i read the books first, as soon as i heard the first rumours that the films were about to be made. and i must say: even though pJackson has done a great job, he'll never be able to show the mysterious and yet so realistic atmosphere that Tolkien created.

I read The Hobbit when i was little i never got around to reading LOTR. I watched the film and loved it, but i wanted to know more about who all the characters were, where they were from, so i though, "Hey, il read the book". I read it in about 3 weeks, i never out it down, and i fell in love with it.
Im now reading the Silmarillion, but its really hard...but im trying. Its interesting though!

I didn't really know about LOTR until FOTR came out and I went and saw it. Then I bought the LOTR trilogy books and the hobbit and read them all in about a week. So, I knew what was going to happen in TTT and that's why I was a little disappointed. [img]smilies/confused.gif[/img] [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Saw the movies first and right after went and bought the books.

I saw FotR Before I read it, Read TTT, And read RotK.
________
IPAD ACCESSORIES

I saw The Fellowship of the Ring first, then I bought the trilogy, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion, and borrowed the Unfinished Tales. I read all of them, but the Silmarillion, before The Two Towers came in theaters.
I normally like to watch the movie before reading the book but in this situation I HAD to read the books.

My mom was totally crazy about LOTR so i read the hobbit when I was 8 and I read Lotr when I was ten,at that time I couldn't read english yet so i read it in Dutch then when I was 11 or 12 I read it in English. Then i read it before the 1st movie came out. Next year I saw the TTT first and then I re-read LOTR. Now I decided to read the book once a year which is what many people who are totally crazy about LOTR do.
Note: I also read the Silmarillion.

I read The Hobbit, LOTR, Silmarillion and a couple of short stories way before the movies. Although nothing can equal the books for me I do love the movies too. In fact, the movies spurred me on to read another short story and Unfinished Tales.

I read before I saw.

I suppose LotR (and the Hobbit) are those 'classics' which children are encouraged to read when they're young. So, that's how it first came about [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Although by the time the films came 'round it was 5 or 6 years since I'd read the books, so I re-read them.

So, though I'm loathe to admit it, the films re-awoke the obsession, which then got me into Silm. and HoME. Just don't tell anyone.... [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Well the books came 1st...i was like buying the books a month before the movie was released in Malaysia. The reason to do so was to get some spoiler and the insight of the whole LOTR and that`s when i got hooked!

I hadn't heard of Tolkien until the beginning of 2001, when the first rumours about the movies came. Read fotr, fell immediately in love with Middle-Earth ánd Tengwar and managed to finish it on the day the first movie appeared in the cinemas. Boy, I'd never have believed I could be so totally bewitched by a simple book! So I read TTT in about a month, then school came along and rotk took a little longer. I literally devoured TH and read the trilogy again, and then the second movie came out. Okay, can't say I was very happy about how PJ has twisted the story around, but although the movie does not follow the book very strictly, he still made a fabulous piece of fantasy. Now I already bought the Silmarillion and the appendices (I know, it's a shame I haven't bought them earlier on...), and am looking desperatly for a copy of the Book of Lost Tales. Most of my spare time goes to searching the web for more information about Tolkiens languages, so I could say I'm a fan! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

"Moge de dageraad jullie allen halen en verstenen!" – Gandalf

Well that`s the exact feeling i was talking about Tenduriel you`ll just never stop reading the books...it`s like LOVe!

Waugh! I'm deprived! [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] When I was 8 or somewhere around that age, my brother wanted me to read The Hobbit, but I was not keen at all on reading then, and since The Hobbit seemed like such a LOOONG book for me, I didn't want to... so he eventually made a "deal" with me and said he would pay me 5 bucks if I read it before the end of the year. I gave it a shot, and got no where near the goal... ended up reading only 20 pages and got seriously bored, so I quit. NOW, my brother doesn't want me to read the LotR trilogy until AFTER I see the movies... [img]smilies/mad.gif[/img] So after I saw The FotR, I read The FotR, got half way through The Two Towers, (hehe... borrowed TTT from a friend secretly... [img]smilies/evil.gif[/img] ) then saw the film, and then finished it... and I'm DYING to read The RotK... so I think I'll go through my little plan of borrowing it from a friend again... secretly of course [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] *sigh* [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] My brother rules my life... and so does my other brother... -_- That's what you get having 2 older brothers...

you poor thing! don't let your brothers control you like that! read the book anyway!

or read them twice! that's even better [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img].

Like many here, I saw the Fellowship then I read the trilogy, and I'm so glad I did. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

i saw the fellowship first, then i read the book, read the second book before the movie came out. Just finished reading the hobbit, fellowship and TTT, im reading return and the silrimoion (sp) next, yay.

I was about 4, as i have stated in previous posts, when my father read me LOTR and the hobbit. So, obviously I read/heard Lotr first!

I had read the Hobbit and Trilogy as a teenager, many years ago, but without any great understanding. Since the movies came out I read the books again and also The Simarillion, Unfinshed Tales and am half way through HoME. I am also reading the Hobbit and bits of the trilogy and Simarillion to my 5 year old to hopefully enthuse him in Tolkiens work. The movies have brought this wonderful world to many who were not reached before, a good thing in my opinion.