When I was much younger, I tried reading The Lord of the Rings (by J.R.R. Tolkien). I did get through most of it, but found it incredibly dry and boring. Never did finish it, much to the horror of my Tolkien-loving friends. Over the years, I began to wonder if I had given the story a proper chance...so many loved the story, and it obviously had a great impact on literature. Now I hear that there's a LOTR movie coming out later this year, and the trailer actually does look kind of cool.
Warning to LOTR fans: I am going to be pretty blunt about what I like and don't like. You'll have a chance to throw rocks at me (in the form of comments) at the end of each of my chapter reports, but please remember that I'm admitting that I might have been wrong about the book and am making the attempt. And I WANT to like LOTR, really!
For those interested, I am reading the Unwin Paperbacks version (London, 1983).
Replies: 20 comments
Good luck!
;-)
Posted by Jeff Ridpath @ 2001 Apr 28 08:31 PM EST
Luck, Deb! Wish -I- could read LOTR for the first time again :). John's still bravely moving on in his attempt to finish LOTR before the movie comes out and now that the four hobbits are out on the road he's getting interested despite his early dire predictions. And he's warming to Sam Gamgee early, which is cool because Sam has always been my favorite LOTR character.
Posted by Allison @ 2001 Apr 29 10:31 PM EST
I finished it all when I was about 15 and have re-read it since, but pretty much agree with your initial views on it. In my opinion it could cover the story in one book instead of 3 by cutting out all that dull "tavelogue" stuff - seemingly endless pages of description of days and weeks of uneventful travel.
The film will probably be better in that respect as they'll skip to the next scene where something happens rather than showing all the non-event bits of the journeying.... I hope!
Good Luck with reading it this time 'round Debbie.
Posted by Teddy @ 2001 Apr 30 07:48 AM EST
I confess I found the best way to read LOTR was by listening to the BBC adaptation. I had the same idea of trying to read my old bugbear tome, James Joyce's Ulysses. I got to the end of chapter 1 this time! I suspect you'll have greater dedication to the calling of Frodo et al.
Enjoy.
Posted by Simon Fairbourn @ 2001 Apr 30 07:56 AM EST
Teddy: I don't mind books with lengthy description if they're well-written, if the description adds to the richness of the world. When I wasn't reading Tolkien as a teen, I was reading Charles Dickens :).I know the description in Dickens can make people tear their hair out, too, but I love Tolkien and Dickens both.
Posted by Allison @ 2001 Apr 30 12:08 PM EST
NO!! DON'T DO IT DEBBIE!!! If you manage to read it, Luisa will make me read it too. Aughhh....
Posted by Reid @ 2001 Apr 30 01:58 PM EST
Aaaaaaargh! This comment thing is faulty. If you preview your entry and want to change it (following the instruction to use the "back" button to do so) it takes you back to a blankl form and loses all the stuff you just typed!!!!!
Anyhow, and more briefly than before that happened, I don't object to descriptive stuff - just not so much of it (at least one book if not 2 in the case of LOTR).
I love Dickens. I was so keen on it as a teenager I was given a complete set in matching bindings - bought for me in monthly installments.
Posted by Teddy @ 2001 May 01 05:06 AM EST
There's always a wrong time to read a book. I was forced to read Dickens when I was 11 or 12. (At school we had to keep a list of every book we read.) I didn't read any Tolkein til I was 20. Tolkein I enjoyed (mostly) but it's 30 years or more since picked up Dickens. I'm not even keen on radio or TV adaptations of Dickens, but the BBC radio LoTR and Hobbit were great fun.
Posted by Rick @ 2001 May 01 07:50 AM EST
I almost had Dickens destroyed for me in a Gr. 10 English class, too. I had to study "A Tale Of Two Cities" and I think I just had too little history background at that point to enjoy that book. Luckily, I discovered Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Nicholas Nicholby, etc., shortly after that on my own and became hooked for life. Tolkien I discovered on my own after seeing an animated version of The Hobbit on TV. The show ended with this ring on the shelf in Bilbo's home and foreshadowing of further adventures and I was at my local library the next day looking for that sequel. I devoured LOTR in no time flat. I didn't actually read The Hobbit until after LOTR, so I've always found it a bit disappointing in comparison, though I realize The Hobbit is a book for kids.
