version again (hardback).have yet to read it all the way through (got to the part where frodo is caught by the orks (after meeting that spider),and sam is going to rescue him. p.s it might be a while as i have 3 books that i haven't yet read (biographies of john peel,slash and keith richards)
3 times before I was 16 I think.....
not sure I'd want it as a single volume. I remember The Two Towers being hard work at times.
managed to get a third of the way through the third book before i ran out of steam.
While the books were ground breaking and full of great ideas, they are quite frankly, pretty badly written by today's standards. Very clunky, slow moving, self-indulgant and dont get me started on the songs!
Gave up when I was 16 half way through The Two Towers. Tom Bombadil's poems were the final straw.
Read em all, but the nonny nonny ho obllocks gets tiresome after a while
i have read it through in one sitting, and compared to other Tolkien books it isn't that bad. The copy i have now is one of the specials which have the pretty pictures.
Read the Hobbit and The Silmarillion about thirty years ago, decided that they were ridiculous poop and have never touched them since.
I've read LotR and The Hobbit a couple of times. I own the Silmarillion but I've never opened it.
I made a start on re-reading The Hobbit as an adult(*) recently, and was surprised at how twee and kiddie-fied it is. It's all 'little Bilbo in his little stripey pants,' I couldn't read more than a couple of chapters.
(* - relatively speaking)
Read it several times as a kid and still dip into the good bits now and again as an adult,purely from nostalgia.
I've heard it said that if LOtR is your favourite book at 14 then that is fine but if it is still your favourite at 40 something is wrong.
I probably read it 3 times before age 25 and I read it again after a 25 year gap.
It's not [i]quite[/i] literature but it is a well written work. Skipped every song and pome though every time.
i have read it through in one sitting,
😯
were you sponsored?
Got The hobbit in primary school loved it, left school and read the Hobbit again followed quickly by the whole of The Lord of the rings. Quickly came to my senses after 2 or 3 chapters of the Silmarillion!!
Skipped every song and poem though every time
and some of the more dull discriptions of a hobbits house etc.
Read it several times, and I quite like the slow bits. The key tho, as has been noted, is to skip all the poems.
Read the Hobbit and LoR at school have also read the Silmarillion.
Read the part of the first chapter of The Hobbit and gave up. Really cannot see the appeal in the books or the films...
So we can conclude that it is a pooly written, long winded kid's book.
My thoughts entirely when I gave up on it all thise years ago.
The films are ace though. 😉
i am very sad 😳 😉 (am 36) but have always been into fantasy worlds (whether it be books,films or computer games e.t.c) made a promise to myself that i would read it all the way through one day 🙂
I was happy to work my way through the maths sections of a Neal Stephenson novel.
But after what seemed like 500 pages of Tolkien describing every bloody blade of grass in a bloody field, nothing had happened at all and I couldn't be arsed. 🙂
I have read it many many times. Love the book but I do just love books and reading
read it twice iirc hobbit twice [ never as an a adult
Silmarillion is like the bible/haynes manual for middle earth - I gave up as well
anagallis_arvensis - Member
Skipped every song and poem though every time
and some of the more dull discriptions of a hobbits house etc.POSTED 12 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST
Don't you start editing my posts for me 8) Literary reference - William out of Just William calls them pomes.
If anybody wants to read a book where nothing happens...
...my favourite is a 12 volume novel "A Dance to the Music of Time" where, over a 40 year period, er, basically, nothing happens.
Splendid book.
read all the lot last year, for the 2nd time.
the part with my alter ego is a bit tiresome........ 😆
http://tolkien.cro.net/talesong/heydol.html
and i cant believe someone called him a nazi cockmonkey
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Have read LotR, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. Enjoyed The Hobbit, took a few goes to get through LotR but have read it through about 4 times missing out all the songs and bits in other languages, The Silmarillion was a chore to get through. I am still impressed by the level of detail and backstory that Tolkien created
...my favourite is a 12 volume novel "A Dance to the Music of Time" where, over a 40 year period, er, basically, nothing happens.
LOL!
I think you just saved me reading the other 9 volumes.... 🙂
I've not got the patience to sit through the films never mind the books.
ballad of bilbo with leonard nimoy anyone?
I liked the Silmarillion because it fleshed out the background for the other books. I think you'd struggle if you read it out of context, because as described it's not really a novel.
Read it countless times since I was a kid. These days I'll dip in and read a chapter or find out about a particular character or race or occurrence. Still think it's amazing, wish the films hadn't been made to be honest particularly as they screwed up the ending after being pretty true to the storyline for 2 and nine tenths of the films.
