J.R.R. Tolkien

[KateGT]

I've read The Hobbit as well as The Lord of the Rings, but in the past I've had a very hard time completing The Silmarillion. Perhaps one day I'll tackle it, but for now there are many other books that I would like to read.

 

[Champagne]

I also had problems with The Silmarillion. I think the early parts of it are beautiful, but there are so many characters being introduced so quickly that I've never managed to keep up.

 

[Tintin]

The Lay of Luthien in the Silmarillion is among Tolkein's best works ever.

 

[Robert]

I wonder.... How much longer will Tolkien last in our society? Will people eventually lose interest in his writing style?

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are timeless. I don't see Tolkien going away.

 

[Forest Elf]

I love fantasy. I love to read it and I write it.
I tried reading "The Hobbit" when I was in high school because my boyfriend kept telling me how wonderful it was. I read three pages and began wondering what on earth my boyfriend liked about the book. It was going nowhere fast.

My husband and I watched "The Two Towers" one day when we had nothing better to do. I'd remembered my old boyfriend also talking about the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I thought the movie awesome and decided to give the "Fellowship of the Ring" a try, because the book is always better than the movie, right?

We also watched the DVD of the first movie.

Anyway, I agree that Tolkien does get wordy, goes overboard with descriptions, and there were times I just skipped past all the poetry. But all in all the story was great. I finally understood what 'Daniel' saw in the books. After reading the trilogy I went back and got 'The Hobbit'. This time I enjoyed it.

I recently bought 'The Silmarillion' and "Unfinished Tales" but haven't read them yet.

 

[Fantasy Moon]

I liked the descriptions of the Valar in The Silmarillion. I look forward to seeing how it goes from here.

 

[Fantasy Moon]

I finally finished reading The Silmarillion. It took me a bit to get through this book, but in the end I have really enjoyed it. An utterly depressing tale, yet it makes me want to read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings again. I think it has enriched the experience.

 

[thischarmingman]

Il ove LOTR and the hobbit, the silmarillion was like pulling teeth

 

[Tai_Mai_Shu]

The Hobbit is his greatest work. I'll never get tired of Tolkien and will re-read it time after time.

 

[Occlith]

Of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, I like LOTR most.
I also like his non-middle earth tales - Smith of Wootton Major and especially, Farmer Giles of Ham.

 

[Hawkbrother]

Have read The Hobbit and LOTR several times in my life. Never grow tired of them. Yes, LOTR is long and detailed and in today's world of short atention spans and five minute sound bytes can see how it might not appeal.
To younger readers: yes, it is a lot tougher to read than the Harry Potter or Twilight books, but it is worth it.
The movies stuck to the book pretty well, though there were some changes. Disappointed Tom Bombadil was omitted. Part of the problem was that the first one had to include the background from The Hobbit that led up to the first book, so I guess something had to be cut to keep it from being even longer than it was .
Ideally, would have been a seven part series, starting with The Hobbit and then each of the six books that comprise the trilogy.

 

[beer good]

In 1938, The Hobbit was due to be published in Germany. According to the rules of the German government at the time (and we all know who they were), Tolkien was asked about his ancestry.

His reply:

I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by arisch. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. (...) I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.

Zing.

 

[sparkchaser]

That was a bitch slap if there ever was one.

 

[753C]

Forgive me if this has already been linked somewhere, im not so great at searching that stuff out. Anyway I ran across this and thought it was pretty amazing :
A. That Tolkien poured this amount of detailed information into his middle-earth, and
B. That this guy has the time and inclination to map it all out.

The Lord of the Rings Family Tree Project