Posted by Allison @ 2001 May 01 11:26 AM EST
I embarked on the same quest as you, Debbie, two summers ago, with the intent of digesting the trilogy by Jerry Lewis Telethon Day. Even though certain sections were interminably dry, the rewards were vast. HINT: If you make "Rings Reading" a part of your day, as common as lunch and tooth brushing, it goes much easier and becomes quite habitual. You'll discover an awkward feeling of emptyness at day's end if you miss a Tolkien shift. HINT 2: Drink Irish coffee at your coffee shop of choice when reading. For reasons unknown, this worked well for me! (thank you staff of Cream City Coffee, Cedarburg, WI) Good luck to you!
Posted by Jeff @ 2001 May 03 03:38 PM EST
I see I', a little late to this game, but I have very fong memories of reading LotR, my parents were reading it at the same time, in the tree separate book form. Things weren't to bad when we were in separate books but most of the time we were in the same one. "Mummy? can I have THE BOOK please it's my bed time" "No dear I wan't get to the end of this chaper first" "But Mummy..." I was 14 at the time. We all liked quite differnt things about it. And now when I re-read it (on a regular basis) I usually skip the parts I didn't like. Next time though I'm going to read it all.
Posted by Heather @ 2001 May 09 07:19 AM EST
Hi Debbie. We seem to be doing this in parallel, though I didn't realize it. I bought The Hobbit a while back thinking, "I really must read that book." Haven't started yet because I got too engrossed in The Philosopher's Stone -- another "I must read that book". So the Hobbit is still sitting by my bed getting dusty. I think my experience with "I must read that book" Altas Shrugged was too overwhelming (sorry Jefferson)...so I'm procrastinating.
Posted by Alison G @ 2001 May 10 05:47 PM EST
First: "Long live Frodo!"
Second: Enjoy. (The word "Enjoy" doesn't even begin to encompass the thoughts, emotions, or memories that run through me as I type the word! Sorry, just had a ZEN moment!) I started my LOTR experience reading the second book when I was 12! I forget who the publisher was, but it was the paperback version which had one of Mr. Tolkien's watercolor paintings on the front cover. Boy, I was happy that there was a synopsis of the first book in the front of the book! (Needless to say that the synopsis DOES NOT do credit to the events of that book!) Afterwards, I bought the other two books and then joyfully read them, slowly, pondering every word and imagining every description of characters, events, and surroundings before proceeding (just like enjoying a good wine, or sunset, or anything good in life!) Around this time "The Hobbit" movie came out and I enjoyed that too and then became enmeshed in AD&D for the next 8 years! When I saw "The Lord of the Rings" animated movie, I enjoyed the graphics, but was disappointed at how abridged it was! I will finish my comment with "ENJOY"!
Posted by Brown Radagast @ 2001 May 16 10:17 AM EST
I FIRST READ THE TRILOGY WHEN IN COLLEGE IN 1969 AND LOVED IT, BUT I WAS NOT AWARE OF THE COMPLEXITY OF MIDDLE EARTH AT THAT TIME.I WAS ALSO READING A LOT OF OTHER STUDIES THEN.
JUST READ THEM AGAIN, INCLUDING ALL I COULD GET MY HANDS ON OF THE FIRST AND SECOND AGES OF MIDDLE EARTH.
I'M 51 NOW AND I REALIZE THAT TOLKIEN'S WORLD IS LIKE THE UNIVERSE; THE MORE YOU LEARN THE MORE YOU REALIZE THERE IS.
Posted by EUGENE PETTINELLI @ 2001 May 16 08:44 PM EST
Hi Debbie,
The article about your 'epic adventure' in the Melbourne (Australia) Herald Sun has inspired me to also finish LOTR before the first of the movies comes out.
