Poll: How many people have actually read The Lord of the Rings?

[LostTimeLady]

When I first planned to read the trilogy I started with the Hobbit... and gave up.
And I tried again to start with the Hobbit... and gave up.

In the end I said 'stuff it!' and I've now managed to read books one and two and I'm half way through the third. Which is a lesson to us all... never read something just for the sake of completeness... if LoTR is what you want to read, don't read something you didn't plan to read first!

 

[jhlip]

Great series of books.

 

[ENKC]

I have, in its entirety. God, that was dull.

 

[Wutaiflea]

I decided to read the books before seeing the films, resulting in having read and seen Fellowship of the Rings and Two Towers, but neither read nor seen Return of the King.

The only reason that I haven't finished the trilogy is that I'm really not much of reader and don't find it especially enjoyable to do, so I've just not got around to finding the motivation to sit down with it.

I think that, although the films are cut down due to screen time, that they're an excellent representation of the books.

 

[Greenhand]

I try to re-read it every year or so, just to keep it (somewhat) fresh in my memory.

 

[Slenn]

I read the first two books. But seriously: while the world is well crafted and interesting... they where damn boring (And they traveled on the blahblahblah, where the green blahblahblah). So i didn't read the last one. (But i heard it was the most exciting... so ah well)

I had a similar experience, but I'd read some Dickens beforehand, so I was already pretty adept at knowing which paragraphs were extra.

LotR appears to suffer from overhype syndrome. If someone tells you a thing is the best thing in the world, it's inevitably going to let you down. So many people rave about Tolkien that no one really gets to discover it themselves anymore.

I hear both of ya there. I could get through maybe a third of the first book and a bit of the Hobbit, but essentially they're just the fantasy equivalent of Charles Dickens' "Great Expectations." Although I will say this though, if I wasn't forced to read it in an english class I would've ended "Great Expectations" on the first chapter, possibly even the first paragraph. I don't have my doubts that the LoTR trilogy is a good series, but I've read far more interesting sci-fi and fantasy novels that weren't that long such as "1984", "Childhood's End", "Myst: the book of Atrus", and "Myst: the book of Ti'ana".

 

[JDKJ]

I read the Cliff Notes. Does that count?

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

I've read them 5 times I think. They are without a doubt among the best works of literature humanity has ever produced.

 

[JDKJ]

Read it when I was 13, blew my mind. One of the most unapologetically complex, beautiful and absorbing books I have ever read.

Should not be required reading though, because that will mean dumbasses will hate it. Look at lord of the Flies, Great Gatsby, and To kill a mockingbird.

"To Kill a Mockingbird." The moral of that story: a black man ain't got no business coming close to a drunk white girl -- particularly not in the Deep South.

 

[DasUberCow]

Yeah, read it when i was 3. Was ok but Donaldson is way better.

 

[JDKJ]

Yeah, read it when i was 3. Was ok but Donaldson is way better.

You made a typographical error. Unless you are really trying to claim that you read a Tolkien book as a three-year old. Which, even if you were raised on the Hooked on Phonics and Your Baby Can Read tutorials, would still cause me to call "bullshit" on that claim.

 

[Contradiction]

I read them all... Started in primary and then bought them in high school. I must have read them like 5 times.
Attempted to read the Silmarillion in grade 8 but gave up because that shit is just confusing.
When I was young I had the hobbit as a bed time story so I guess I was destined to have a soft spot for Tolkien. That said, I can not see me reading them again anytime soon.

 

[JDKJ]

"To Kill a Mockingbird." The moral of that story: a black man ain't got no business coming close to a drunk white girl -- particularly not in the Deep South.

Not sure if joking.

There is a bit more to the book than that.

It may not be the only thing you should take away but if you're black and in the Deep South and there's only one thing that you can take away, then that should be the one thing you do take away.

 

[tokae]

I read the Hobbit, the trilogy of The Ring and Silmarillion atleast once a year. I think they are great books and I don't think I will stop being fascinated by them.

 

[silasbufu]

I can't read books because I can't focus. Makes studying for exams "FUN-FUN-FUN"

 

[EvilGenius666]

I've read LotR, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion and the Unfinished Tales several times each, and I plan to get the separate Children of Hurin book at some point as that is the story I remember most when I think of the Silmarillion.

I find the films quite annoying how they change parts of it. I don't just mean things like cutting out Tom Bombadil or the Hobbits' revolt at the end, but the bits they kept in and changed. Take Faramir for example. In the books, pretty much the whole point of Faramir is that he isn't taken in by the lure of the Ring like his brother and that he helps Frodo on his way, but in the films not only is he tempted by the Ring, he also keeps Frodo as his prisoner and tries to take him to Minas Tirith until Frodo escapes at Osgilliath.
There were a couple of things like that where they change things that were nice and showing that there is still hope, etc. into something much darker.