Do you enjoy The Lord of the Rings?

jonesy

A Wicked Kendragon

• Mar 8, 2012

• #21

Umbran said:

My understanding is more that our thoughts and preferences on pacing have changed since Tolkien's day.

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tldr

 

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E

Elf Witch

First Post

• Mar 8, 2012

• #22

both. I love the world he made and the influence it has had on the field of fantasy. But the books for the most part bore me to death. There were parts that were entertaining. There were also parts that just dragged and dragged.

It took me several years to get through Fellowship of the Ring, I would get so frustrated with it I would put it down for awhile.

 

Lwaxy

Cute but dangerous

• Mar 8, 2012

• #23

There is nothing boring to me about the books. I love the in depth descriptions, the pacing, the travels - that's what makes the world come alive, really. I'm not that much fond of Bombadil but that is partly because I was always sorry not to be able to hear the songs and just reading about them.

 

J

jmucchiello

Hero

• Mar 8, 2012

• #24

Both, leaning toward 'No'. My first attempt at age 14 failed in The Two Towers with Pipen lost in the forest. I did not try again until my 30s just before the Jackson movies were released. Just can't stand the style. I found the Simarillian both easier and harder to read but have no desire to research whether that because of Christpher's editing or not. I still need to reread the Hobbit (I was 14). I waiting for my son to get older but I dread reading those songs out loud. I am hoping having read the Simarillian will make songs easier to follow.

 

C

Cor Azer

First Post

• Mar 8, 2012

• #25

Umbran said:

My understanding is more that our thoughts and preferences on pacing have changed since Tolkien's day.

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Quite possible. I've not read enough literature (fantasy or not) from that period to know if that sort of pacing was common or not.

 

Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator

Staff member

Supporter

• Mar 8, 2012

• #26

Again, part of it may be that the cadence and imagery of heroic epics- something he was emulating- simply sounds better in some languages than in others. Finnish could be one of those languages.

Anyone else read LotR in a language with a major heroic epic in it's literary history? Greek? Indian? German?

 

Lwaxy

Cute but dangerous

• Mar 8, 2012

• #27

I read it in German first and the translation I had was really done well. Bombadil's songs were easier to read in translation, too.

 

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David Howery

Hero

• Mar 8, 2012

• #28

I enjoyed it, but skipped over a lot of the extraneous stuff... 'ooh, a battle, neat!" "urgh, elves singing, skip"...

 

MarkB

Legend

• Mar 8, 2012

• #29

I first read it in my early teens, and have read it again once every few years since then (I'm now 40). I've greatly enjoyed it each time.

I haven't read it so often recently, but then my reading of novels in general has dropped off a lot over the last decade or so.

 

Umbran

Mod Squad

Staff member

Supporter

• Mar 8, 2012

• #30

Cor Azer said:

Quite possible. I've not read enough literature (fantasy or not) from that period to know if that sort of pacing was common or not.

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Well, here's something that might help consideration.

I like the series. My wife tried to read them, but found they were just too slow for her...

...until we tried the trick of having me read them aloud to her, while she was crafting or the like. The effect is completely different, and she went from finding them too slow to be palatable to finding them fairly enjoyable.