Suggested by the “What books are a permanent part of you” thread.
I love Lord of the Rings–the book, that is. Love it beyond all calculation. I didn’t read them as children, and likely would never have bothered with them had a friend of mine not dragged me to see Fellowship of the Ring and piqued my interest. (For what it’s worth, I love the first of the Jackon movies, like the second, and think the third is mostly unwatchable dreck.) My love for LOTR is exceeded only by my adoration of The Silmarillion, whose chief flaw is to make me feel horribly inadequate as a writer.
But The Hobbit? That one I did read as a child–well, a teenager. And while I like it,it never captured my imagination to one-hundredth of the degree that the tale of the Nine Walkers did.
Why the dissonance? Well, I’ll explain that later in the thread, assuming the thread gets any traction to begin with. But first–is there anybody else hereabouts who loves just part of the Hobbit/LOTR/Silmarillion cycle, and tolerates the rest? If so, which parts, and why?
I liked The Hobbit, not so much the Lord of the Rings, except for the first part…which is to say, I liked it until the hobbits got to Bree. I liked the birthday party, and Tom Bombadill. The rest of the book just seemed ponderous to me.
I’m the opposite, as well. I adore The Hobbit (at least until they’re out of Mirkwood, I feel like it bogs down in the Lonely Mountain and Dale bits), and I’m meh about LOTR. *Fellowship *I liked quite a bit, 'though not as much as The Hobbit, but Two Towers was a slog, and I don’t remember if I ever got through RoTK entirely.
But I tend to be a lighter fantasy/historical fiction buff, not a hard sf/history/literature reader, which *LOTR *feels more like. I like fluff. I don’t need a three page description of a hill.
ETA: Oh, and The Sillmarillion? Fuggedaboutit. I’d just as soon read all the begats in the Bible.
I read the Hobbit as a HS English assignment in 1969, and immediately followed it up with LOTR, as fast as I could buy them & devour them. And I’ve re-read LOTR 4 or 5 times since then…Silmarillion twice…Unfinished Tales…Children of Hurin…and haven’t touched the Hobbit since 1969.
I think I love them equally, but for different reasons.
I love the grand pageantry and detailed epic storytelling of LOTR, but the hobbity, down-home bits have always been the best part for me.
And The Hobbit is almost all hobbity down-home bits, and has lots of crotchety Gandalf goodness for good measure. But it’s not very epic, just a very good fairy tale.
So they equal each other out, IMO. You make me want to get out my copy of The Hobbit to read tonight.
I like the Hobbits’ story in LOTR, and in The Hobbit, but apart from that I find LOTR to be long and interminable, and unnecessarily complex. And the pacing is horrendous.
I am the exact same way with the series. I would not have read the book had I not been dragged to the movie. I will say this though, my love for LOTR is two fold. I also love the book because it rekindled my disillusionment with reading books and has spawned a massive crack-like addiction to books since I read it.
Immediately after watching the Fellowship, I went to the book store and bought the trilogy in 1 volume deal. I read it in a single sitting. Then I bought the Hobbit. Then I bought the Silmarillion. I prefer the Silmarillion above the others. I most recently bought the Children of Hurin (which I recommend) and the 2 books by Chris Tolkien that dissect the Silmarillion, the War of the Jewels and Morgoths ring.
I now own an Amazon Kindle and I read me the crap out of some books on that beautiful device. I’m power reading the George R.R. Martin Song of Fire and Ice before I read anything else, but I have a list of 10 books lined up on that baby.
I’m sure that the story in LOTR is fine, but Tolkein pretty fairly well forgot the whole storytelling aspect of storytelling the further in you get. If some brave editor took an axe to it trimming out all of the encyclopedic data and lists that geeks and collectors love, you would probably end up with a good solid fantasy book that was under half the length.
The Hobbit is fun. It’s not a favorite, but I’d gladly read it and I do think of it with basic fondness.
{{Can’t believe I missed this thread last night!}}
To love one but not the other is blasphemous - and I mean that in the direct meaning of the word. To be a student of Tolkien is to have a reverence for his work. All of it.
There are quite a few Tolkien lovers on these boards, even those of us who have studied hsi work in depth. To me LOTR and The Hobbit are extensions of one another. They feed of the same path and walk the same line in Tolkiens life.
Its very interesting looking at the history behind the books, Tolkien hated allegory, and yet his books speak of an underlying allegorical connotation to WWI. He would not have liked the linkage but it truly needs to be mentioned as his time serving in WWI was so profound on his development as a writer and a linguist.
To me his works, specifically his LOTR and Hobbit are all perfect in thier composition they speak to that most inner archetype in us all… our inner child-like imagination. I’ve studied his work, [though not an expert by any means] and I’ve simply enjoyed his work, I get an equal amount of joy from doing both…this is what I think makes his work so interesting.
I read The Hobbit aged 11 or so, and loved it. But wasn’t keen on it when I reread it a few years later, and I liked it even less when I read it a year or two ago. I read loads of kids’ books so it’s not that I think it’s beneath me now, it’s just something about the tone. Still a good book though.
LOTR - all time favourite book. But for some weird reason it took me 3 or 4 goes to get it. I first read it aged 18 in a book trade with a classmate who I lent King’s The Stand, and couldn’t really get into it. Read it again later that year (was in hospital for 2 weeks and thought it would be good to try again with less distraction than studying for A levels), still didn’t really like it. Tried to read it around 21 or so, nope, then concluded it was a shite book only liked by geeks. When the Fellowship movie was due out, my boyfriend at the time was a LOTR freak, so I decided to give the book one more chance as he was so into it.* And - wow. Been a geek about it ever since and read it about once a year. Still don’t like The Hobbit anywhere near as much though, but perhaps that’s cos I’ve only read it twice.
I was incredulous after finally getting into it that the boyfriend had put up with me for so long, as any potential suitors of mine now would get dumped like a hot potato if they slagged off LOTR. Yep, he said, I did think about dumping you a few times, but knew you’d come round eventually.
I love The Hobbit I read it every couple of years. I try and read LOTR right afterwards but I tend to get bogged down during Two towers but Its still a great story and I read the whole thing about every 5 years when I’ve forgotten enough that it interests me enough. I hate the Silmarillion On three attempts I’ve never made it more then halfway normally over the course of months it just won’t hold my attention for more then about two pages at a time.
True, but many of us are not students of Tolkien. I would love to be one, but even with my massive collection and 20+ readings of the Silmarillion, I still don’t even consider myself close to that title yet.
Though, I did hear Tom Shipey speak at my school a few years back. It was brilliant.
In three volumes. Comprising one novel.
When the Fellowship movie was due out, my boyfriend at the time was a LOTR freak, so I decided to give the book one more chance as he was so into it.* And - wow. Been a geek about it ever since and read it about once a year. Still don’t like The Hobbit anywhere near as much though, but perhaps that’s cos I’ve only read it twice. 