Poll: How many people have actually read The Lord of the Rings?
- Thread starter Oliman43
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My mum read me The Hobbit when I was 7 and I enjoyed it so much that my parents gave me The Lord of the Rings for Christmas and I read it over the summer holidays.
I think I've read it 3 or 4 times since then, along with reading The Hobbit for myself and reading The Silmarillion more than once. The Silmarillion more in select bits after the first time though... I love the tale of Beren and Luthien and the tale of Turin Turambar, even if they're not the most cheerful of stories...
I think I've read it 3 or 4 times since then, along with reading The Hobbit for myself and reading The Silmarillion more than once. The Silmarillion more in select bits after the first time though... I love the tale of Beren and Luthien and the tale of Turin Turambar, even if they're not the most cheerful of stories...
I only started reading really in second grade, but after reading the first Harry Potter and the Hobbit I jumped straight into LotR. I almost stopped reading it completely about 3/4's of the way through the first book, but a friend of mine started reading it as well so I finished Fellowship and then the rest of the series. LotR is the series that really got me hooked into reading.
Finished it and The Hobbit.
It was so bloody long that by the time I reached Return of the King I forgot The Fellowship of the Ring.
It was so bloody long that by the time I reached Return of the King I forgot The Fellowship of the Ring.
Haha, I was in college and I was reading it in the common room on my dorm floor when a girl walked in saw me reading it and went, "Oh you're one of those people."
I had no idea what to say, I was like did that just happen? Haha.
I had no idea what to say, I was like did that just happen? Haha.
Yup. Read the whole thing twice. Once on my own, and a second time for a class dedicated to it. Yes that's right. I took an english class where we studied lord of the rings. It was awesome.
I wasn't that impressed with it. It was good, but not even really that good, certainly not great. I was actually somewhat disappointed with it, and I think that it was several hundred pages longer than it actually needed to be.Oliman43 said:
I've read the entire trilogy and, The Hobbit. I preferred The Hobbit to be honest. It took me a few tries to get through the actual trilogy (especially Two Towers: hated that one)
Hat's off to you my friend. I tried to read the Silmarillion, woke up 4 hours later on page 7 and decided that it just wasn't going to work out. I wasn't even tired when I read it.Ulvai said:
The trick to reading fantasy (well LotR and Robert Jordan anyway) is learning where you can skim thru some of the text. I skimmed thru parts where he'd start describing the scenery in such great detail. You tell me there's a castle I already have it pictured in my head.spartan231490 said:
I'm not saying I'd skip those paragraphs, just skim thru to get a basic idea of what type of castle/forest/whatever it is.
I read it and really didnt like it- it was long winded, dry and more then a little homoerotic in places.
Kinda reminds me of a Jim Butcher interview where he was going on about how the Belgeriad and Lord of the Rings are what got him writing, but has always felt guilty for thinking that LOTR's editor was crap at his job.
Kinda reminds me of a Jim Butcher interview where he was going on about how the Belgeriad and Lord of the Rings are what got him writing, but has always felt guilty for thinking that LOTR's editor was crap at his job.
Wrong, I love long descriptions. I loved WoT because of the lengthy descriptions, they just add to my immersion. I mean that there are entire sections of those books that really have no bearing on the story. Like the entire Tom Bombadil section(didn't mind that one cuz it was awesome) or the section where Merry and Pipen fight over the magic water. Or the part where Legolas shoots down one of the fell beasts(the nazgul has another mount like 40 pages later), the list goes on. Also, there wasn't really any magic, and I love my magic in fantasy. More specifically, all the magic was off-screen so to speak. Gandalf fought with his sword 90% of the time or more. Also, the battle descriptions were hardly there at all. Finally, the pace is just sooooooooooo slow because of all the stuff that happens that really doesn't matter. That's why I don't like LoTRKrychek08 said:
I've read the Hobbit... Okay well I listened to it but that still counts. And I've read Fellowship of the Ring which was absolutely fantastic, but then I got about halfway-ish through the 2nd, and it seriously dragged. I mean come on, 9 FRICKIN' PAGES DESCRIBING THE FOREST!? Was that at all necessary? And it was at about that point that I realised I did not want to sit through pages upon pages of inane descriptive text. There are literally moments where you realise that a tonne of pages have been and gone and yet not once has a main character or anything remotely relevent to the plot been mentioned.
I get that some people like that though, but I disagree with the OP's statement that it should be 'required reading'. No. Nothing should ever be required reading.
People have different tastes, and most people want to read something that doesn't go off on a boring tangent about how the trees swayed and how long a particular tree had stood there etc etc etc.
I believe that the LOTR trilogy is itself a pretty fantastic story, and I respect Tolkien for choosing to write in his own style, even if it is far too descriptive for my tastes. Just, a BIG NO to 'required reading'.
I get that some people like that though, but I disagree with the OP's statement that it should be 'required reading'. No. Nothing should ever be required reading.
People have different tastes, and most people want to read something that doesn't go off on a boring tangent about how the trees swayed and how long a particular tree had stood there etc etc etc.
I believe that the LOTR trilogy is itself a pretty fantastic story, and I respect Tolkien for choosing to write in his own style, even if it is far too descriptive for my tastes. Just, a BIG NO to 'required reading'.
i read the books in between the first two films, the fellowship movie baffled me so i found a copy of the books at home and read them, then the hobbit after. so ive pretty much done it all back to front.