Have you read any of the Lord of the Rings books?

[thepj]

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.

if you ask me that speaks volumes about your character, you're so desperate to be different and avid what you see as "fads" that you're passing over a great seiries of books, i can tell you that the way lord of the rings is writen makes it easy to read yet interesting, at least give it a go before deciding you're not going to read them, just because something's mainstream doesn't make it crappy. if you'd read it a decided they were't for you then i would understand but as it stands i just cannot respect you with that attitude, like i said, read them, then if you don't like them you have a legitimate reason for not doing so

 

[Wayte]

Read all 3 and The Hobbit, best reading I've had ever.
Also one of the few movies-based-on-books that weren't made of fail and AIDs.

You mean... besides the third one, right? When they changed the ending... the whole point of the series?

Anyway, I read them, liked them.

Er....truth be told I never saw the third one lol. Not all the way through anyways, it came out about the time I got big into gaming, and really bored with tv/movies.

 

[Puzzles]

Yep, when I was 11. I almost cried when it was over.

 

[Lekonua]

If you count The Hobbit among them, I've read all 4.

If you don't, then I've read all 3 and The Hobbit.

 

[Turing]

Read The Hobbit maybe 3-4 times, read the Lord Of The Rings books maybe every second year, since I was 10 or 12, which makes for around 15-16 years, so that'd make approximately 8 times through them.
Really, they're starting to geta bit uninteresting since I know them by heart so now I watch the movies instead.
Silmarillion never meant that much to me, read it once and have skimmed through it on occasion

 

[Yokai]

I read them all, the Hobbit, several of the extra references, and I've started the Children of Hurin. I tried reading the Silmarillion but it was kind of like reading the Bible cover to cover. I'm a bit of a Tolkien nut.

 

[Aesir23]

I read the Lord of the Rings and loved it. I've also read The Hobbit and The Silmarillion.

Overall pretty uneven and bloated series in my opinion. Not to get flamed, it just didn't do much for me. Plus everybody rips off his goddamned mythology, which really bugs me (although that is of course not his fault).

Actually, some of his mythology (certain races), come from default fantasy mythology. Halflings already existed in fantasy, but he gave them a new name and put a new spin on them.

Uruk-Hai are completely his as far as I know. But orcs and goblins are once again part of default fantasy mythology.

You're completely right. I just mean that he compiled many of these fantastic creatures and stuff, and put it all into one structured mythology, he really DEFINED certain aspects of these beings, and that's been more or less ripped on by literally every traditional fantasy writer since. To the point where you might as well say that traditional fantasy (at least in my view) is synonymous with 'tolkein-mythos fantasy'.

Definitely true. Until Lord of the Rings, I always thought of elves as being like Santa elves, keebler elves, etc. But now, everything involving fantasy seems to have elves as the tall, slender, beautiful, nature loving society portrayed in Tolkein's works. Not that that's a bad thing of course. If your work is going to be influenced by someone, why not be influenced by the best, right?

 

[Fingolfin High-King of the Noldor]

I have read them all more than ten times each. I have read the Silmarillion even more often. They are my favorite stories of all time.

 

[Drakenian]

I read The Hobbit and I loved it. Couldn't get through Fellowship, though. Don't know why. :/

 

[Mcupobob]

I read the hobbit and really liked it but i'm not going to read any of the other books because I would Have to look for them and pay for them and read them and well its just too much of a hassle right now.

 

[RJ Dalton]

If you have the patience (IE were not raised on TV), the Lord of the Rings books are really good. I read all three, plus The Hobbit and the Silmarillion. Silmarillion was a little difficult to read, though, I will admit. It was interesting in the details it tells about the world of Middle Earth, but it was very dense. I didn't like it as much the other books, but I still thought it was worth reading at least once.

 

[TraumaHound]

if you ask me that speaks volumes about your character, you're so desperate to be different and avid what you see as "fads" that you're passing over a great seiries of books, i can tell you that the way lord of the rings is writen makes it easy to read yet interesting, at least give it a go before deciding you're not going to read them, just because something's mainstream doesn't make it crappy. if you'd read it a decided they were't for you then i would understand but as it stands i just cannot respect you with that attitude, like i said, read them, then if you don't like them you have a legitimate reason for not doing so

Never said they were crappy books (nor did I say I disliked them, having never read them stating that wouldn't make any sense), mainstream or not, only that I've found that books/movies/shows/etc that everyone else loves don't necessarily equate to them being good. Like James Cameron's Titanic, or sour-apple Jolly Ranchers.

Also, I never said my reason was "legitimate", just that that's the only reason why I've never read the LotR books (Hobbit notwithstanding.) In my early days of fantasy-reading I found my way by hit-and-miss (not having access to the multiverse of book reviews that the Webernet provides only had a handful of friends who also read sci-fi/fantasy so so much was new to all of us.), and came across amazing series like Elric or Fafhrd & Grey Mouser. Same holds true today, even more so as I have few friends who read sci-fi/fantasy (though plenty of co-workers who lurved the Harry Potter and/or Twilight series) so every book I decide to read is based on the same method I've used for as long as I can remember: read the first section/chapter; see how it flows, see if it grabs me from the get-go. If not, back on the shelf it goes.

Besides, you're speaking as if I haven't a clue as to what the LotR series is about (which, in fact, I do, and I'm pretty certain it's not a "fad".) I just haven't an interest in reading the books, despite 30+ years of reading all sorts of other tomes in the fantasy genre. I don't see how that lends or removes any credibility to my character for having a preference.

Now, if you'll excuse me, my friends and I are going to go hang out at the diner, smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee while writing dark poetry.

 

[crazy-j]

i have read all of the first one, the third one, the first half of the second one( the part about aragorn legolas & gimili) the hobbit and the children of hurin

 

[historybuff]

Yes. I read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy when I was in elementary school. I've read them quite a few times since then but I never drifted to any of the others.

 

[digipinky75910]

I read it in middle school. You know how the first few days of school, gym class isn't really there, while they're doing paperwork or something? I was Moria at the time. When the bell rang I was so immersed I was very disoriented for a few seconds

 

[Jaranja]

reeding iz 4 n00bz

JK, but no. Why read the book when you have the movies and the game?

Because the books have awesome multiplaye- The CGI is go-

You win.

 

[gamefreakbsp]

I read the LOTR books and the Hobbit. Good stuff.

 

[Viper1265]

I think I read probably less than half of fellowship, then the school year ended and I had to give the book back to the library. I havent tried to read them again since but I probably should.

 

[Ozymandiaz]

so far i have read the hobbit, the lord of the rings, and the silmarillion. i liked the hobbit the most out of those, i thought it was the easiest read and i really felt drawn in. this didn't happen with the others, then again i was much younger when i read the hobbit