I’m about to dive into this book for the first time. I’ve been meaning to do it forever, and with the movie coming out I finally remembered to pick it up at the bookstore.
I gather from just the first few pages I’ve glanced at that it’s going to be a deep swim. Lots and lots of detail in here.
So, any advice? Should I make sure to absorb everything? I confess I tend to be a “skimmer,” unless I really adore the story and then I soak up every little detail I can.
Hmm, I’d pass. Some pompous Brit penned it I think. Plus it’s all made-up – not a bit of truth in there. JR Dickens or something. I hear there’s a movie coming out soon though, I’d just wait for that if I were you.
I wouldn’t try to soak up every little detail, there are so many of them. That’s one of the things which makes the Lord of the Rings trilogy so enjoyable to re-read. I read it for the first time when I was quite young (c. age 12) and then again while in graduate school. I was amazed at how familiar and yet how new the story was the second time around.
Tolkein had a rich inner eye for detail, particular topography and landscape. Not every reader needs to get the “lay of the land” so tangibly, so don’t feel too badly if you find yourself skimming over those parts. Do look out for characters you love to love (and love to hate), hints of Middle Earth’s vast history and the mythic sense of real otherwordliness that Tolkein conveys through his use of language and spectacle. Also remember: the story is as much about “the journey” as it is about the plot and the end result, so patience is required; but I do think you will find it well worth the effort.
Advice: Skip the Forward, the Prologue, and the Note On Shire Records. The Prologue mostly contains minutae that you won’t care about until after you’ve read the novel. The Forward and the Note contain spoilers for the plot. (Yes, it’s strange that the Forward would contain spoilers, but it was written after the book was published.)
Also keep in mind that the plot doesn’t really get moving until chapter 8 or so.
I too, would suggest reading *The Hobbit * first. If that doesn’t draw you in, to the point that you really want to digest all the details, this may not be the literature for you.
Do, however, read the section “On the Finding of the Ring” (or whatever it’s called) if you haven’t read The Hobbit. Other than that – listen to MJH. And enjoy!
I LOVE the LOTR trilogy and The Hobit, and am rereading them now. I would definitely recommend reading The Hobbit first, but it is not necessary. I have found that after I read all four books once, I noticed a whole lot of details when I reread them. You should be able to get the plot even if you don’t memorize all the details.
I found that the first book, Fellowship of the Ring, is pretty upbeat at first, but the next book gets sort of sad, and the third gets very upbeat at the end. I don’t know about The Silmarrilon, since I have never read it, so if anyone can tell me anythig I would be grateful.
Have fun with Tolkien’s masterpiece!
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lord in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all. One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
My friend, I have tried to read The Silmarillion. Several times, in fact. If you are expecting another LOTR, forget it. The book is more of a “Bible” of Middle Earth (Who begat who and what laws governed who and what) and was, IIRC, completed by Mr. Tolkien’s son and Peter Beagle.
If you are (or plan to be) a Tolkien “scholar” you might find this book interesting, but if you just want to get to know Middle Earth for the sake of the tale, The Silmarillion IMHO, will neither detract nor enhance LOTR.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: What’s published as The Silmarillion is actually several separate works. If you find the Valaquenta and such tedious (I couldn’t read it the first time I tried it, either), you can safely skip it, and go on to the Silmarillion proper. Mind you, those other parts are good, and well worth reading if you enjoy that sort of stuff, but they’re not necessary to enjoy the rest of the book.
The thing I’ve noticed with Tolkien is that he’s not the greatest with beginnings or endings… Which makes some sense, since he tends to write the sort of story that doesn’t have a real beginning or ending (two of the characters comment on this in the second book, when they realize that they’re living the continuation of the ancient legends they’d heard as children). The sole exception to this is the Silmarillion, in which, of course, the beginning is The Beginning. The long and the short of it is, it takes a few chapters for Tolkien to hit his stride, so please, don’t give up on the book until you’ve given it a fair chance (at least where they enter the Old Forest, or the scenes in the inn at Bree, in LotR, or the encounter with the trolls, in The Hobbit).
I would also second the recommendation, by the way, that you read The Hobbit first. Either work can and does stand on its own, but they also add a lot of richness to each other. If you’re planning on reading both anyway, you might as well read them in order, especially since LotR contains some pretty significant spoilers for The Hobbit. Then again, though, a lot of that is probably already spoiled by the movie trailers, anyway, and neither story relies too heavily on suspense… It’s your call.
I’ve read LOTR about twenty times (first time was when I was about ten). Each time, I always noticed something new… it’s THAT detailed. So, no, don’t try to absorb everything in one go. If you MUST focus on certain parts, I would recommend the Mines of Moria and the battle of Helm’s Deep. And everything else.
Alessan, yes. Christopher Tolkein’s forward in The Silmarillion acknowledges GGK’s assistance in compiling and editing the work in 1974-1975. I believe GGK has assisted in editing most, if not all, of Tolkein’s work for posthumous publication.
I have read parts of this work and enjoyed some of the stories. But one has to be something of a fan of Anglo-Saxon literature to really get into it. Think “Beowulf” with a kick.
The silmarillion picks up after you get past the begats and they start killing each other. I ran a Fantasy Hero campaign set in Middle Earth once, and wrote up a short History of Middle Earth from the point of view of the player characters. The first and second ages were summed up about like this:
Creation. Lots of singing and dying. Woe, destruction, and wondrous things. On to the Third Age.
