"Read Lord of the Rings?" Topic

Ah Tom Bombadil……my last read through is coming back to me, I totally skipped that part of the book last time.

Meg Davis sang my favorite version of the Tom Bombadil song. And I loved Meg Davis, still do. She was the fairest of elf maidens, in her day. Being only the lowliest of the scullery goblins, I never dared speak to her, even though she was performing live at the coffee house for me. She was always at her best with children's songs, belted them out with real enthusiasm and belief.

Come with me my little friends, down the Withywindle,
Babbling Tom's gone on ahead, candles for to kindle…

I'm sorry that Meg's Tom isn't on Youtube, but here she is singing Captain Jack and the Mermaid, I think she wrote that one. The manga video treatment seems very apropos:

YouTube link

About 10-12 times. I used to make it an annual thing to do during Christmas vacations. Then when the kids were young, I read it to them.

Rick

Mute Bystander--the ACE were "pirate" printings. There are several versions of what happened. Here's one:

link

You should have held on to yours. Aside from the fact that they go for 10-15 dollars a volume now,they're the closest most people will ever get to a first edition.

Hey Zippy,the picture on that "Elf Glade" clip looks like it was done by a miniature sculptor!

Abelp01--Apparently you've never heard of the BBC Radio version,from about 1979. Still the most accurate (and best,IMO) dramatization

Agreed: other than the lack of Iarwain Ben-adar and his missus, an excellent version.

John T

Somehow,I thought you'd agree,John!

Not just TB,but the Old Forest,and Fog on the Barrow Downs,too. "There's Bree,up ahead!" Nooooo!

Well,can't have everything. I'm just grateful for the lack of imbecillities.
And the fact that the writers didn't think they knew better than Tolkien;Faramir "too one-dimenional"--arrgh!

Hey Zippy,the picture on that "Elf Glade" clip looks like it was done by a miniature sculptor!

Dunnit, tho? Science fiction fans, Tolkien nerds, filk singers, porny miniature collectors, all one culture. It's a culture because we say it's a culture.

It was the cover art of the paperbacks that attracted me to the books. I about 12, so it was about 1970. I think the publisher was Bantam Books. Here is a picture from the internet:

tinyurl.com/hs526k5

I read the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings over the next year or two, and then again in college when I started playing role-playing games and wargames, and took a year of Old English. I read The Lord of the Rings again when the movies were released.

@Hafen von Schlockenberg

What I don't get is how other fidlers/despoilers (ie Jackson) of JRRT's work don't seem to get how important the whole Old Forest/Bombadil/Barrow Downs section is to the story. It's like they think that 'gentle-hobbits' just go out with a sword as a matter of course.

Without that section you don't experience that wonderful transition from middleclass village life for Mr Brandybuck, Mr Took, Mr Underhill (and plain old Sam Gamgee, the 'help') to frightened people, armed with swords that they have just stumbled across (and have little real idea how to use) to gobsmacked passengers caught up in a world they don't understand to Frodo defying the Witchking at the fords (and without the help of "Buffy the Undomiel"…).

When one loses the Old Forest/Bombadil/Barrow Downs, that all evaporates.

But Jackson never saw that. Too many dwarf tossing jokes….

John T

About 4-5 times.

I still say the Cleansing of the Shire is the second major point of the trilogy (right after the eucatastrophe in the Mt. Doom ring destruction section.) Jackson blew that off entirely. Worse than the mangling of Helm's deep and the character revealing conversation (in the book) Aragorn/Strider actually had with the Soldiers of Saruman's army. Totally twisted the character in the movie for that scene (not going to dwell on the Elves… who weren't there.)

BTW, loved the LOTR movies for what they were, just not the best presentation of the story they could have been.

You're right of course,John,the "Old Forest" chapter moves the Hobbits by degrees into what is clearly a different world,or to use critic Northrop Frye's terms,from Low Mimetic to Romance mode.

I would have preferred they have it in the BBC version,but it would have needed an extra episode. Maybe the budget,or time constraints,ruled it out.

At least they kept one of my favorite scenes, the oath of the "dead",and the unfurling of the black banner,at the mysterious Stone of Erech.

Glenn,it was Ballantine Books. I had the huge poster of the painting that was divided among the trilogy. Stupidly gave it to a girlfriend.
BTW, Tolkien hated it,preferring the Ace covers,as mentioned in the article I linked to above. There's a very funny letter of his from the time(No.277 in "Letters"):

"Where is this place? Why a lion and emus? And what is the thing in the foreground with pink bulbs?"
(After talking on the phone with a rep at Balantine): "When I made the above points again,her voice rose several tones and she cried:'But the man hadn't TIME to read the book!'. . .With regard to the pink bulbs she said as if to one of complete obtusity: 'they are meant to suggest a Christmas Tree'. Why is such a woman let loose? I begin to feel I am shut up in a madhouse".

"Buffy the Undomiel" :)

I recall that it was once said the english speaking world is divided between those who have read LOTR and those who have not. But since then Tolkien's masterpiece has been published in dozens of languages. My father read the Hobbit and LOTR to our family one summer when I was only 7 years old. Each night the TV would be turned off and he would read for a couple hours. I later read the books myself when I was in high school along with the Silmarillion, which at the time I found difficult to read. Many years later I reread LOTR when I heard that movies were being made as I wanted one last chance to envision the characters and places as it appeared in my mind's eye.