I've heard it said that if LOtR is your favourite book at 14 then that is fine but if it is still your favourite at 40 something is wrong.
couldn't have put it better myself
First read it as a kid and still read it every couple of years when I have nothing else to read must admit to skipping some bits though
With the average attention span and levels of literary comprehension in the UK today, I am surprised you can still find it on sale in popular high street stores. 🙂
Read it loads of times as a teenager and into my student days. Was also into wargaming with little tanks and figures and my mate got one of the first Dungeons and Dragons sets in he UK so was well into all of that for a while. I re-read it when the films came along. Good story, needed an editor. If you've not read it all the way through, give it another go, makes a lot more sense of the films if you have, especially the minor characters.
Read it as a kid, tried to read the hobbit a few years ago, only managed a few pages. Looking forward to the film 🙂
Read LOTR when i was 16 cover to cover
I don't have the will power to do it again
looking forward to the hobbit film though
I have read almost everything he has written, and a bunch of stuff about him as well. Must have read LOTR 20+ times over the years. I think it is still very well written but I would agree that Tom Bombadill can get a bit wearing even though the narrative seems to needs the encounter.
When they were making the lotr movies I decided to read the books before seeing the films. Enjoyed the books more than the films tbh.
Read LOTR, Hobbit and the Silmarillion.
Not sure the LOTR was ever intended to be a 'novel', more a case of Tolkien wanting to write an English saga with full mythological background.
My favourite bit is in the appendices when he gives the story of the rest of Strider's life, and after a couple of hundred years he says "time to go" and just lies down and dies. *sob*
Was given the first one when I was about 8. No way was I ever going to read that. So I didn't until my late 20s when I somehow ploughed through TTT and ROTK. Definitely bogs down in parts. But still so uniquely ahead of its time that IMO it remains timeless. Don't think I'll be reading it again though. Give me a mix of techo-fantasy/steampunk/cyber-fi any time.
Read it many, many times.
I appreciate the huge number of characters and the dreaded songs can get a bit wearing, but surprised people find it slow-moving. It's basically an adventure story and that side of it chugs along pretty quickly. In fact, a lot of people have commented that some areas are even under-written!
If you don't like fantasy/sword-and-sorcery/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, then you won't like it and there'll be no convincing you. A lot of that genre is dire though and Tolkien is head, shoulders, knees and probably toes above much of it!
I've read LOTR a couple of times but I must admit I skipped the songs etc. It's the utter attention to detail that also makes it really hard work and as a book that has a gripping story and drags you into it, for me it fails on those points and there are better better books round for that.
I read the Hobbit once, tried it the first time and thought it was crap but I was away on holiday and read it all the way through and enjoyed it. Mind you it must have been the sun and beer hehe.
Good book for what it is, definitely stimulates the imagination and it is really well written. Read the trilogy at the age of 14-15 I believe and watched the movies but thought the books had more them.
Classic books. Found Silmarillion a little tiresome but LOTR and The Hobbit are two of my fave books.
Though I must admit, after visiting Iceland several years ago (the island, not the shop) you notice how much he stole from the Icelandic sagas. Pilfering on a huge scale.
Hugely influential, especially in black metal and skinhead/ odinist/ heathen circles
http://www.listal.com/list/metal-bands-names-inspired-tolkien
oh and these dodgy geezers named a song after a chapter in LOTR
Read them.
The Silmarillion is one of the most painful experiences I ever failed to finish.
I read them all about age 15 (probably the best time to read them, since as you get older you've read/seen more stuff that's derived from it so it gets less interesting) and actually quite enjoyed it. I seem to remember the 150 page sort of epilogue at the end being a bit much.
Read LOTR and the Hobbit several times although not for some years. Skimmed Silmarillion and decided life might be too short.
Have read the whole LOTR and Silmarillion about 8 or 9 times, and various of The Lost Tales. The Hobbit was too twee/kiddy for me at 10 and only read it the once. The Fellowship of the Ring (vol 1 of LOTR) is heavy going / scene setting and the Tom Bombadil sequence very weak (no surprises Jackson dropped it from the film!). Silmarillion is IMO a lot better - wish it was filmed, it'd be epic.
If you think The Silmarillion is hard going try The Book of Lost Tales and some of the other more obscure works!
14 times, mostly skipping the songs. I decided I ought to stop afer that.
Thought The Hobbit was kinda good, nice and simple. LOTR was good overall, but it does have some pretty slow parts.
Would also advise to skip the poems, I still don't know what the point of those were...
Read the Hobbit and LOTR when I was a teenager, so forty something years ago. Still got the books, haven't read them since. Most of what I read is SF/Fantasy, but I tend to prefer my fantasy with a darker, grimier flavour these days, like the Borderland collections, and Kate Griffin's Urban Magic series.
Read The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring when I was 8 (the books came with the Spectrum text adventures!:P), and read The Two Towers and Return of the King when I was 9. Kept on getting them out from the library until I was 11 and my dad got me my own copy, all in one massive book with tiny, tiny text! It's kept with extreme reverence as it means a lot to me, as a) it was my favourite book as a kid, and b)my dad wrote a note inside the cover marking my 11th birthday, so it's got sentimental value on that front too.
