# Who HAS NOT read LOTR? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275 "2009-07-16T22:51:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/21 "2009-07-17T02:30:38Z")
I read the Hobbit and really enjoyed it but just can’t get very far into The Followship of the Ring. I hoped after seeing the movies and really enjoying them I could tackle the books, but for me it proves to be toughter than trekking to Modor. ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/22 "2009-07-17T03:01:56Z")
I have neither read the book or seen the movies. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/23 "2009-07-17T03:08:44Z")
Never read the books or seen the movies. Which is a little strange since I used to play tabletop RPGS (D&D etc), played Everquest and even played the LoTR MMORPG for a bit. Just never got around to trying to read the books and the films, to be honest, just seem like a big time investment for watching some movies. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/24 "2009-07-17T03:10:18Z")
**Raises hand** I have NOT read LOTR. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/25 "2009-07-17T03:14:05Z")
I quite liked the Hobbit when we read it at school, but couldn’t manage the Lord of the Rings. I’m not even sure how much of the first book I managed to read because it was such a slog. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/26 "2009-07-17T03:18:34Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > I read The Hobbit in 10th grade English, then watched the first LOTR movie and said I would read the novels. > > I tried to, but by GOD is that one tedious book(s). I got about three chapters in before I gave up… Do you mean the animated movies? ---
**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/27 "2009-07-17T03:28:54Z")
I’ve tried about three times and can’t even get through the introductory chapter. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/28 "2009-07-17T03:32:19Z")
Me. Frankly, I really don’t know why it seems like the SDMB is such a hotbed of LOTR fanaticism, especially compared to other message boards. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/29 "2009-07-17T03:35:38Z")
I should add, I saw the LOTR movies and love them! I’ve read all of HP, and seen all of the movies so far. I love the HP books, and the movies range from love down to merely like a lot. “Slog” seems a common word in describing the LOTR books by those of us who haven’t finished the books. ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/30 "2009-07-17T05:25:36Z")
Nope on both the novels and the movies. I tried The Hobbit and had no interest. Again, just not into fantasy. I’ve been meaning to try the movies but I’ve been out of the movie habit of late. And, frankly, I’m in no rush and really don’t care if I ever do see them. ---
**Author:** ![Second\_Star\_to\_the\_Right](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@Second\_Star\_to\_the\_Right](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Second_Star_to_the_Right)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/31 "2009-07-17T05:28:56Z")
I haven’t read them. I did try after seeing Fellowship for the first time, but I just couldn’t get into it. I have seen all the movies, both theatrical and extended director’s cut, and loved them. I’ve filled in a lot of the blanks left by the films by reading this board and also by having a BFF who knows the books inside and out. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/32 "2009-07-17T05:32:31Z")
Back in the early 1980s I got about halfway through the second volume, but it just got too boring to continue. I haven’t bothered trying again since. I haven’t seen the films either, although I have sung the Lord of the Rings Symphony. ---
**Author:** ![seosamh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@seosamh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seosamh)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/33 "2009-07-17T06:06:29Z")
There was a fad for reading LOTR when I was at school in the mid-70s. Being froward, I refused to jump on the bandwaggon and have avoided it (and anything elseby Tolkein) ever since. For the same reason, I have not ever seen the films. The Harry Potter books (and probably the films too?) are aimed at children and I am in my late 40s, hence no interest at all. ---
**Author:** ![lshaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e36b37/32.png) [@lshaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lshaw)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/34 "2009-07-17T06:25:37Z")
I couldn’t get through a single one of the LOTR books. Fell asleep during the first LOTR movie and didn’t have any desire to watch the other ones. ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/35 "2009-07-17T06:40:44Z")
Me. Harry Potter either. No desire, don’t care for the genre. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/36 "2009-07-17T10:06:00Z")
Was there really a purpose to this other than inviting a bashing of the books? ---
**Author:** ![kbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kbear)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/37 "2009-07-17T11:19:09Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Inspired by the same Harry Potter thread. > > I am curious because I read and LOVED Harry Potter, but I cannot get into LOTR no matter how hard I try. It’s for a couple of reasons: I can’t remember the weird names, I get confused over the fake locations as well…even with the map in the book, and, most of all, I can’t stand the long winded paragraphs over seemingly nothing. So I just never read the books. Who else is out there? Exactly! Never made it through any of the movies either. For whatever reason, they just didn’t stick with me. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/38 "2009-07-17T11:44:39Z")
My mom pushed _The Hobbit_ on me as a kid … I think originally I was too young for it, I tried but didn’t really get anything from the first few chapters other than a vague sense of freakiness about hobbits, and then put it down. Years later, I tried with the trilogy, and couldn’t make it very far then either. That time, the concept seemed okay, but it was like reading Bon Appetit. I was always putting the book down to wander off and have a snack. This time I made it maybe 1/4 the way through the first one. It still lives on my shelf, looking at me reproachfully. I have watched the movies and enjoyed them well enough, but wouldn’t describe myself as a particular fan. Ha, I was also remembering that as a kid, I had a friend who just _loved_ the books, and would tell me all about them, and I don’t know if I’m remembering it this way or if it really was this way, it seemed like 95% of what she talked about was Gollum, and how scary he was and I think this contributed a lot to my hesitation to read the books at the time. Even as an adult watching the movies, I found Gollum a little _too_ disturbing. ---
**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:** [July 17, 2009, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/39 "2009-07-17T13:54:48Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > …Frankly, I really don’t know why it seems like the SDMB is such a hotbed of LOTR fanaticism, especially compared to other message boards. We’re not fanatics. We just love LOTR to the point of near-insanity. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2009, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275/40 "2009-07-17T14:18:11Z")
Loved _The Hobbit_, then was assigned the first LOTR as the summer reading going into 8th grade. Slogged through it as best I could, but fucking hated it and, 40 years later, have forgotten everything about it except how much I hated it. Have no interest in returning to the scene of that particular crime. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-not-read-lotr/503275.md?page=3)