Silmarillion - worth reading?

[Shag]

I recommend people read The Hobbit then LotR, then read the Sil; the language kind of ramps up in that direction. Its definitely written in a mythological mode rather than in an epic mode like LotR or a Children’s adventure like the Hobbit.
I find it harder to remember the whole thing though after I'm done, unlike LotR. It's probably cause its spans such a huge time frame. It's really sort of like the Bible in that it follows serveral related stories over a large period of time. In fact the more I think about it, it really is exactly like the bible of middle earth. At least the old testament part.

 

[trancejeremy]

I literally fell asleep while reading the LOTR trilogy. The Silmarilion is far worse. It's not too far off from reading a phone book.

 

[DM_Matt]

I literally fell asleep while reading the LOTR trilogy. The Silmarilion is far worse. It's not too far off from reading a phone book.

You mean, its NOT an elven phone book? Boy have I been using it wrong!

 

[sydbar]

I loved reading it, but if i'm interested in a setting, i like to learn all i can about, especially the history of the setting. It helps in role-playing a character, and designing a history for the character.

 

[Cor Azer]

I liked certain stories in it better than others (Beren and Luthien probably being my favorite). It's not an easy read though. I'm hesitant to make this comparison because I don't like touching on religion, but I found it more analgous to reading the Bible than reading an academic history text.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

I liked certain stories in it better than others (Beren and Luthien probably being my favorite). It's not an easy read though. I'm hesitant to make this comparison because I don't like touching on religion, but I found it more analgous to reading the Bible than reading an academic history text.

Like the Bible it also starts with a creation story which while tangentially related it mostly explains a bunch of Middle-earth frameworks and is mostly unrelated to the history of the Simarils (Which is why it is called the Simarilian). I personally found the begining very difficult to get through but the later parts were worth the read.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

It was a very interesting book IMO. It is like reading a historical text on mythology instead of a novel. If you are expecting tight detail of events as in LOTR don't read it, but the massive overview of ME is wonderful.

 

[buzzard]

I literally fell asleep while reading the LOTR trilogy. The Silmarilion is far worse. It's not too far off from reading a phone book.

Every so often I have a desire to re-read the LoTR, but remember the pain I experienced the first time so I demur. The Silmarillion was orders of magnitude worse, and I simply could not force myself to finish it.

buzzard

 

[Justin]

Sounds worth a shot.

Broadly interpreting the 17 responses so far, I cound 12 as "for" and 4 as "against" with one vague enough to categorize as an abstention (though interpretable as a "for"). Not scientific by any means, but enough to make me interested in picking up a copy and giving it a whirl.

Thanks for the constructive replies, everyone!

Justin

 

[Someone]

If you're a lot into middle earth you'll like it. Though for me the fact that it's an uncomplete work is very apparent: it jumps from the general to the specific and back. Had Tolkien lived a couple centuries or three we'd have ended with the Silmarillon, but what we have now is just bits and pieces.