The three primary works: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and the Silmarillion; are all very different in writing style from each other. The Hobbit is essentially a children story, but serves as a prelude to the much more adult LOTR; which in turn is but a brief story when compared to the vast scope of the Silmarillion.

If you enjoyed reading the appendices at the end of LOTR then you will also enjoy Unfinished Tales which fills in some of the back story. I also give very high marks to the BBC radio dramatization of LOTR.

Twice in my lifetinme, but last was at least 10 if not 15 years ago. But enough that I know where the movies break away from the books.

p.s. I think I read them around the time the movies first came out.

USAF: That was W.H.Auden,I believe,in the 50's.

I've read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit many times over the years. Wore the covers off the Ballantine edition(with Tolkien's paintings covers),got a new Movie cover set for my birthday years ago.
On the other hand I bounced right off The Silmarilion. Maybe I'll try The Unfinished Tales,as suggested

Amazing book that honestly changed my life when I read it. Fell in love with fantasy. Strange to think what an influence it's probably had

It's so good it actually almost ended my life. I went up the lake in my small aluminum boat with an outboard engine back home when I was a young teenager and spent an entire afternoon on an island beneath the battlements of King John's castle reading it under a tall oak tree. When I realized how late it was I scrambled back into the boat and belted off around the corner of the bay and head first into the worst storm I've ever experienced. I have no idea how I survived with my small boat literally going perpendicular several times. Anyway, it's so good it's dangerous 😏

War Panda for the win!

Hobbit and trilogy once.

It would be pointless to count but I regard continuously reading LOTR as a lifelong hobby, even if I take breaks sometimes.

BTW loved "Bored of the rings", hilarious! That one I've read a few times!

You've not read LOTR until you've read it in the original Klingon.

Oh, and for an awesome D&D spin on LOTR, you must read the DM of the Rings:

link

abelp01: Bored of the Rings was hilarious. I read it one summer when I was a college student, and everyone assumed I was high because I was laughing so hard.

Hey, Tom Benzedrine, Tom Benzedrino!

One of my college classmates made the interesting point that the story is purely secular. There are no religious rituals and no references to deities.

abelp01: Bored of the Rings was hilarious. I read it one summer when I was a college student, and everyone assumed I was high because I was laughing so hard.

Hey, Tom Benzedrine, Tom Benzedrino!

One of my college classmates made the interesting point that the story is purely secular. There are no religious rituals and no references to deities.

Oh yes, I read it at least 4-5 times! And The Hobbit , Silmarillion, The Lost Tales, Leaf and Tree, the Children of Hurin, and everything I could on Tolkien's world too. Actually I also owe a second copy of the book in a luxury print with engraved cover, high quality paper and author's illustrations. That's my priciest book, I think! But I have a question for you all: which is your favourite character on the story? For me it's Tom Bombadil, maybe the most powerful being on Middle Earth.

One of my college classmates made the interesting point that the story is purely secular. There are no religious rituals and no references to deities.

Lots of religion in LotR, more in the Silmarillion etc. It's just a 'living religion'. Eru is still there in the background but his 'angels' (and devils') are present in the real world on a day to day basis. Maiar, Valar etc: they are all religious figures. Sauron and the Balrogs are Maiar. Dunno what Bombadil is, mind you!

For those who find the Silmarillion hard work (and it is) can I suggest the Children of Hurin – it's a short, more self contained (but expanded) extract. No, no Hobbits (so no easy 'in' to the story) but a good read, IMHO.

But then I also find sections of the Unfinished tales easier than the Silmarillion too.

And yes, Bored of the rings was funny (at least when I was fifteen!): "Moxie and Pepsi wielding their putty knives – and soon not a corspe had a nose to call his own…".

Mind you, I'm going from memory there over four decades…

John T

Yes. Once. However I still refer back to the books for quotes and gaming reasons.

FABET01
Why? Because I love the world. ..it gives a kick start to my imagination.. or I just need to get away from the real world.

I agree with each of these, your last reason is my best for 'running away' to Tolkien's world. If possible Id stay there.

I First read the Hobbit during HS, then begin and finally finished the Trilogy found it 'long' at times (Tom Bombadil – the Barrow Wights etc).
Personaly the Simarillion was and is to this day the most difficult book to read at times. He's creating a story, culture even language all at the same time. Taxing to say the least.

I had lost track of time w the "day to day" routine. When I began the 3rd reading of the Hobbit this month, (I record the dates in my books) found its been 11 YEARS since I had last read it. OMG the yrs have flown.

All in all.
Simarillion Once
The Hobbit Twice
The LoTR Trilogy Twice (I seem to recall reading it a 3rd time skipping the hobbit just to get to The War).

Im 'considering' going Back to the Simarillion after the Hobbit, just for a refresher. And then to the Lord of the Rings again.

Had to add this.. When watching the Worderful film version, there was a point when I decided;
IF "crying Sam" as I came to call him, cries one more time. Im going to shout to the Orcs. HE's behind the tree/bush/rock!
Kill him PLEEASSSE!

Once at around 11 or 12, once again around 16ish.

I read them in Junior High, High School, in college and again just before the movies came out.

But pity stayed his hand.

"It's a pity I've run out of bullets."