Which is your favourite Tolkien book?

[Vaine]

I did a quick search and couldn't find a similar thread so here goes:

Which is your favourite book about Tolkien's legendarium?

Mine is The Children of Húrin.
Simply because I just love the story, and how it keeps me thrilled throughout.
I love LotR too, but it's just too dragged out compared to CoH. (Like butter scraped over too much bread )

[Lalwendë]

Specifically, mine's Book 1 of Lord of the Rings, i.e. the first half of Fellowship!

[Vaine]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Specifically, mine's Book 1 of Lord of the Rings, i.e. the first half of Fellowship!

Thats an interesting choice, might I ask why?
I always liked frodo's journey from the Shire to Rivendell as well. Pretty exciting, but I'd like to hear your reason.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Hmm, it is quite problematic (at least for me) to name a particular book, as the books are such a diverse compilation of topics (especially if you speak about things like the Silmarillion, which consists of many various stories) that choosing something is not that easy. However, even despite that, I could perhaps say the Unfinished Tales. I do not certainly like all of it that much, but there are some parts which are just beautiful, really beautiful. For example, the tale of Tuor (Ulmo's appearance), the Hunt for the Ring, the part about Istari... Okay, of course it is not a tale by itself, but all these are veeery nice.

[Vaine]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

Hmm, it is quite problematic (at least for me) to name a particular book, as the books are such a diverse compilation of topics (especially if you speak about things like the Silmarillion, which consists of many various stories) that choosing something is not that easy. However, even despite that, I could perhaps say the Unfinished Tales. I do not certainly like all of it that much, but there are some parts which are just beautiful, really beautiful. For example, the tale of Tuor (Ulmo's appearance), the Hunt for the Ring, the part about Istari... Okay, of course it is not a tale by itself, but all these are veeery nice.

I was thinking the same thing, which is why I chose The Children of Húrin, as it is the one I liked the most of all the 'stories' in the Silmarillion.

And to have it between two bookcovers of its own is just sweet

[Lariren Shadow]

I love Return of the King. I have a thing for Men in the books(never would I want to be an Elf or a Hobbit) and all the triumph of Men and all their stories I just love. And I love all the scenes in from Pelennor to the Pyre of Denethor and especially the faramir and Éowyn scenes(because I find them hopelessly romantic).

I do like Helm's Deep and the interactions at Henneth Annun(I do have that right? It's not Emyn Arnen because that's where Faramir builds his house in the Fourth Age right?) in The Two Towers, but, to be honest, I don't like some of the Treebeard stuff. I know what it is there for, but sometimes reading it puts me to sleep.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

*don't hurt me*

I love The Hobbit. Of all of the books, it's the one I find most enjoyable to casually reread. The characters are likable, the songs are still accessible to the average reader, and Elves still sing Tra-la-la-lally.

Simply put, it's not as exhausting of a commitment to sit and read The Hobbit as it is to pick up the Silm. I like me my story arcs.

[Nogrod]

It was great to get the CoH as a more detailed tale. I'm one of those who really appreciated it. But still there's none beating the Silmarillion.

Originally Posted by Fea

Simply put, it's not as exhausting of a commitment to sit and read The Hobbit as it is to pick up the Silm.

But you don't have to read it all at one sit my dear!

[Vaine]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

*don't hurt me*

I love The Hobbit. Of all of the books, it's the one I find most enjoyable to casually reread. The characters are likable, the songs are still accessible to the average reader, and Elves still sing Tra-la-la-lally.

Simply put, it's not as exhausting of a commitment to sit and read The Hobbit as it is to pick up the Silm. I like me my story arcs.

Interesting, thats the one I like the least, because it's written from such a human (present) point of view.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Originally Posted by Nogrod

But you don't have to read it all at one sit my dear!

Technically, I suppose I don't. Compulsively, though? Quite a different story. If I stop to think about it, a disproportionate amount of my life has been spent making sure I never end up with only a single book out of a series, and making sure I finish (even if I resort to skimming) every book I start. I just... get twitchy when things are completed properly.

Hence The Hobbit, which is easy to finish in one sitting, and which has an inarguably solid and earned resolution, is fantastic.

[Mirandir]

Originally Posted by Lariren Shadow

I love Return of the King. I have a thing for Men in the books(never would I want to be an Elf or a Hobbit) and all the triumph of Men and all their stories I just love. And I love all the scenes in from Pelennor to the Pyre of Denethor and especially the faramir and Éowyn scenes(because I find them hopelessly romantic).

Oh Lari...Pretty much we're just destined to be friends.

Return of the King is my favorite book as well. The triumphs of Men totally sold me on the book, even though I do have a soft spot for Elves.

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

*don't hurt me*

I love The Hobbit. Of all of the books, it's the one I find most enjoyable to casually reread. The characters are likable, the songs are still accessible to the average reader, and Elves still sing Tra-la-la-lally.

Why should we hurt you? I was actually thinking about The Hobbit too, I like it a lot, and that includes the tra-la-lally Elves (don't see what's the problem with them). Then I also pondered writing the Two Towers, but again, there are just several chapters I like, and some which are not so good, or basically average. But those I like are the best: if we were to write just one chapter, then I would say "The Uruk-Hai" with no hesitation. It is just brilliant.

