Yeah. If I do buy COH, I will read the Sil beforehand. But before I read the Sil I have to finish those dozens of other books that I bought that I still have to read... :rolleyes:

I recommend you to start with the Sil, because I bet it's the best... ;)

You're right, Thinlomien. Children of Hurin will come up before I know it, and I be out at Border's once again picking up another book to add to the I-have-yet-to-read pile... :D

Which books do you already have there? (Tell me and I'll tell which you should read first... ;))

The Icewind Dale Trilogy
The Dark Elf Trilogy
Chronicles of Chrestomanci
The Chronicles of Narnia
Sphere
Congo
The Hunter's Blades
The Dark Tower

Whoo, I'll be busy the next 15 years... :D

Not, if you're quick. :) Start with Tolkien. (Yes, I'm obsessed. :D)

I can recommend Narnia and have heard lots of praise for Dark Elf trilogy and Black Tower.

I'll take your advice! I am sure that The Sil will turn out well..(it is Tolkien... how can it not!?) I just have to finish up Eragon because the movie is said to come out in the near future. Also, I put in Sphere and Congo by Michael Crichton. I will go with those last, because fantasy is almost always better. ;)

Sil is my favorite book, if I were you, I'd toss Eragon out of the window and start reading Sil... I was really shoked when I read Eragon, and even more shoked when I heard that they were making a film out of it... Eragon is a book that has most of the things mentioned here that I have read... Well, ok, after LotR, but there sure is a difference.

Eragon is definitely not the best book I have read, thats for sure. But when I am already 300-something pages into it, I might as well close the window and curl up by the lamp... :)

Come on, Eragon isn't that bad...

For myself, I enjoyed it. It may not be the best piece of fantasy out there, but it's not as bad a book as some people make it out to be. The biggest problem I had with it was the ridiculously hard to pronounce names. Names that look like five or six syllables and are supposed to be three. :rolleyes:

Dont get me wrong, Firefoot. It is a really good story. And yes, the unpronouncable names and places kind of messed me up. :mad:

You gave me my soapbox.
 

All stories (good, bad, and mediocre) have at least some of the attributes in that link, so having those attributes is not a reason to toss a story out the window (unless you'd like purposeless stories to come in vogue or Mary Sues as main characters, etc)...it's only tossworthy if those things are written poorly and made into little cardboard puppets to prance across a stage saying,

Look at me look at me! I'm the [insert Epic Element of choice]

Well, even good writers have bad eggs. Just the way it is. I remember reading the Sil a year or two ago. I hated it because it got caught up in details and, in my opinion, seemed to loose sight of the story (a chapter that was a geography lesson? :rolleyes: ).

Yes, not all Tolkien-lovers love the Sil, but it's certainly worth a try. (I love it as much as LotR, so I'd say it'd be a great loss not to read it.) When you've tried it, you can come to love it (like me and so many others) or to not like it (like Imladris here and some other people). Neither opinion, of course is more valuable.

I don't think I will ever love the Sil the way I do LotR or even the Hobbit. Certainly, there are parts and characters that I really enjoy, but it's not quite the same, somehow. It does still rank up there with my favorite books, though, but that didn't happen with the first reading; I think it took me two to really understand it. All the many names caught me up in the first time; the index and family trees were my best friends. (So Fingolwho was the son of Finwhat? Remind me why this guy was important? ;) )

My first ever post with included quotes!!!
 

I know that the Sil reads almost like an Arda history textbook, but if I dont read it like its an assignment, I'll most likely end up enjoying it. A lot.

No it isn't! It's an epic myth and fairytale and told in a manner according to that. It is a story and is written like one, not a boring and "official" history text.

EDIT: Just noticed: Happy Birthday Firefoot! :)

Not boring :o . I meant that (because I have really only skimmed it and taken excerpts out) I dont know how the book reads overall. Sorry for my harsh anti-Sil words.
Also, does it flow like a regular book? Or can you switch up the chapters and you will have the same story (i.e. chapters like "of elves and their origin" or something like that)

I wouldn't switch up the chapters. Although they are more self-contained than in other books, there is enough continuity that you would be in danger of getting lost.

Thanks, Lommy. :)

I second these wise words. (:D) And even if you didn't get lost you'd lose the sense of history and the flowing story since all the shorter stories (like the one of the Children of Húrin) are importantly linked to the "main storyline" and you'd understand less of the stories when they were separated from the context.

Thanks to you both for the advice! To tell the truth, I want to read the Silmarillion because Melkor and Ungoliant and their history amazes me. Melkor Morgoth... what an evil-sounding and imposing name...

Anyone else play Lord of the Rings Risk ?

(seemed like we needed a new topic :) )

I have played before, but personally I don't like the game much at all. I feel that they added too many new rules and altogether made the game too complicated. Give me regular Risk any day (which happens to be one of my favorite games).

I understand. I really dont like the whole "carry the ring to Mordor, where the game ends." If a war really raged across Middle-Earth, I doubt that destroying the ring in Mordor would greatly affect the orcs of Angmar or Moria...

The one and only time I played LOTR Risk, I played it with my entire family (mom, dad, and brother)...it was an interesting experience, to say the least.

All I have to say is, because of me...the Free Peoples lost.

I don't really know why I bought that game, seeing as the few times I've played Risk I've only become incredibly enraged (because I am not such a good strategist and I have horrible luck with dice), and practically gotten into a fist fight with my brother (kind of like miniature golf...such a violent sport...).

