# Lord of the Rings: What % of movie-goers have read the books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2014, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294 "2014-04-29T17:40:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/61 "2014-05-12T14:30:20Z")
The 150 million number isn’t the total number of sales of each volume. It’s an estimate of the total number of “sets” sold because Tolkien viewed it as a single novel. See [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books#cite_note-6). ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/62 "2014-05-12T15:22:12Z")
I read _The Hobbit_ in 3rd grade. (It was written as a children’s story, right?) My dad had the [hardback edition](http://www.amazon.com/Hobbit-Collectors-J-R-Tolkien/dp/B00DZWPRLC/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1399907230&sr=1-2&keywords=the+hobbit) with cool runes and maps which I loved to look at. It would be a few years later before we found in the basement his LotR paperback set. Read _The Hobbit_ again to prep and even used the appendix at the end to translate the runes on the front of _The Hobbit_. For the record, I have planned that my kids will read/be read _The Hobbit_ before seeing the movies. It’s a must. And for the scoring, my wife has read _The Hobbit_ but not LotR. It was a trade. She read it and I read _Pride and Prejudice_. (The non-zombie version) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/63 "2014-05-12T15:29:51Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The 150 million number isn’t the total number of sales of each volume. It’s an estimate of the total number of “sets” sold because Tolkien viewed it as a single novel. See [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books#cite_note-6). So they’re saying 150 million of each - FOTR, TTT, and ROTK? Gotcha - that makes more sense. I read it as the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/64 "2014-05-12T15:39:16Z")
Yes, that’s how I read it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/65 "2014-05-12T16:06:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **2sense** : > > I think some day we can get a lighthearted (but increasingly less so as things move along) story of Bilbo on the screen but it needs to be completely separate from LOTR so no Peter Jackson Honestly, the animated version wasn’t that bad, and was reasonably true to the book. I think it gets a bad rap from association with the two animated LotR movies. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/66 "2014-05-12T17:30:20Z")
I thought everyone liked the Bakshi film. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/67 "2014-05-12T17:35:36Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I thought everyone liked the Bakshi film. I liked it when I was eleven, because I was in love with the books and the Bakshi film was all I had available to me. I grew to hate it: the rotoscoping, especially rotoscoped characters taking to conventionally animated characters; the horrible voice casting; the liberties taken with the story; the failure to bring aboard an actual Tolkien scholar, or even someone who had read the appendices (even at 11, I knew they were pronouncing things like Celeborn and Sauron wrong); the lack of even the slightest attention to continuity (e.g. they decided halfway through production to start calling Saruman “Aruman,” without bothering to go back and rerecord the previous utterances of his name). Great orchestral soundtrack, though. I think I might even prefer it to the sountrack of the Peter Jackson trilogy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Airk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de053/32.png) [@Airk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airk)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/68 "2014-05-12T18:30:50Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I thought everyone liked the Bakshi film. Uh, I thought everyone HATED the Bakshi LotR. (Except, of course, for all the 11 year olds who saw it at that age and were super impressed. These people should cherish that memory and NEVER WATCH IT AGAIN.) FYI: [A Critique of Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings](http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/bakshi/bakshi.htm) On the other hand, I DO still have a certain soft spot for the Rankin Bass version of The Hobbit. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/69 "2014-05-12T19:08:33Z")
Maybe this is like _Labyrinth_. I saw both when I was about 11 and loved them. Then, when I watched Labyrinth as an adult I was too busy being terrified of David Bowie’s crotch bulge to enjoy it at all. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/70 "2014-05-12T20:16:32Z")
Wow, **Airk** , that link brings back memories. That’s the same site that has the truly epic [summary for people who need to do a book report](http://flyingmoose.org/tolksarc/homework.htm). ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/71 "2014-05-12T20:18:08Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Maybe this is like _Labyrinth_. I saw both when I was about 11 and loved them. Then, when I watched Labyrinth as an adult I was too busy being terrified of David Bowie’s crotch bulge to enjoy it at all. I call it the Bowie Constrictor. :eek: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/72 "2014-05-12T20:37:29Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > …On the other hand, I DO still have a certain soft spot for the Rankin Bass version of The Hobbit. I remember it well. My aforementioned sister gave me the _Hobbit_ reprint with illustrations from the cartoon, and I really liked it. I actually prefer the look and proportions of the Dwarves from that cartoon to the actors playing Thorin & Co. in the PJ movies: [http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/1t1scnPumwugILHcw0R9pmo4Ecu.jpg](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/1t1scnPumwugILHcw0R9pmo4Ecu.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/73 "2014-05-12T20:46:44Z")
