How many people have READ Lord of the Rings?

[Jehan]

love em. especially the silmarillian which is absolutely epic and tragic,

[Titanic]

The1exile, I was also disapointed that Bombadil asn in it, he was noe of my favourite characters. Saurman wasn in RotK because he died before it was released, so out of respect for him they cut his parts in the film. He is still in the extended version btw, which rocks!

[Dariune]

Yup i have ... three times.
I prefered the farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb's though. I even named my band after that series.

[Flickflack]

Meh. Fellowship bored me to tears so I never picked any of them back up. I've been meaning to give them another spin, but I don't currently have the interest.

Besides, I far prefer Dunsany's dreamscapes to Tolkien's high fantasy.

[Koba]

I haven't ever really been able to get into it, but I prefer the books to the films. Quite a few of my friends seem to want to lynch me for not being a fan!

http://users.skynet.be/weske/LOTR/lotr.html

If anyone is interested, these films made of stills taken from the films are brilliant!

[heavycola]

I was diisappointed that Tom Bombadil was cut out completely and Saruman's role in RotK was cut

Tom Bombadil is the worst part of the trilogy. Those interminable nonsense songs, and his buckled shoes... yuk. Straight outta toytown.

Jesse - there are better books out there, but what is remarkable about LOTR is that Tolkien invented an entire mythology, all by himself and in a matter of years, something that takes cultures entire generations. He deserves applause for that.
I have read the trilogy a few times, prolly never will again, but i remember waking up on a bus in Korea once and shouing "Yrch!" at the guy next to me, which was weird. It is an incredibly absorbing book, especially when you're young.

[Ronaldinho]

f*ck it, I can't f*cking read.

f*ck you you piece of shit. Go bone your fucking dad.

[Newcastle]

i think the only thing wrong with Lord of the rings is that he takes ages to describe to place!

[The1exile]

I was diisappointed that Tom Bombadil was cut out completely and Saruman's role in RotK was cut

Tom Bombadil is the worst part of the trilogy. Those interminable nonsense songs, and his buckled shoes... yuk. Straight outta toytown.

I think that is done precisely to contrast with his almost limitless power.

[Jesse, Bad Boy]

While I cannot deny the impact that the Lord of the Rings has had on other literary works, I think it is over rated. Tolkien spends too much time going into detail that is not relevant to the story at hand, not to mention a repetitive method of writing (if you read it aloud, it sounds very monotone).

There are definitely much better books out there.

Of course you didn't like it, we all could have called that one, there's a religious aspect to it.

You think I am conspiratorial against anything with the vaguest reference of religion? Yeah, right. Among my most favorite books are His Dark Materials Trilogy (which is all about God and Heaven), To Reign In Hell (about the war before Genesis), and The Darkness That Comes Before, which is set in a world where the ruling population worships a prophet with Christ-like overtones.

Moreover, Tolkien himself has written that the Lord of the Rings was not written as an allegorical story. One could equally surmise that the Story had about as much to do with the Third Reich as it did a messianic story, but at that point it's purely speculative considering that it wasn't intended to be taken either way as stated by the author.

To think that I don't like it because it could be interpreted as religious is a poor attack on my intellectual character. I would suggest you save the personal attacks for another conversation.

[KevinL]

I read them way back in the early 80's. Way before the movies came out. Borrowed them from my brother-in-law!