Originally Posted by Vaine

Interesting, thats the one I like the least, because it's written from such a human (present) point of view.

And that's what I like as well and it does not bother me at all. And I won't say it is necessarily from a "present" point of view - or if I understood correctly what you mean by it - it is written from the narrator's point of view, you have this narrator interacting with the reader "as you can imagine, poor Mr. Bilbo was..." But that is actually pretty good. Imagine something written about let's say Saruman from that point of view. Awwwww! Cuuuuuuuuute!!!!!

[Lariren Shadow]

Originally Posted by Mirandir

Oh Lari...Pretty much we're just destined to be friends.

It's true.

And I feel sad that people missed my totally geekying out yesterday over Tolkien in History of England(must get the Song of Maldon).

[Vaine]

Originally Posted by Legate of Amon Lanc

Why should we hurt you? I was actually thinking about The Hobbit too, I like it a lot, and that includes the tra-la-lally Elves (don't see what's the problem with them). Then I also pondered writing the Two Towers, but again, there are just several chapters I like, and some which are not so good, or basically average. But those I like are the best: if we were to write just one chapter, then I would say "The Uruk-Hai" with no hesitation. It is just brilliant.



And that's what I like as well and it does not bother me at all. And I won't say it is necessarily from a "present" point of view - or if I understood correctly what you mean by it - it is written from the narrator's point of view, you have this narrator interacting with the reader "as you can imagine, poor Mr. Bilbo was..." But that is actually pretty good. Imagine something written about let's say Saruman from that point of view. Awwwww! Cuuuuuuuuute!!!!!

Well, when it gets told that the game of golf was invented during a hobbit war, it just leaves me with a big :| face

And I do realise it's a childrens book, however I just can't enjoy it as much as I would like after reading the Silmarillion etc.

For some reason I read the Silmarillion before I read the Hobbit.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Vaine

Thats an interesting choice, might I ask why?
I always liked frodo's journey from the Shire to Rivendell as well. Pretty exciting, but I'd like to hear your reason.

Lots of reasons really, but the main one is that it has the most information about the Hobbits and The Shire in it, which I love.

Of course it's also got a familiar landscape, and familiar sorts of mysteries such as Barrows and Forests and it evokes magic for me, especially with the Tom chapters (sorry folks, I love old Tom ). It makes me want to go walking about and looking for old groves and Downs and creepy, ganrled old willows....

And coming from that, I find it the most lovingly written part of the whole story. The landscapes spring out of the page and you feel like you can even smell them; you can taste the food and ale at Bilbo's party; you can explore Bag End; and feel frightened as the outside world starts to intrude.

[Vaine]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Lots of reasons really, but the main one is that it has the most information about the Hobbits and The Shire in it, which I love.

Of course it's also got a familiar landscape, and familiar sorts of mysteries such as Barrows and Forests and it evokes magic for me, especially with the Tom chapters (sorry folks, I love old Tom ). It makes me want to go walking about and looking for old groves and Downs and creepy, ganrled old willows....

And coming from that, I find it the most lovingly written part of the whole story. The landscapes spring out of the page and you feel like you can even smell them; you can taste the food and ale at Bilbo's party; you can explore Bag End; and feel frightened as the outside world starts to intrude.

Yeah as I recall from when I read it myself, Book 1 was the longest, in terms of travelling per page (If you know what I mean), it's the part where Tolkien spent the most time explaining landscapes and characters in detail, heavy detail

But again, this is why it is to easy sometimes to.. ehm, whats the word, dive into it, experience it, live it? Something...

[Morthoron]

The Silmarillion. A sentimental attachment, really. It was the first hardcover Tolkien book I purchased the year it was published and with my own money. It speaks to the power of the book that a teenager would surrender beer and cigarette money for a copy!

[Vaine]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

The Silmarillion. A sentimental attachment, really. It was the first hardcover Tolkien book I purchased the year it was published and with my own money. It speaks to the power of the book that a teenager would surrender beer and cigarette money for a copy!

hahaha
Thats awesome.

[Galadriel]

Fellowship of the Ring and The Silmarillion. And Children of Húrin was really interesting too...

[xMellrynxMaidenx]

The Silmarillion.

It was the first challenging book I had picked up and read (even if on the first way through I didn't quite follow it ) to completion. Mind you because I didn't quite grasp it on the first time through, it had taken me a whole lot longer to read through it than it normally would.

[Galadriel55]

I like all of Tolkien's works that I've read so far (LOTR, TH, the Silm, and Narn i Hin Hurin) pretty much the same - I just love all of them. Maybe not TH so much - it is a bit simple and not detailed and deep enough for me. I guess It's just meant for younger kids.
An easier question for me to answer is if I like one specific scene or episode from one of the books. Then I can really give a yes or no answer.

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

Maybe not TH so much - it is a bit simple and not detailed and deep enough for me.

Same here. People stare at me when I say I didn't like The Hobbit, but it was too...I don't know, I just found it boring (except for the first chapter and the part with the Wood-elves).