Old Books, New Readers discussion

This is my personal favorite author. No one can write or tell a story like him. The world lost one of the greatest literary minds when he died.

My favorite book by Tolkien is of course The Hobbit as I have stated in several threads on numerous groups. I just love the imagery in the book. The giant spiders and eagles, the wolves the goblins, Smaug?! I love 'em all. The world Tolkien created...well I know the geography of it better then the earths.

Even though the Hobbit is my favorite book my favorite charter is probably Sam from the trilogy. He is so good straight to his core.

Hey, you know The Hobbit is coming out in December...first part that is...

Oh, yeah, that's right. My whole family is looking forward to seeing it.

I saw the preview in theaters when I saw Wrath of the Titans...and wow!!! So siked. ;)

Oh, yeah, the preview is great.

When the dwarves sang....oh wow...it was awesome with the bog speakers....

OMG I can not CAN NOT WAIT!!!!!! For the movie to come out. I am literally counting the days. I am not even excited about Christmas in the least I just want to see "The Hobbit". I am watching all the trailers and Peter Jackson's behind the scenes shorts on youtube. I am so hiped.

I KNOW!!!!! I want to go to see that for Christmas!!!!! :D

Same here!

Haha, you sound just like my friends and I, Talia. I have one friend that I always recommend books to because we have the same tastes, and we're ridiculous when we see the movies based off our books. We whisper to each other when something is wrong, and talk for like an hour afterward about what we would have done differently. There's always something :)

Talia wrote: "The Hobbit is an amazing story. I actually preferred it to The Lord of the Rings. The dwarves just captured my heart. I, too, am looking forward to the movie coming out this winter, but my husba..."

Oh no! What did you not like about the trilogy?

My dad is threatening not to take me to the theater if I don't shut up about the Hobbit for the next seven months. So I just have to whisper to my brother all the time.

Well Christa, I can say that I don't have that problem. We all talk and talk about the Hobbit...and both of my parents are siked to see it almost more than us kids are...lol.
And Haley...that is me and my bro...we tear down movies if we've read the book first. ;)

I have only seen the Lord of the Rings movies. I would like to read the books but wondering if I should read the Hobbit or the 1st Lord of the Ring book first?

Thank you!

I would recomend the Hobbit first, but the LOTR and the Hobbit are not really the same series. I mean they are about the same thing (the ring) but you don't have to read one to get the other. They both stand on their own.

I know you are now probably more confused, but my advise is read the Hobbit, because it is faster paced and you get a feel for writing style of Tolkien, Middle Earth and things make more sense in the LOTR.

I've only seen the movies as well, and wasn't impressed :/

Sara wrote: "I've only seen the movies as well, and wasn't impressed :/"

*Gasps eyes wide* I don't even know what to say to that. "Devils child"?

LOL the movie put me to sleep, and I never sleep in a movie! I'm sure I'd be more impressed with the book since I'm usually more impressed with the written word, but it's gonna take a lot to get me to read it :)

Melanie wrote: "I have only seen the Lord of the Rings movies. I would like to read the books but wondering if I should read the Hobbit or the 1st Lord of the Ring book first?

Thank you!"

I would read the Hobbit first, because it gives you some of the background you probably would want to know for LOTR, but it is possible to read the trilogy first and still understand what's happening. I read the Hobbit first; I think it is a little easier to get through.

I absolutely love Lord of the Rings! Such a good trilogy and I really enjoyed the movies as well. I have not however read The Hobbit. I should, I definitely should.

I have this memory from when I was a child of some animated hobbit movie with spiders I think and it scared the heck out of me. After that, I associated the hobbit with scariness haha :)

You can certainly enjoy and understand LOTR without reading the Hobbit, but I would read it anyway. Your observation about there being a more juvenile feeling to The Hobbit is, I think, true. but it adds a bit of depth to the story of the One Ring. If you have time, I would also recommend reading The Silmarillion before the Hobbit. It gives, I feel, a good idea of the creation and other mythologies that the characters in The Hobbit and LOTR would have known.

