also he put a new spin on the elves as well. until Tolkien the elves were like the Keebler elves and really short and tiny little things, he made them tall and slender.shewolf51 said:
Have you read any of the Lord of the Rings books?
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Yes. And yes.Ham_authority95 said:Just wondering if any of my fellow escapists have read any of the Lord of the Rings books(or any of Tolkien's work) and if so did you enjoy it?
I just started The Fellowship of the Ring yesterday and I thinks its great so far
your turn
The Two Towers is somewhat slow, but my favorite is probably either Return of the King or The Hobbit.
I've read The Hobbit and enjoyed it. I've attempted to read The Fellowship of the Ring but struggled and gave up, three times now. I'll borrow it next time I am at the library and go for attempt four.
Tolkien was a genius, and he has earned my respect. However, he is a horrible writer.
One of the basic rules of any kind of storytelling is "Show, don't tell." And Tolkien simply does not understand this rule. He would have been better off writing an encyclopedia from the get-go: the story can never move forward for more than a few pages before it is interrupted for chapters at a time with anecdotes and history lessons. Tom Bombadil's house is one of the more prominent cases: two chapters (in a 20 chapter book, that's an entire tenth of the book) are spend in Bombadil's house. They sing, they talk about Middle Earth, Tom rattles off riddles... but the story grinds to a halt.
I just can't help but look to Frank Herbert's Dune, or Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series and see how they acquainted us with the culture and people of their worlds by inserting it into the story. It was all necessary, and it was all discovered throughout the course of the story. That is good writing. Tolkien's inability to develop the world without completely and constantly breaking the flow of the story makes the books unreadable for me. Amazing story, but poorly written.
One of the basic rules of any kind of storytelling is "Show, don't tell." And Tolkien simply does not understand this rule. He would have been better off writing an encyclopedia from the get-go: the story can never move forward for more than a few pages before it is interrupted for chapters at a time with anecdotes and history lessons. Tom Bombadil's house is one of the more prominent cases: two chapters (in a 20 chapter book, that's an entire tenth of the book) are spend in Bombadil's house. They sing, they talk about Middle Earth, Tom rattles off riddles... but the story grinds to a halt.
I just can't help but look to Frank Herbert's Dune, or Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series and see how they acquainted us with the culture and people of their worlds by inserting it into the story. It was all necessary, and it was all discovered throughout the course of the story. That is good writing. Tolkien's inability to develop the world without completely and constantly breaking the flow of the story makes the books unreadable for me. Amazing story, but poorly written.
I only read the Hobbit and the Children of Huran.
The hobbit was like a novel and I enjoyed it immensely.
I enjoyed Huran, but I felt like I was reading a very dry and detailed description of unbiased history.
I heard the other books where the same, so I decided instead of torturing myself for a couple of weeks strait, I will just watch the movies while dipping my testicles in boiling water, that way the experience would be more or less the same, just condensed.
The hobbit was like a novel and I enjoyed it immensely.
I enjoyed Huran, but I felt like I was reading a very dry and detailed description of unbiased history.
I heard the other books where the same, so I decided instead of torturing myself for a couple of weeks strait, I will just watch the movies while dipping my testicles in boiling water, that way the experience would be more or less the same, just condensed.
Let me see here. Total read count:
The Hobbit: about 8 times
Fellowship of the Ring: 6 times
The Two Towers: 5 times
Return of the King: 4 times
Quenta Silmarillion and Akallabeth: 3 times
Book of Lost Tales, Parts 1 and 2: 2 times
Lays of Beleriand: 2 times
Children of Hurin: Once
And I get more out of it every time. (Although I haven't read any of them in a while now, I'm letting the information settle for a bit before I go through it all again.)
The Hobbit: about 8 times
Fellowship of the Ring: 6 times
The Two Towers: 5 times
Return of the King: 4 times
Quenta Silmarillion and Akallabeth: 3 times
Book of Lost Tales, Parts 1 and 2: 2 times
Lays of Beleriand: 2 times
Children of Hurin: Once
And I get more out of it every time. (Although I haven't read any of them in a while now, I'm letting the information settle for a bit before I go through it all again.)
As far as I know I've read all LOTR books and other Middle Earth related literature. I think I was eleven or so when I first finished reading the trilogy.
Oh, I only wish to be such a diehard fan of something else again one day
Oh, I only wish to be such a diehard fan of something else again one day
Read the Silmarilion, its confusing at time, but worth it.cieply said:
Also, I just finished Dune and am starting Dune Messiah, hope to finish it by next week before I go on to Children of Dune
I read The Hobbit back in high school (because the school library had a copy.) The rest, however, I've purposely not read as every sci-fi/fantasy kid (especially the D&D ones) I've known has read them and told me they're must-reads and I'm nuts for never reading them. That just makes them mainstream and I've found that doesn't necessarily make them good. Thus, I've passed.
Same reason I've never read any of the Harry Potter books, either.
Same reason I've never read any of the Harry Potter books, either.
red just about all of tolkien's works, even the silmarilion and vairiuos other books that relate to it, plus the book of lost tales, loved them all and understood them perfectly. plus i loved the fact that in the lotr forward he says he didn't use his life in the story, i respect that