One thing that always gets my goat is when the elves and hobbits actually start singing. Several of my friends actually told me to skip those parts. But since this is a challenge after all, I will read every single word of these three books, including all the text that rhymes and comes in stanzas.
Besides, my good friend R has given me a wonderful edition of the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring. So now I have a good motivation to read it.
20 comments:
I read book 1 before I saw the film and it was great! I still think the book was better though the movie was also excellent. I somehow couldn't get through book 2 but then movie 2 was also the worst of the trilogy for me. Too many battle scenes.
Hi, Mrs. B! Unlike you, I loved The Two Towers movie, which I think was the best of the trilogy. Anyway, I just hope to finish book 1 and then probably start book 2 after that.
Maybe you should start by reading The Hobbit. These are totally different books, since The Hobbit is a children's book and LOTR was written for adults, but it's a good introduction to the cosmology of Middle-Earth and to hobbits, dwarfs, and Gandalf.
I have never read any Tolkien either. I've only started reading fantasy this year, so reading LOTR kind of intimidates me. I only watched the movie because of everyone else was watching it.
Good luck with this challenge, and I hope you enjoy it, singing hobbits and all. :)
@Bibliophile: Yes, I will definitely read The Hobbit, but I think I'll read it after taking on the trilogy.
@Tina: Thanks! Tara, let's do this together. Hehehe.
I enjoyed The Hobbit. But LOTR killed me. I had the 3 in 1 book, so I didn't know if I got up to the 2nd book, but I didn't care. At some point midway through the book, I told myself enough is enough. No more songs! Life's too short to bear with books that are too long and that are filled with elvin songs. What an ordeal.
Forgive me for the mini rant.
basahin mo yan kung hindi bubugbugin kita! you'll be buttered!
Same here! I also got that box set of LOTR and it looks good on my shelves, but it would be better if I read them. Haha I read only the half of book 1 but I stopped (because some interesting book stole my reading time). Maybe next year I'll continue reading it, it's an awesome book but too lengthy and... Wordy compared to The Hobbit (which I totally loved).
@gege: You took the words right out of my mouth.
@Portobello's coffee: Fine, fine...
@isaw: Hahaha. The LOTR trilogy does look good on one's shelves.
Good luck, Peter!!
Hi po! I have not read any Tolkien except for a single chapter of Silmarillion which resulted to migraine and nosebleed. I keep on saying it's because I'm not a Sci-Fi reader, but meh, excuses. But I still have this on my TBR. So next year perhaps :)
@Stepford Mum: Thanks!
@Christine Marie: Thanks for visiting! I guess, at one point, we all have to read these, right?
I liked the songs! Well, the hobbit songs at least. I even memorized a few and recited them to my family when I was a pre-teen. The elven songs were longer and not nearly as fun. Skip those if you want!
Hi, Jeane! Hmmmm... This is the first time I met someone who loved the elven songs!
I read LOTR before the digital age, hehe, so with the lack of the Internet and other distractions, I actually didn't mind the songs then. I liked its contributions to the world building.
Although I did read the books again after the movies came out and I noticed that I skipped the songs already. Skip them, if they bother you. You won't lose any of the narrative anyway.
Thanks for the tip, Honey!
college na ako nang binasa ko ang books. laking gulat ko when i saw my 12-year old nephew reading them.
Hi, Mandaya Moore! Well, you're nephew is one smart kid!
Good luck with this challenge! I read the trilogy before the 1st movie was released and I'm glad I did it that way. If I had seen the movies first I would have been easily bored by the books. But really, I like this whole series. A bit slow for me at times but definitely could see why it's a classic. And I like the songs! Well, I was quite naive then and I just thought they sounded really cool! :P
It took me till I was twenty-nine to read this series after the second grade disaster with The Hobbit. I positively loved the books. The films are missing a lot of the details and some story lines and a blue ton of songs. It was a wonderful, though long read. My brother-in-law was breaching no argument when he informed me I was going to read it. :)
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