As that copy was starting to get a bit fragile, I bought the Kindle version last year. Still love the book, but yes, the songs and poems can outstay their welcome! 😛 My brother finally managed to read LotR when he was in his late 20s after about fifteen years of trying. It took him nine months - apparently the "three f*****g pages describing Treebeard's eyes" particularly annoyed him, as did Tom Bombadil. Poor Tom, nobody likes him...
Read it first when i was about 7, and read it continuously for many years after. Used to read a lot as a kid, and Lord of the rings and the Hobbit were always being read.
Its something all kids should read, its an amazing story
You do know they've been made into films now, right?
I enjoyed it at 11yrs or so, I thought the films were gash though, that kind of story no longer appeals.
TSY & like all films huge swathes of the story are missed but they are great for the masses. Short stores suit films not long books.
ratswithwings - of course it has plus plenty from the Finnish Kalavela and the Celtic; Tolkien's perspective was to create a cohesive British mythology incorporating all the strands from the various cultures / peoples that form Britain.
Tolkien later regretted writing the Hobbit as a kids book.
Read it lots over the years but my wife couldn't stand it as the stories seemed like sketches without detailled characterization to her.
Ahhh... still not convinced about giving the books a go though.
I'm going to write a story that appeals to Al instead. It'll be full of EPIC battles and stuff.
Erm.. dull. Mystical rubbish, bit like those nerdy cartoon comics adults buy in brown paper bags.
Me! and it was far more detailed and enjoyable than the film!
Your post suggests you watch a lot of tele then Kaesae.
The Southern Yeti - Member
Your post suggests you watch a lot of tele then Kaesae.
Be gone Yeti, I have neither the time or the inclination to play silly games with thee!
You cheeky editor! 😀
Hahahaha!
3 times, or is it 4?....will prob be reading them again soon, only read the hobbit once tho. Only really started reading when I got a palm in my mid 20s. loads of books in your pocket + lots of windows progress bars to watch = reading habit formed.
I thought the films were a bit pants tbh.
If I'd read the books, I'd quote a relevant bit at you.
Instead, I'll save everyone else the time...
By the way those knocking it for being a kids story, have you read any of harry potter? LOTR is mature reading high brow literature compared, can't beleive how many adults love HP books.
The films are some of the best fantasy films ever made, the books are just a bit tedious.
I managed to get half way through the last book and gave up.
My beard had grown long and grey, my staff had gone all shiny.
I read it years ago...my Dad read the Hobbit to me and my brothers when we were little.
LOTR was a great book, but yes it can be hard going. The last time I read it it took me ages (but after taking it on holiday I plowed through it.
If you like that genre, try Robert Jordans's Wheel of Time series...I'm reading them at the moment and he has the same attention to detail.
I read it a few times in my teens, don't think I could stand it now, though. Try the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson if you fancy an adult version ......
Robert Jordans's Wheel of Time series
Pah 👿 a pale imitation; he started off palely imitating R.E.Howard with Conan.
Other classic fantasy - Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar books (Terry Pratchet built his career on the back of them) or more modern Joe Abercrombie's First Law series.
I've heard it said that if LOtR is your favourite book at 14 then that is fine but if it is still your favourite at 40 something is wrong.
couldn't have put it better myself
Terry Pratchett said that. The same is true about his Discworld novels of course.
I've read LoTR multiple times except, like everyone else, all the poems and songs.
Read 1 and 2, got half way through the 3rd book when the 3rd film came out. I think i was a bit fatigued by all the walking in the 2nd book. Awful lot of walking.
probably read it 3 0r 4 times before i was 16 and then 2 or 3 times since
I saw all 3 films at the cinema - went with my OH.
The 3rd one was painful. I nearly stood up twice at the end as i kept thinking 'this must be the final scene'.
And then all that pointless crap about the bloody boat.
and THEN they go back to tellytubby land again.
Somewhere between the boat bit and tellytubby bit i began to really really hate Tolkien for writing this dross, and Peter Jackson for filming it 🙂
The 3rd one was painful. I nearly stood up twice at the end as i kept thinking 'this must be the final scene'.
Were you sat behind us - we were s****ing every time they made a grab for their coats.
Robert Jordans's Wheel of Time seriesPah a pale imitation; he started off palely imitating R.E.Howard with Conan.
I'm quite enjoying the series. It's still not a scratch on Tolkein I agree, but I'm enjoying it. I particularly like that there's no goblins, orcs or elves, he's created a world without relying on 'lore' created by others.
Once i've finished it I'll look for another fantasty epic to read I think.
When I went to see the final film, after about 8 pints of ale (not the greatest idea, especially when I bought salted popcorn without a drink, but I digress), the film cut out just as Gollum was about to throw the ring into the fire.
We had to wait for ten minutes till they got the thing working again, grrr. Someone in the projection room must have been having a laugh.
Read the books at least 10 times, I actually like the Silmarillion as well.