Tolkein Fans

[Peregrin Toker]

I've read The Hobbit before watching the movie, also starting reading the LOTR trilogy before the first movie (but finishing after) - so I gotta say yes.

[Baron Mordo]

I actually read the Lord of The Rings in anticipation of the movies. I had tried to read it before then, but never got past the Tom Bombadil scene. I finished the entire trilogy in 6 months.

[Dalton]

I read the Hobbit in 8th grade, tried LOTR and found it too dense. Didn't touch Tolkien again until several years later. I had already read it through two or three times and went through the Silmarillion and some other stuff well before the movies.

That being said, I admire Peter Jackson and I think the LOTR movies are extremely ambitious and quite well done for a film adaptation. And unlike most of the other rabid Tolkienites, I can understand the things Peter had to do to make the books work on the big screen.

As for the books themselves, they do get a bit dry at times and I usually skip the songs, but the only Tolkien book I've stopped reading halfway through was the Book of Lost Tales 2, with the Chris Tolkien essays in it.

I'd like to add that the LOTR appendices gave me a renewed interest in geneaology.

[Arthur_Tuxedo]

I'll go against the grain and say that Tolkien is an overrated writer. Yes, he wrote a memorable story with mythic reach in LOTR. But you have to wade through a lot of shit to read it. Tell me there aren't sections in LOTR when you wish he would just stop describing every fucking little thing in excruciating detail and get on with the story.

God yes! Anyone ever tried reading the Silmarion? It's written like the Bible. I was on an 8 hour plane trip and I just put the book down and sat there twiddling my thumbs.

[Zoink]

I read the hobbit, which I thought was great. I read the first LotR book, got bored and skimmed through the rest of the books very quickly. The movies are quite good, they certainly flow alot better than the books.

[aerius]

I read the books many years ago in junior school so I don't have any real memories of them. They were just books that I read and that was that, I don't remember anything super-special about them. As for the movies, I think they're the best movies I've seen in the last couple years, they actually have soul and magic to them unlike the rest of the cookie cutter stuff that's out there. A fan? I don't know, I like the movies and all but not to the point where I have 5 hour discussions on them or go watch them 10 times.

[Kuja]

I read the Hobbit in 6th grade and read LOTR a couple years later. Haven't read anything else, but I love what I have read.

[The Dark]

God yes! Anyone ever tried reading the Silmarion? It's written like the Bible. I was on an 8 hour plane trip and I just put the book down and sat there twiddling my thumbs.

Like I've said, I'm doing Old Testament research and can't read the Silmarillion because it reminds me too much of my classes .

Hobbit, OTOH, I can read any time, any where.

[Mark S]

I read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings when I was twelve or so and was hooked. I tried to read the Lost Tales and the Silmarillion right after and couldn't get into it. I picked up the Silmarillion a year ago and read it in a few days. I liked it. I liked his take on the creation myth. I still haven't been able to get through the bible though. (And I enjoyed the Illiad, where Homer lists out every dog and his brother who was on every boat)