My fiance gave me a beautiful boxed set of The Hobbit and LOTR last Christmas. He loves Tolkien and was very keen for me to learn to love it too, even though I've never been a fan of spells, magic and dragons etc. I'd been avoiding it for a long time because I was convinced I wouldn't like it, and just needed an independent 'mentor' to get me back on track.
I found The Hobbit to be pretty slow going, but now I'm glad I read it first because it provides so much background information, and probably answers a few of the questions you had in the early chapters.
I'm enjoying LOTR much more, and get a great deal of pleasure from Tolkien's ability to convey so much about a character with a few words.
Thanks for encouragaging me, and thanks for the warning about the Prologue!
Posted by Tess @ 2001 May 22 01:39 AM EST
I hope you enjoy LOTR as much as I am, Tess! I'm glad I helped encourage you. :-)
Posted by Debbie @ 2001 May 24 08:57 AM EST
You are lucky indeed to be able to read the work for the first time. This is the only story I have been able to read and re-read and still find something new each time. So I hope you enjoy it this first time through, but I believe you have something to look forward to on your second and even third reading!
RChris
Posted by RChris @ 2001 Jun 01 03:43 AM EST
Hi There!
Go for it! I remember the first time I found the books... they looked so ... so... impressive? Intimidating, that's the word. All of a sudden I was jumping from The Boxcar Children and the Narnia books to these HUGE books. Took me a while, but I loved them.
I see somebody here likes Sam! Shameless plug - I drew a cute Sam! See him at http://members.aol.com/eowyndaala/lordofthedoodles.jpg
Posted by Nemuro @ 2001 Jun 02 01:27 AM EST
Many years ago -- I think it was grade 9 -- my favorite teacher gave me a book to read. The book was The Hobbit. Now this same teacher had given me many other books to read and they had all been Great. However, they had all been science fiction novels, and they had all been written by the same person -- Arthur C. Clarke -- so there wasn't a lot of variety of style there.
To say I was disappointed with The Hobbit would be something of an understatement. I stopped reading when everyone was singing while washing dishes or something. I've never gone back and finished it, and ever since, all things Tolkein have had a certain stigma attached to them. I avoid them like the plague.
In university [where I met Debbie and my wife, Luisa] it seemed as if *everyone* had read Lord of the Rings, and thought that anyone who had not done so was either a complete imbecile [in the most friendly way, of course :)], or simply hadn't gotten around to it yet. well, I quite clearly fell into the imbecile category, so I suppose I built up even more resentment about Tolkein works. On the other hand, I had a fellow "victim" -- Debbie. Here was a friend of mine who had also tried to read Tolkein and found him wanting. I was not alone.
Fast-forward about 20 years, and Debbie decides to give it another shot. We're all older, and maybe it won't be so bad now, she says. So she starts to read, and -- to my utter horror [well, not really] -- she starts to enjoy it! Well, Luisa can't let THIS go by, so all over the house I find books littered in prominent places, all by Tolkein. I can't even go to the bathroom in peace -- there lies the Two Towers. *sigh.
Okay, maybe it wouldn't be the end of the world if I tried it out. I would skip the dreaded prologue, and go right to the story. Well, I'll tell you right now, that after reading a chapter and a bit, it isn't so bad. I may actually continue. And since I'm too lazy to create my own web site for this [complete with commentary and all], I'll just post my musings as tag-alongs on Debbie's board. She says it's okay. :-)
Posted by Reid Ellis @ 2001 Jun 24 02:12 PM EST
To Reid: I sent you an e-mail, but not sure if you received it ok. I'm worried about these feedback pages getting too huge (and people missing your postings). I've set up a discussion forum for you similar to the one Allison has for her Silmarillion reading group. Could you please e-mail me?
http://electricpenguin.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum&f=35
Posted by Debbie @ 2001 Jun 25 06:26 AM EST