Another tip: Start in with LOTR at the true beginning, the first page of chapter 1. Skip all the prefaces, beginning notes, and stuff. You can go back to that later. Same with the back matter, the appendices and so forth. You don't have to read that stuff unless you want to.

I don't understand how it could be boring? The adventures are varied from dark coners to happy whims. The creatures range from terrifiing to exotic and the langue! I could on on about how gripping Tolkiens writing is. And the jokes, as you grow older the more jokes you see Tolkien has put in there making the story good for kids of all ages.

I guess it might be dull if you are weaned on a steady diet of action movies and video games. HOBBIT does get off to a relatively slow start -- the meeting at Bag End has no explosions at all, and nobody dies or takes off their clothes. Even when they get on the road, the excitement doesn't pick up until after they leave Elrond's place (which has a disctinct ambiance of a grandparent's house, with all those antiques; all that's missing is the smell of Ben-Gay). In a video game there would have been at least a couple ambushes and combats, plus many more women with huge chests and the minimum of clothing.

Well the Trolls are before Elrond house, which is one of my favorite adventures. But I see your point, I was listening to the hobbt before I was allowed to see violent movies or play anything but "Sonic" and to me it was great. I realize however not everyone was raised like me and it could be dull.

Well, dull for some. Not others.

I loved the Hobbit! In sixth grade my family went to Arizona (we live in Kansas) and my mom got me this really cool illustrated copy for the trip, which made the book seem much less overwhelming. I remember sitting on the airport floor completely engrossed in it. And I just saw the movie a couple weeks ago, and it was wonderful! But I'm one of those people that loves the LOTR movies too :)

I am saving now for an illustrated Hobbit book. I think fro children pictures are a huge deal in books. In the beginning it is almost all pictures, then you get a little older and every other page is a picture, then a little older still and you might have ten or twelve pictures to a book until at last your imagination comes of age and the pictures almost hinder you. A fantastic journey. It's like the pictures are teaching you how to imagine and interpret words to see whose worlds the author is describing. It is really quite fascinating.

The Hobbit is now out on DVD/Blu-Ray, in case you missed it. While the movie is pretty good, it is Tolkien Reading Day, after all :)

Happy Tolkien Reading Day! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tolkien_...

Oh that is cool, I had never heard of that before. I have just finished Tales from the Perilous Realm with Roverandom and have to say I loved every poem and story. The illustrations by Alan Lee were fantastic.

Oh my friend has been telling me to read that! I think I may just go over to her house and steal it hahaha

With that kind of recommendation, I can't help but add Tales from the Perilous Realm with Roverandom to my to-read list. To celebrate the holiday, I ordered a copy of Tree and Leaf which I hope to read in a week or so, when it arrives.

Oh Roverandom was so.....EPIC! It is about a little dog that bits a wizard and gets turned into a toy. Then another wizard comes along and turns the dog alive again but still toy sized. Then the dog goes on a bunch of adventures, to the moon, under the sea, a boys home and finally learns his lesson. So sweet and gentle, perfect for children and adults, but with all the language of Tolkien that we have come to expect, respect and enjoy.

All the other stories were fantastic of course, but one has stolen my heart.

J.R.R. Tolkien has such a vast imaginative scope, and I love his world of Middle Earth!

I shuned(can I use that verb?) reading Tolkien for a long time because people kept telling me that the books are written really boring but I always loved the lord of the ring movies.
A few months ago I was at a book store and saw The Hobbit there and just thought I'd try... and I LOVED it!!! (:
After I finished I instantly ordered the Lord of the Ring books and am halfway through book 1 now and I LOVE it!! (:

I can't believe why people say they are boring.

I liked the books but was not a fan of the poetry involved in them. Lol

Angela wrote: "I liked the books but was not a fan of the poetry involved in them. Lol"

I agree with you there. The only exception is the sung version of the Misty Mountans from the Hobbit.
I really like this version on youtube because it has the complete text from the book included not only the part from the movie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8ymg...