It did eventually come in handy, though, when I used the One Ring that came with it at the 'Ring Ceremony' at my high school in place of my class ring (but of course I went and ordered one of those this year because I decided I wanted one for the old school because they are changing locations and the name).

Oh, and it's been five years of Tolkien for me, now. (But don't go back and look at my one and only post on here to find out when I first read the books, because you will see the blatherings of a thirteen year old girl...and it's not pretty) :p

Me too! The best strategies in the world won't work for me because the dice don't. My brother, on the other hand, can be blind as a bat about what's going on on the other half of the board, but his dice are freaking amazing. Not fair, I tell you.

Yes, and to think I've always wanted to for once actually play DnD... Perhaps it's good that I have not been able to yet. I get violent when I feel that luck is the only thing against me (it's rarely really about skill, right? right... :p)... Though that might make things interesting. And if I'm RPing a 'Chaotic Evil Barbarian,' well then, I'd be quite in-character...

Yes, I used that ring and put it around a chain and... oh my god, I am such a nerd...

I wore "the One Ring" around my neck for probably over a year, of and on. I kept using Rings that came on these bookmarks...but I kept losing them! What a great Ringbearer I make... Yes, let's just conveniently lose it somewhere. After all, that's how it disappeared for thousands of years anyway, being lost in a river... Behind my bed it might be even more difficult to find! :D

I also was an avid collector of the LotR "CCG" (which translates: "Collectible Card Game"). I had a humongous binder full of them, and other boxes as well...and I can't say I played the game more than three or four times! Now they sit and collect dust, and I look at them every once in a while, and think about how they just have to be worth something someday, and that ebay will still be around then... ;)

And I can't say there's anything wrong with being a nerd. A merchandising nerd, though...well, I don't suggest it. :p

Oh, you are right, Durelin . If I wasnt a nerd, I would never have found LOTR... :cool:

But anyway, I never got into the CCG, be it the lack of money or the fascination with my GameCube... :D

I'm a bit of a 'collector,' perhaps? Actually a more apt name would be 'packrat.'

Btw...if anyone missed anything LotR merchandise wise, there's a chance that I have it, and don't really want it anymore...i.e., I'm trying to off stuff like...say...an embarrassing Legolas cardboard stand-up (still in package, though a little bent from being placed in a closet full of junk) from a kind but hapless uncle... *wink wink nudge nudge*

Anyway, I was thinking how I feel so incapable or unintelligent when I see these people who have read LotR at age 7 or 8, and have read it numerous times since then. I didn't read it until I was twelve, and I haven't read but pieces of it since! And yet I sit around on this forum and think I can talk about it and write about characters in ME! Am I really justified? :eek: ;)

Of course you are, Durelin. To tell the truth, I have never even read the Lord of the Rings or the Silmarillion all the way through, yet I know just enough to contribute here, thankfully... ;)

Hehe, why thank you! I must say I was proud of myself for reading through the entirety of "the Council of Elrond" the first time around. None of my friends managed that one... :D

Haha, mine neither.

Concerning justification: no, Durelin, of course you're not justified. No one could possibly be justified unless they had read the Hobbit before they could walk, have read LotR religiously at least once a year since then, and can quote HoME at the drop of the hat. :p You should probably own original 1950's copies of the books, as well.

*All this to say, of course we like having you around, Durelin. :cool:

The one based on the movies? I never played that one, but I used to collect Middle-Earth The Wizards -cards and playing mainly games made up by me and my little sis with them since my sister disliked the real game. (Even now she won't try a match against me... :() I remember my friends bought me the Galadriel card from a special shop as a birthday present and it was really cool back then... :)

Hehe! Aw, you Downers are like a support group.


And yes, the card game based on the movies. I remember coming across the older game, but only online and never in stores...otherwise I would probably have some of those cards, too... :rolleyes: ;) Those had some interesting art, as I recall. And I can understand your sister's feelings about the game...I own several different card games, and I never play any of them. Though, now I couldn't tell you if that was because I didn't like the games or if I was just too lazy (or was spending too much time doing other things...like trying to be on the 'Downs on dial-up...).

Speaking of cards, my group and I had just gotten back from Homecoming and the 10 of us walking back to his house when we saw this sale. So I told them I was going to check it out real quick (because you never know what you will find). Anyway, I found this plastic card-container. I opened it up, and, alas! Middle-Earth region geography cards!
From what I could see, there was just a deck of cards, each having a region from Middle Earth printed on them, such as Lorien, Emyn Muil, Plateau of Gorgoroth, Umbar, and the likes. And they werent the ones from the new editions of LOTR Risk, because I already own them. I asked how much they were going for, and the guy who was selling this stuff took one look at them and snatched them away. "Oh, these arent for sale, sorry". So I never saw them again, and I am wondering if they had special powers. :eek:
Anyone know of these? I doubt that they are that valuable from the looks of them... :smokin:

I think i was 13. I found them in the library and loved them. i still am 13, by the way. I read all 3, the Hobbit when i was 10 or younger, i don't know how old.

I tried the Silmarillion but only got through half way.

ninja, I think the region cards might have been from Middle-Earth the wizards, for they have such.

The newer CCG had region cards, too. Though they would be pictures from the films.

shieldmaiden - I suppose we should welcome you to the "club." I can't say it's too much of a club, though. Not exactly too cohesive beyond usual BD cohesiveness. No real club president or secretary...certainly not any treasurer. (Unless someone would like to donate? Because then I would love to be treasurer, and you can send your money to me. And our first project: buying me a new laptop... :p)

Oh...yeah...

So, welcome! :smokin:

And keep trying with the Sil!