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**The Saucepan Man** · 12-13-2003, 06:46 PM

It seemed to be a fairly foregone conclusion from an early stage, but well done Lord of the Rings. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Final result:

1. The Lord of the Rings
2. Pride and Prejudice
3. His Dark Materials
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
5. Harry Potter

Personally I thought that it was a great shame that LotR seemed to generate so much antipathy amongst the "literati" on the panels and in the audience. Of the main panel, I felt that they were struggling to say something good about it (which was not the case with the other books in the top 5), and Bonnie whatsername even admitted that she had not read it all the way through. And it seemed that the supporters of most of the other books in the top 5 were all simply trying to argue that their favourite book deserved to win because it is better than LotR.

I found the boos and the snide comments (many of them from Clive Anderson, who was supposed to be the impartial host) rather pathetic. They were just annoyed because they felt that some so-called "great work of literature" (ie Pride and Prejudice) deserved to win rather than a "mere fantasy book". Well, sorry folks, but this was all about Britain's favourite book, not the greatest work of literature judged by some crusty old academic standard.

This whole stereotypical view of LotR as a "boy's book" for adolescent geeks fixated on Dungeons & Dragons is becoming such old hat, and yet still they pump it out. I may be wrong, but I suspect that there are at least as many female members of the Downs as males, if not more.

And I just don't buy this argument that LotR only won because of the films and repeat votes from young internet users. If such factors really counted, then Harry Potter wouldn't have been (quite rightly, in my view) beaten into 6th place by the Hitchhiker's Guide. And, as has been said previously on this thread (and was pointed out in the programme itself), LotR has consistently topped these kinds of polls, and was doing so way before the films came out.

Kudos to Simon Tolkien for his warm comments about his grandfather and for putting down the perpetrators of the snide comments and the gripers with a great quote from the great man himself. [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]

<font size=1 color=339966>[ 7:48 PM December 13, 2003: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ]

12-13-2003, 06:46 PM	#118
The Saucepan Man Corpus Cacophonous Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: A green and pleasant land Posts: 8,390	It seemed to be a fairly foregone conclusion from an early stage, but well done Lord of the Rings. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] Final result: 1. The Lord of the Rings 2. Pride and Prejudice 3. His Dark Materials 4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 5. Harry Potter Personally I thought that it was a great shame that LotR seemed to generate so much antipathy amongst the "literati" on the panels and in the audience. Of the main panel, I felt that they were struggling to say something good about it (which was not the case with the other books in the top 5), and Bonnie whatsername even admitted that she had not read it all the way through. And it seemed that the supporters of most of the other books in the top 5 were all simply trying to argue that their favourite book deserved to win because it is better than LotR. I found the boos and the snide comments (many of them from Clive Anderson, who was supposed to be the impartial host) rather pathetic. They were just annoyed because they felt that some so-called "great work of literature" (ie Pride and Prejudice) deserved to win rather than a "mere fantasy book". Well, sorry folks, but this was all about Britain's favourite book, not the greatest work of literature judged by some crusty old academic standard. This whole stereotypical view of LotR as a "boy's book" for adolescent geeks fixated on Dungeons & Dragons is becoming such old hat, and yet still they pump it out. I may be wrong, but I suspect that there are at least as many female members of the Downs as males, if not more. And I just don't buy this argument that LotR only won because of the films and repeat votes from young internet users. If such factors really counted, then Harry Potter wouldn't have been (quite rightly, in my view) beaten into 6th place by the Hitchhiker's Guide. And, as has been said previously on this thread (and was pointed out in the programme itself), LotR has consistently topped these kinds of polls, and was doing so way before the films came out. Kudos to Simon Tolkien for his warm comments about his grandfather and for putting down the perpetrators of the snide comments and the gripers with a great quote from the great man himself. [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img] <font size=1 color=339966>[ 7:48 PM December 13, 2003: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ] __________________ Do you mind? I'm busy doing the fishstick. It's a very delicate state of mind!