> [@Airk](#): > > On the other hand, I DO still have a certain soft spot for the Rankin Bass version of The Hobbit. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I remember it well. My aforementioned sister gave me the _Hobbit_ reprint with illustrations from the cartoon, and I really liked it. I actually prefer the look and proportions of the Dwarves from that cartoon to the actors playing Thorin & Co. in the PJ movies: [http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/1t1scnPumwugILHcw0R9pmo4Ecu.jpg](http://image.tmdb.org/t/p/original/1t1scnPumwugILHcw0R9pmo4Ecu.jpg). I like it just fine. If it hadn’t been a musical, it would have been even better. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2014, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/74 "2014-05-12T23:38:35Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > [List of best-selling books - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books) > > Ranked #2 behind “A Tale of Two Cities”. > > OTOH, all three novels are combined into one for the LOTR series to be ranked as high as it is. My problem with this logic is simple: While I understand the authors intent, the fact remains that I had to buy _three_ separate books, and it makes no sense to consider the three LOTR books as “one” when the same standard isn’t applied to any other series (Harry Potter being the obvious example.) > > So when I can buy a single copy LOTR for the same price I paid for my single copy of _The Stand_ or _A Tale of Two Cities_ (two other long novels that are single books), then I’ll accept that “LOTR” is the second best-selling “novel”. But as long as I have to pay $8.99\*3 for the books (or $25 for a trade paperback) that 150 million figure should honestly be divided by three. Lord of the Rings was written as a single work, tell a single story, and intended to be published as such; it was divided into three volumes for financial reasons. The Potter novels were not written all at once and tell seven separate stories. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/75 "2014-05-13T00:58:06Z")
Yes, this was explained earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/76 "2014-05-13T04:04:04Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > The Silmarillion is MUCH better than LotR (which I love, don’t misunderstand me). The best way to read the former, I believe, is how the person who lent me my first copy advised. Skip Ainulindaule and Valaquenta on first read, but be ready to refer to them to keep the names of the Valar straight. Be patient as you work through the narrative section; it’s worth it. If you’re enjoying it at all, you’re likely to stop at some point because the first two sections have become worthwhile to you. That was different for me. I grabbed the \*Silmarillion \*the instant it was published. I enjoyed the _Ainulindalë_ and _Valaquenta_, but then got bogged down in the epic sections. I didn’t read it all the way through until almost 20 years later. When it was first published was when I turned 18 and started college at the same time, and I thought _Ainulindalë_ was one of the best things I’d ever read. Creation through song, like in the Kalevala. And the original music can still be heard in the sound of water, which impressed me the most of all. Only thing I wasn’t too happy about was the description of Melkor’s evil music, which seemed like a potshot against jazz. ---
**Author:** ![2sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e47774/32.png) [@2sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2sense)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/77 "2014-05-13T05:14:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Honestly, the animated version wasn’t that bad, and was reasonably true to the book. I think it gets a bad rap from association with the two animated LotR movies. I saw all of these when I was young and liked them all. I’m sort of afraid of going back to watch them again. I just checked on Netflix and neither the Rankin/Bass Hobbit or Return of the King are available. So no temptation I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/78 "2014-05-13T11:54:01Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > That was different for me. I grabbed the \*Silmarillion \*the instant it was published. I enjoyed the _Ainulindalë_ and _Valaquenta_, but then got bogged down in the epic sections. I didn’t read it all the way through until almost 20 years later. When it was first published was when I turned 18 and started college at the same time, and I thought _Ainulindalë_ was one of the best things I’d ever read. Creation through song, like in the Kalevala. And the original music can still be heard in the sound of water, which impressed me the most of all. Only thing I wasn’t too happy about was the description of Melkor’s evil music, which seemed like a potshot against jazz. I always hear Mars the Bringer of War when reading that bit. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/79 "2014-05-13T13:43:59Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > …Only thing I wasn’t too happy about was the description of Melkor’s evil music, which seemed like a potshot against jazz. > [@Grey](#): > > I always hear Mars the Bringer of War when reading that bit. I always think of postmodern atonal crap - Stockhausen, or Glass on a bad day. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294/80 "2014-05-13T21:13:41Z")
Personally, I associate Melkor’s music with _really bad_ jazz. _Good_ jazz is what his part was supposed to sound like, in the score. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lord-of-the-rings-what-of-movie-goers-have-read-the-books/687294.md?page=5)