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J.R.R. Tolkien: The Lord Of The Rings

Darren

Darren

Active Member
Lord of the Rings - One Book or Three

Seems like this is often published as three separate books, especially with the films being released separately. So, would you consider it one book, or a series of three books?
 
Orginally it was published separately, right? I can't remember. If you're referring to the BOM, I think it would be more reasonable to consider reading them separately. Our BOM is off to a slow start and if we try to have all three read in one month, it might prove to be too much of a challenge (time wise) for some. Since I've read them recently, I'm prepared to discuss them in any case.
 
Ouch. I just realized that the BOM has already been decided. Sorry about that.

Darren, can we possibly have a separate section for BOM so we can keep the latest discussions, polls, etc. in one place? I got lost! Of course that's nothing new for me.
 
I thought we had decided to have LOTR trilogy as the November BOM, any changes? Personally I don't mind one way or the other, I've started with the Hobbit and will go on with LOTR at my own pace (which won't lead me very far considering that I don't have much time to read these days). I'm quite happy with the Hobbit, and wish I could immerse myself for longer periods of time in his world...:)
 
I checked out my set tonight and it is published as six books in three volumes with the Hobbit as the prelude. ;)
 
I've read recently that the author wanted to publish LOTR as a single volume, but the publisher split it into three for commercial reasons.
 
Re: Lord of the Rings - One Book or Three

Originally posted by Darren Lewis
Seems like this is often published as three separate books, especially with the films being released separately. So, would you consider it one book, or a series of three books?
Click to expand...

Well, I cannot imagine to have the whole content in ONE book!??!?! Then you cannot HOLD that heavy book! ;)

/Holger
 
To start things off for the Novmeber book of the month. Depending on how we go, we may have to carry this one over to December too.

Darren.
 
Is this for The Fellowship... or the whole series? I'm hoping to read The Two Towers in the next month or so -- would like to see before I go to the movie. It would be nice to discuss it if anyone else will be reading it. I'm not up on the news though, is the movie still supposed to open at the theatre this holiday season?
 
Its for all of them. I reread The Fellowship after seeing the movie last year. Then I went on to the other two. I can't wait to see The Two Towers.

As far as a discussion...I don't even know where to begin. I was so absorbed in the landscape and scope of the story. The relationship between the elves and men was particularly interesting. So much distrust, so much history.
 
I've finished reading the 3 volumes, I felt like moving on to something else at times (mostly while reading the Two Towers), but I'm happy I didn't: it paid off... I really enjoyed it on the whole.
I felt that the Two Towers was not so good as the Fellowship and the Return of the King, I wonder if I will have the same feeling watching the film...
My problem was with lineage (too many people, couldn't follow sometimes) and places (during the 2 first volumes, I kept checking the map to find out where they were)...
It would probably take a second reading to pay better attention to the parallel stories that are not directly related to the main thread...
 
Dawn, you're right about how the Elves, Men and Dwarves get along. They all had their little preconceived notions about each other.
It was good to see Gimli and Legolas begin to get along and even become friends along the way in TTT (T3?).
Aside from that is seemed like the races in Middle Earth get along about as well as they do on Planet Earth.

I agree somewhat with Marie, the Two Towers is a little tougher to get through.
I felt that it was mostly setting up for the Return of the King. All that trudging to Mordor stuff and heading to certain doom began to weigh on me pretty quick. It was rough going for awhile. Dark and gloomy and there were places where it seemed like even the imaginary stink were going to make me sick. (Weird, I know, but true.)
I also have a bit of trouble reconciling my childhood memories of the book with the actual maps, which are quite acurate.

Marie wrote:
I wonder if I will have the same feeling watching the film...
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Marie, I think it will make pretty good movie fodder. Theres lots of action in T3--swinging swords and flying orc heads and all. Reading it is a bit different.
 
I think I liked The Two Towers best of all. The part of the LOTR that I think of most often is Pippen and Sam with the you know who!

About the density of info....others may not agree, but when I run into that stuff I skip it if it confuses me and I try to fill in the blanks later through context. Usually I don't even miss the stuff.

I first read these books at a young age and I skipped the hard stuff, but now after several rereadings, the going is not so tough and it's even more rewarding than the first go through.
 
I read these books once a year, starting with the Hobbit so I may be biased, but I think that there will definately be things thatyou will miss when you read them. I picked up a new thing, or appreciated something in a different way everytime that I have read them. I would say that I almost disliked TTT the first time I read that volume. Now, I think it may be my favorite one.


As to discussion, what did everyone think of the Tom Bombadil character? I for one enjoy the character but am eternally grateful to Peter Jackson for NOT putting him in the film. I cannot see how he would have translated to the screen without seeming hokey. My friends use characters such as Tom to explain why they do not like fantasy literature.

Thoughts?

Mike
 
...
what did everyone think of the Tom Bombadil character?
Click to expand...

Maybe Tolkien wanted to show that there was someone, in Middle-earth, who, though very powerful, was not interested in power and was above other "human" (in the large sense, including elves, or other creatures of Middle-earth) preoccupations, a kind of "mystic" poet, interested only in nature and in his beautiful wife. In that respect, he doesn't not really fit in Middle-earth...
I haven't given much thought to the question before but I saw there are web sites trying to explain the character of Tom Bombadil:

http://www.cas.unt.edu/~hargrove/bombadil.html
http://tolkien.slimy.com/essays/Bombadil.html

My friends use characters such as Tom to explain why they do not like fantasy literature
Click to expand...

I am curious: what is their explanation? I am not a great fan of fantasy myself, but in a way I found him the less fantasy character of all, half a character from children's a fairy tale and half a wise hermit
 
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