Lord of the Rings have your read them?

[dragonrider]

I've loved these books all my life. I read The Hobbit when I was in late elementary school and read the LOTR trilogy in junior high. At that age, I mostly liked the action and fantasy. Over the years, when I would get bored, I would read the Hobbit again bacause it is so easy and fast, and it is a good entertaining story.

Before the movies came out, I decided I would have to read the whole series again, and I really enjoyed them again, even though I'm a lot older now and don't read as much fantasy. This time I understood a lot more about the sorrow of the story, with the magic going out of the world and the end of an age. The sacrifice. It is a great story on many levels.

One thing about the books that I would say is a little disappointing now is the actual writing style. The story and plot are great, the mythological elements are great, the world the books create is very complete and satisfying with history and languages and peoples and it's own kind of magic, and the scene description is great. But the dialog is not that good, and some of the pacing is kind of old fashioned. And I think the actual structure of how the LOTR trilogy is organized is awkward. It's the writing style that prevented me from ever getting into the Silmarilion, even though I would have liked to know the history better.

I thought the LOTR movies were really well done, and I bought the extended edition DVD set, which really expands the already long movies with a lot of great material. It's long, but it feels more complete than the theater version. I think the movies cleaned up some of the problems that I didn't like in the books --- it has better dialog and better organization and pacing.

A lot of other fantasy I find to be kind of unsatisfying compared to LOTR. Nothing else I have read has ever come close to creating such a complete world, and nothing else has matched the meaning.

But one series of fantasy books that I am really enjoying now is the Song of Ice and Fire by George R R Martin. It's great! The world he creates is really interesting. The magic is not so much in your face the way it is with so many other fantasy books --- it's more in the background and usually kind of sinister and mysterious. It has more of the feel of a historical novel about war and politics in medieval times, with different noble famlies fighting it out, but it is an imaginary world and there are some magical elements. The characters are more complex than in LOTR, with everyone having both good and bad aspects and complex motivations. It's also a lot more graphic than LOTR, with murder, rape, torture and all kinds of other more adult-themes stuff. It's very different from LOTR, but I highly recommend it.

[TPB_Bubbles]

I've been reading the Hobbit and LOTR for ages...since I was like 8 or something.

[suhl]

song of ice and fire is the shit. some of my favorite books. ill go agead and say i like it better than lord of the rings, which i have also read. problem is the last book wasnt good, and only had half the characters, then martin said that was because it was one bo0ok split in two, and here we are two fucking years later and he hasnt released the second part, which he claimed to be done with back then. we want the imp. thomas covenant the unbeliever was some badass fantasy more in the tradition of lord of the rings. yeah i know what you mean about sorting through al the crap fantasy tool.

and reading fantasy may not make you a nerd, but believe me it doesnt do you any favors in getting laid id just not hide it but not show it off either.

[dragonrider]

song of ice and fire is the shit. some of my favorite books. ill go agead and say i like it better than lord of the rings, which i have also read. problem is the last book wasnt good, and only had half the characters, then martin said that was because it was one bo0ok split in two, and here we are two fucking years later and he hasnt released the second part, which he claimed to be done with back then. we want the imp. thomas covenant the unbeliever was some badass fantasy more in the tradition of lord of the rings. yeah i know what you mean about sorting through al the crap fantasy tool

I'm pissed about the last book too. I got about halfway through when I realized that we really weren't going to get half the characters, and it killed me. I guess the story just keeps expanding as he writes it. Originally it was suppsed to be only 3 or 4 books, and now I guess Martin thinks it's going to be 7! Come on! Get writing! I see pictures, and he looks like an old man --- he better not die before it's done!

Maybe I'll try Thomas Covenant --- thanks.

[psychocat]

One of my prized possesions is a boxed set of all of the LoTR books and a CD which is made up of Tolkein himself reading certain chapters out loud. You can hear the passion he had for what he had created , it's interesting listening to the author tell the tale.

[higher4hockey]

damn straight, i've read the hobbit and lotr many times.

[gbf4ever]

I've read all of Tolkein's works, one of my favorite authers. The movies were all right, I expected them to be much better though.

[Esoteric416]

Ive only read the Hobbit, but i liked it alot. I read it like three times in the couple of months I had to spend in jail once, I guess mostly cause all the other books they had were crap.:thumbsup: