There’s a whole thread* by choie wondering whether she would enjoy the movies without having read the book. I was the only other person in the thread who announced not having read the books before, either. So we’re thinking about doing a group read here on the Dope.
The above linked thread is a good example of what I mean–those of us who haven’t read the books shall ask questions for those of you that have while both offer their opinions. Perhaps even including what parts of the book can be safely skipped. (to be read later, of course, Tolkienites)
I feel like the OP of this thread, so I don’t want to read them on my own. But I think it would be a lot of fun in a group. Wanna join with us?
I’m not into fantasy so I never even considered reading LOTR.
We did play Johan DeMeij’s “Lord of the Rings” suite in high school band and it’s one of the best pieces I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. Still didn’t make me want to read it.
I saw the first movie and it put me to sleep. I didn’t see any others.
I didn’t know what LOTR meant, but now that I do I must say that the first book was fun.
In college, my girlfriend and I read it to each other in bed, laughing all the while. Somehow the words River Withywindle would always crack us up. Good times, the 60s
Have started LOTR because the moderator account names of a board I used t…errr… moderate… were assigned by the owner and taken from Tolkien stories (mine from The Silmarillion)…
So in the interests of curiosity I decided to read them… didn’t get past about 25 or so pages of the FOTR…haven’t seen the movies either (including the cartoon Hobbit from back in the day)
Out of curiosity, what was your name?
And for those who’ve said that you’ve read two or three chapters and gave up, I know it sounds trite, but you may want to give it another try. It takes a little while to get up to speed. If you get to the halfway point of Fellowship of the Ring (a very well-defined point; the series is actually composed of six “books” in three volumes) and still aren’t interested, then you can safely conclude that it’s just not your cup of tea and put it down.
Like a lot of others I read The Hobbit and liked it. Tried to read LOTR soon after, which was high school, and could not get through it. When the first movie came out I saw it and enjoyed it. Then I tried to read it again. It took me a few months to get through it. Normally I wouldn’t have finished it, but I figured I should. There’s no way I’d go back and read it again, and I don’t remember much of it now.
I tried SO HARD to read Lord of the Rings because my husband absolutely loved it the trilogy. I couldn’t do it. I kept falling asleep while I was trying to read it. So I tried the Hobbit, but couldn’t do that, either.
I watched the movies as well, but they were “Meh.”
The problem isn’t not being up to speed–I’m familiar with and like the actual story buried in all the tortured prose. The problem is being bored titless by the writing style, which isn’t going to magically go away if you force yourself through a lot more of it.
I have never read any of them; nor have I seen any of the movies. I think it’s because I associate it with all the hippies I knew back in the 60s, who were constantly telling me how groovy it all was.
I’ll admit I have actually read them all, but it wasn’t until the films were coming out. I read The Hobbit and then started Fellowship …
but the 70,000 pages that made up the ridiculous nonsense that was Tom Bombadil ruined it for me. It was years before I tried again - skipping over that entire section - and found it more enjoyable.
I’ve tried to read the books. My first attempt was Fellowship, which my dad brought home for me when I was in the second grade. I was probably reading at a fifth or sixth grade level at that point (based on testing out at a 10th grade level by 4th grade), but it was still beyond my grasp, so I didn’t get far.
In high school I made an attempt to slog through The Hobbit. The Hobbit has the distinction of being the only book other than Wuthering Heights that I’ve ever thrown against a wall. There is no point to flowery prose you need to spend that much time wading through!
I respect the genius that his stories were simply because they’ve inspired so many other writers, but I hate hate hate his writing. I’d far rather read one of the “pretenders” than exhaust myself trying to get through all those pointless adjectives. Life is too short to make another attempt to get through those books.
Is it okay if I tell you that I love you in a sisterly, Christian way?
I have not read any of the LoTR books. I love the genre (read it almost exclusively), the Hobbit is one of my favorite books ever, loved Harry Potter, but LoTR was not written in a way I could handle. I got probably 20 pages in to the first book when I stopped.
