How many times have you read the books?

[Eldarion]

How many times have your read the LOTR's books?

[Strider]

I have probably read LOTR somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 times or so. I never really kept count, but I have read it a lot since I was about ten years old.

[ellenora]

I haven't kept count either. For a while I tended to read it about once a year... and I first read it in 1966. I last read it in 2004 and am about to read it again.

My favorite scenes usually involve Gandalf. My least favorite when I was younger were the scenes of the long journey through Mordor. I noticed the last time I read it, that was not so and I got more out of them now.

LOTR was the first book I ever re-read and rearead again... and have kept re-reading.

NOTE: this does not count the number of times I pull it out and flip through pages just to read a scene or two. ;)

[Rowanberry]

I've lost count. I've read all the "basic" books - LOTR, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales - at least four times cover to cover, and browse them almost daily for references, trivia questions, and such. Now, I'm working my way systematically through the History of Middle-earth series (which you could call "making of" documents to the books), currently reading Vol. 4 of 12, which discusses the early versions of the Silmarillion.

[TrekSucksHard]

Jesus, you guys actually finished the book?

I couldn't even get past the Fellowship of the Ring- it was so BOOOORRRINNNGGG!

Worm Ouroboros is infinitely superior.

[Strider]

Well, this IS a Lord of the Rings forum. I think you'd expect to find at least a few fans of the books in here. :wink:

I've never heard of that book...who wrote it?

[ellenora]

Maybe he misread the name of the forum? ;) :rolleyes:

[alaristhered]

Trying to remember...I think I read it 7 times, but not sure. I was planning on reading it again this year, but I'm swamped with baby books (have 4 of them!) and am behind in my Classical Singer issues, which I need to read for professional reasons. We'll see...

[TrekSucksHard]

Well, this IS a Lord of the Rings forum. I think you'd expect to find at least a few fans of the books in here. :wink:

I've never heard of that book...who wrote it?

Worm Ouroboros was written years before Lord of The Rings by ER Edison (Tolkien actually acknowledges WO as an inspiration for LOTR)- the first chapter is somewhat flawed but once you get beyond that it is a superb book because of the archaic dialogue and description. And being only one book it isn't filled with all the rambling stuff Tolkien added in as filler for his book (he went waaay overboard IMHO).

Anyway, the LOTR movies were good but I doubt if I'll ever finish reading the books. Ugh.

[tstone]

I've read them once. They are classics that just escaped my reading until after Fellowship came out. Then I had to do it. I just held off reading return until after I saw the film.

Wanted to be surprised.

:)

I'll go ahead and read The Hobbit, tho. I've seen the Rankin Bass film and know how it goes.

[Space Tycoon]

Read LOTR twice, Hobbit twice, Silmarillion once. I plan to reread that soon.

In all honesty, I have to admit it took me a long time to get through Fellowship. But I flew through TTT and ROTK(reading them after seeing Fellowship on screen probably helped). I blame tv and action films for stunting my attention span.

I read Beowulf once. Anyone here seen the new film?




.

[alaristhered]

One of these days I WILL read the Silmarillion. My Dad has offered to loan me his copy, and once I've finished my "have to" reading, I'll move on to some reading for fun!

[Space Tycoon]

It's worth the read. Much more like a textbook than the other books, which is probably why they have not been adapted for the screen yet. Still, I can't see why certain stories, like the Creation, Beren and Luthien, the Downfall of Numenor, and many others couldn't be expanded upon and filmed by someone with a creative mind.




.

[Rowanberry]

I'm not at all convinced that the Sil will ever get made into movies. If that happens, there are indeed storylines that would make relevant entities: Fëanor and the Noldorin rebellion, Beren and Lúthien, Túrin, Gondolin including the stories of Maeglin and Eärendil... The problem would be, in which part and how to include the great battles, the coming of Men, etc.

[Strider]

....And being only one book it isn't filled with all the rambling stuff Tolkien added in as filler for his book (he went waaay overboard IMHO).

Some of the "filler" things are my favorite parts. I love all the poems and long descriptive passages, but I will admit it's not for everyone.

[ellenora]

Part of the problem with The Silmarillion is that it was unfinished at JRRT's death and was a series of notes that his son organized into a book... I refuse to say novel. He tried, but there is too much information and too great a time frame is covered for the kinds of scenes that helped make The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings so great. Even JRRT admitted the difficulty in letters and interviews. Yet those were the stories closest to his heart.

[Trazalca]

Once. When I was 12. Started with the Hobbit, then worked my way
through the LOTR tril. Thought about the Silmarillion, but thought it
WAY too over my head to comprehend. Maybe when I turn 50, I'll take a
stab at it, hoping I'll have enough mental faculty to take it all in proper. :ohwell:

[alaristhered]

Maybe an enterprising cable channel like the Sci-Fi Channel would adapt stories from the Silmarillion into a mini-series. Tales from The Silmarillion, as it were.

[alaristhered]

Unfortunately, I can see someone buying the rights and then not spending a lot of money on it. A low budget Silmarillion would wind up looking like Krull.

[aficianado]

I can't remember when I first introduced myself to the works of the late and greatly missed J.R.R. Tolkien but it must have been sometime in 1976 when I read 'The Hobbit' and was greatly saddened to learn that he has passed away only 3 years earlier. I learned that there were other works from him that continued the story of the ring and this is 'The Lord of the Rings' and I have been deeply intrigued and fascinated ever since. This is months and months before a little known movie in the form of a commerical was humbly announcing itself and would very soon change everything.

I must have read TLOTR over 20 times and it never fails to draw me away, for awhile, from this world into another place, another time....it wil forever shine.

[aficianado]

And I love the Silmarillion.