[Mordor]

I'm re-reading LOTR for the third time and am on the chapter A Knife in the Dark. I'm started to fall in love with the story again. This is great because I don't experience this with any other books. The characters are so charming and loveable and the suspense is great.

Tolkien wrote a masterpiece here. I can't think of any flaws in the story. This is the type of book that makes me wanna read from awakening till sleep.

Anybody else love Tolkien's work? Feel a special attachment to it?

[Eldanuumea]

I have come to my love of Tolkien so much later in life than most folks here, I suspect. I recall reading the first few chapters of FOTR in preparation for the film. After my first viewing, I read through all three books within three days.......I couldn't live without knowing what happened to the Ring, and to all the characters!!
I saw the first film 13 times before it left the theaters.......and then proceeded to read the books again and again...and again.
I couldn't get enough of Aragorn, so began to write fanfiction about his earlier life. All of that brought me to the net, to my own website, and to forums......and my life has changed radically.

One can argue that other authors are better, one can critique Tolkien's style or narrative structure. But no one else has created an entity like the Fellowship....not one hero, but a band of beings working in concert to save Middle Earth. The level of heroic sacrifice on the part of so many is unmatched in any other literature, IMHO.
And then, there's the Silmarilion.......I still haven't fully internalized that tremendous mythos. After several rereadings, I always learn something new each time I take it up.

I'd best stop before I bore evryone to death!! Time for someone else......

[kahnovitch]

LoTR is one of those books that you can easily lose yourself in if you have the time.
The attention to detail is excellent and if you want total immersion into another world from a book, it does it in huge buckets.

If you want something faster paced and more action packed then you may get annoyed by the slower pace, but for a world tour of a place rich in description and imagination it's hard to beat.

[Grasshopper]

Originally posted by Mordor
I'm re-reading LOTR for the third time and am on the chapter A Knife in the Dark. I'm started to fall in love with the story again. This is great because I don't experience this with any other books. The characters are so charming and loveable and the suspense is great.

Tolkien wrote a masterpiece here. I can't think of any flaws in the story. This is the type of book that makes me wanna read from awakening till sleep.

Anybody else love Tolkien's work? Feel a special attachment to it?

I could not have said it better.
I've only read the trilogy and the Hobbit twice since I got into some scifi but I've felt the same attachment. I find that when I'm in the story, I relate some things that happen to me in real life, to the story and wish that I had lived in an era like that....sometimes.;)

[Tomsk]

!SPOILERS!

I am reading LOTR for the 3rd time in preparation for the film. I agree it is amazing! I'm not too sure about the start, but after Bree the whole thing kicks in with Aragorn, and everything, and Moria is just brilliant, and the fall of Gandalf is so emotional and tense and and and..... I could go on. I cannot wait until I've finished it! But then I will want to read it again!

The Silmarilion is not nearly as good as LOTR, but of course it wasn't finished. It is very detailed and definatly takes a good few readings to understand. I still don't know most of the story...

I think it is the way that middle earth is so realistic, it seems like these characters have actually taken part in this story. (Indeed, if there are infinite parallel universes it must have taken place, will take place and is taking place now!!!!)

I can tell I will end up reading LOTR loads of times more! Long live LOTR!

[Iskaral Pust]

I think LotR is probably the most overrated book in existance. The characters are boring and uninspired, the story...oh wait, what story? There never any real sense of "maybe the good guys won't win" and as to the villians, does no-one "returning evil dark-lord" is a bit weak? The action scenes are poorly written and I rarely feel any excitment readind the story.

All that said, I think that the Silmarillion is one of the greatest books ever.

[Grasshopper]

Hmmm....do you all smell a stinking troll???

[Jacquin]

Keep it civil guys, not liking LOTR doesn't make you a troll, imho it is refreshing to have someone here to debate with about Tolkien's works.

Personally I found the Silmarillion a little too dry and lacking in the warmth that he injects into his other works. Don't get me wrong it is a masterpiece of creative ability but it just doesn't do it for me. LOTR has its faults for sure, but I think it is a brilliant book. His prose take a little while to get into, but then I read Chaucer in the original Middle English so Tolkien is quite mild.

If you disagree than tell us why.

J

[Tomsk]

I have to totally disagree with you, Iskaral Pust, there are plenty of times when you think the good guys won't win, what about when Gandalf falls, the whole doubt about Rohan, Saruman, Gollum, Shelob...

Even though Sauron is not at full power he is still dead scary, mainly because of the huge amount of orcs he manages to mobilise whilst at a fraction of his usual power.

I think it is a great book and the writing, although it is a bit long, it still flows like nothing else and it is so much fun to read.

Also, I agree the Sil is very good but not brilliant, it wasn't even nearly completed and that means it loses a lot, but also the way nearly all the characters get killed, which is really annoying. It is also a lot harder going than LOTR

[Beldaran]

oh... I thought I have got bored of Lord of the rings.. but when I started re-reading a couple of days ago.. couldn't stop until my eyes turned red... it's just such a great book.. I mean for a person who's read the silmarillion, the unfinished tales.. and the hobbit.. I think it's an even greater experience to read it again..
I mean it's so great to read it again and "meet" all the people in it again... cuz they're like a family to me... LOL :)

I just love the fact that he created own languages for the people... I mean authors just don't do that often.. also love mythologies... so...I hope one day that I'll have the chance to learn elvish...

and the only thing that bothers me with lord of the rings is that there's so few female charachters I mean we female just don't do so much in the books..

oh.. also read the book after seeing Fotr..
read the book in three days I think... :D

Bella