Parts We Skip and Why

[narfforc]

Being the runt of the last litter of my Orkish sire, I skip all the poetry, lots of Elvish rubbish bah.

Sorry I would like to apologise for the last outburst, this was from the half of me that is Orkish, I in fact love all the beauty and splendour of the Tolkien verse.

Bah! and bah again.

I think I must have skipped the bit where Old Whitchy-poo breaks that Wizards staff.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

As I alluded in my last post, it is not necessarily that I think certain parts are permanently boring, but more that at this point of my life... they just don't do it for me.

It is like the way that as you grow and experience new things, favorite characters change. The same thing, for me, happens with passages. If I am going through a particularly rough time in RL, I make it a point to avoid passages that I know will make me cry. If I feel the need to wallow in self-pity, I pointedly ignore Tom Bombadil.

I am a 17-year-old. I am [not particularly] fighting a bad case of senioritus, and right now, I'm making it a point for life to be a blast. Anything that brings me down, or sinks me back into a depression that I've finally pulled out of, is highly unwelcome in my life. Seeing Frodo falling into such despair and needing Sam to help him out of it... it makes me remember feeling helpless, and I don't like the feeling. So I avoid it, skipping the downfall and celebrating when Frodo is saved. I read specific passages that make me smile, or cry happy tears. I admit it... I have to try really hard to hold back tears when Eomer finds Eowyn at the Pelennor.

What the point is that I am trying, but perhaps not succeeding, to make, is that what we enjoy seems to be in direct relation to experiences we have had and things that we are currently dealing with.
I may, of course, be dead wrong, and feel free to berate me something fierce (preferably out of sight of the public) if I am, but from what I've observed... Fea trails off in order to allow you all to draw your own conclusions.

[Formendacil]

Like Tar-Ancalime, I have found it to be certain TYPES of chapters, and not certain BOOKS of chapters that I find less easy to read, and more easy to speed through, but while for her it is the "fighting" parts that she dislikes, for me it is more of the "travelling" parts.

I'm more of a story-oriented reader. In Book IV, for example, I tend to go at a medium speed of reading up to Ithilien, then sit back and read carefully the Faramir-interaction scenes, and then skip all the way to Shelob's tunnels at breakneck speed before slowing down to enjoy Shagrat and Gorbag.

Of course, this is a generalization, and each chapter harbours quick-read spots, and slow-down-and-enjoy spots.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Oh, the poetry! I did read that quickly, only skimming it at first, when the story was new and suspenseful and I wanted to find out what happened next. Now I take the time to savour it, even read it aloud to enjoy the rhythm and melody of the words.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I agree, Esty. The poetry is great on a rainy day, but when the adrenaline is rushing, it's hard to slow down for that sort of thing. I truly do love it, but where I can quote by memory certain passages... I'm generally in trouble if somebody asks me to speak one of Tolkien's poems. With the exception of a few... I just find it hard, what with my afore-mentioned attention span difficulties, to practically stop myself mid-story to read a poem that may or may not have anything whatever to do with the plot line. Bad me... yes, I know.

Fea

[Carnimírië]

The first time I read LOTR the poems were a little distracting, especially the long ones like "Earendil was a mariner." I didn't find anything off-putting about Bombadil, I just couldn't figure him out; in fact I wondered if he was good or evil I find that every time I reread the book I appreciate the parts that I had previously found slow or tedious, like Book IV and the poetry.

Originally Posted by Boromir88:
A chapter a lot of people skip, and I simply just don't understand why, is the Council of Elrond.

Could be because the Council of Elrond is just people talking to each other, it's not happening in "real time." I find it very interesting, but it's a lot of exposition to swallow at one time.

Perhaps we should have a thread about parts we race through because we can't help it. I've never managed to read Book VI over more than two days.