Do you like LOTR? A fan of Tolkien?

Whether you've read the books and/or seen the movies, which were as good as movies can get for that many pages, there is more. You've got to read The Hobbit for background. Good book. The movies are coming out soon. Secondly, there is another book that will enhance your experience of these books. The Silmarillion. It's dry as hell. Like reading the Bible but it explains Tolkien's world.

Sauron? Secondary to his master Melkor/Morgoth. Valinor. Who is human? Half human? Non-human(think wizards)? Who is Thorandor? If you want a better understanding of the characters and their place The Silmarillion is a must. Even if it is a hard read. I'm a slow reader. It took me about 20 hours to get through that tome. It was worth it. It enhances all that he wrote on this. If you want to experience LOTR more, and it's worth it, that's a book one has to read.

The Silmarillion is absolutely essential reading for the true wanna-be Middle Earth resident. I would make sure everybody read it just for for the stories of Tom Bombadill if for no other reason! And you get to see the emense vision of Tolkien's Middle Earth. LOTR and the Hobbit only inhabit one small corner of a huge room.

reply to post by intrepid


As far as epic yarns go, LOTR is second only to The Dark Tower series for me.

At one point, I had a book thrown together by Christopher Tolkien that served much like the Sim book did. It contained a bunch of unpublished works and he filled in a lot of the blanks after J.R.R. passed. I never got around to reading it but I bet you'd dig it. I think I lent it out but, if I see it on my shelf tonight, I'll give you the title.

I agree, the Silmarillion was definitely a must read for all Tolkien fans.I think someone gave it to me for christmas when I was 15 or so.

I have heard that the upcoming Hobbit films will include the battle for Dol Guldar, which was alleged written about in some other collection, which I have never seen.

I am eagerly anticipating it.

Originally posted by Cuervo
reply to post by intrepid

 

As far as epic yarns go, LOTR is second only to The Dark Tower series for me.

At one point, I had a book thrown together by Christopher Tolkien that served much like the Sim book did. It contained a bunch of unpublished works and he filled in a lot of the blanks after J.R.R. passed. I never got around to reading it but I bet you'd dig it. I think I lent it out but, if I see it on my shelf tonight, I'll give you the title.

Have you read Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series?

Very long, but holy crap, it was Epic.

Originally posted by Cuervo
As far as epic yarns go, LOTR is second only to The Dark Tower series for me.

Loved the Dark Tower series. King took heavily from Tolkien though. When he said in an Intro that this was his LOTR I thought, "That's pretty arrogant." He pulled it off though imo. He isn't the only one. Clive Barker did too. See Imajica.

Cuervo, I may be mistaken, but I believe the title of that book is either "The Lost Tales" or the Book of Lost Tales...had a copy back in the day.

The book you refer to is called "Unfinished Tales", I have a copy here right now, along with The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and LOTR, I love the work of Tolkien.
By the way, did you know that LOTR came about because of a bet between Tolkien and C.S.Lewis, as to who could write a better fantasy world story? Tolkien gave us Middle Earth and Lewis came up with Narnia.

The Red Book was a good read also..

kinda dry but still a good read..

gotta love the lore...

Originally posted by watchitburn

Originally posted by Cuervo
reply to post by intrepid

 

As far as epic yarns go, LOTR is second only to The Dark Tower series for me.

At one point, I had a book thrown together by Christopher Tolkien that served much like the Sim book did. It contained a bunch of unpublished works and he filled in a lot of the blanks after J.R.R. passed. I never got around to reading it but I bet you'd dig it. I think I lent it out but, if I see it on my shelf tonight, I'll give you the title.

Have you read Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series?

Very long, but holy crap, it was Epic.

Oh yeah!! Now we're talking!! These books are amazing!! Shame the t.v. series didn't live up to the books as enjoyable as it was.