Joining this, since I've always viewed several
chapters as especially crucial and/or absorbing:
The Shadow Of The Past and
The Council Of Elrond
Perhaps as a former history major, I see these
two chapters as crucial "grabbers" for a reader.
Either they draw you into the story and world,
or, like several relatives of mine who like scifi,
they lose interest.
For a particular personal reason,
Flight To The Ford
Until this chapter, and even after first reading The Hobbit,
I believe I still imagined elves as leprechaunish little people until this passage:
Quote:
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"You shall ride my horse," said Glorfindel, "I will shorten the stirrups up to the saddle-skirts, and you must sit as tight as you can. But you need not fear: my horse will not let any rider fall that I command him to bear."
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Upon reading this I believe my reasoning went: since hobbits are half the size of men, and Glorfindel has to shorten the stirrups for Frodo to ride, therefore elves must approximate men in size. (quite a revelation, and as the tale went on, made
Tolkien's concept of elves far more interesting and complex then the traditional one. (Personally, I tend to think of men and elves [in American football terms]
with elves more as wide recievers in build and men as fullbacks).
And perhaps the best chapter:
The Ride Of The Rohirrim
with the marvelous prose poetry of the last two pages of the chapter, which
demand to be read aloud, at least from the part beginning:
Quote:
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Now silently the host of Rohan moved forward into the field of Gondor, pouring in slowly and steadily, like the rising tide through breaches in a dike that men have thought secure.
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And it's why I find PJs movie
depiction of the charge as more flawed then most (especially it not beginning
in dark and stealthily).