Post here if you've read the Hobbit and the entire LOTR, please.

[Hardrada]

[denbot]

1. Everybody in the early 70's read the Hobbit and LOTR

At least everyone I knew.

[RoyGBiv]

25. This is an absolute truth ...

How else can one explain the clothes and all the smoking of weed? :)

Seriously, The Hobbit and the LotR had a profound effect on our culture and not the kind of effect I think Tolkien would have entirely desired.

[Hardrada]

47. I remember a head shop called The Hobbit Hole!

[RoyGBiv]

49. The Hobbit Cafe ...

There's a little restaurant down the road from me called The Hobbit Cafe. Great sandwiches and beer.

Of course.

I read a review of it recently wherein the reviewer said the theme was based on The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. :crazy: The mind reels ...

[elocs]

109. Yep, I was in college then and that is when I first read it and I couldn't put it down.

"Frodo Lives" was seen written on walls. n/t

[NMDemDist2]

136. yup

and I re-read them after the movies

[Chemical Bill]

137. You had to, to be cool. n/t

[hippywife]

2. I did but it was a very long time ago. n/t

[EastTennesseeDem]

3. Here

[arcadian]

4. I have

n/t

[GoneOffShore]

5. All of them - More than six times

Plus the Silmarillion.

And I have read Mervyn Peakes books - all of them.

[Hardrada]

12. I read the Peake books too but can't remember them so well.

Perhaps time for a reread.

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

60. I read all of the hippie classics

back in the early-to-mid 1970s with appropriate herbal enhancement. Read Hobbit/LOTR and the incredibly psychedelic Gormenghast trilogy two or three times. I am a bit foggy as to the particulars. :smoke:

[Hardrada]

65. I am foggy about Gormenghast but I liked it.

And stuff by Peter Beagle.

[RevolutionaryActs]

6. What, yes?

Did you need something? :D

[Hardrada]

10. OK, a nice picture of the Departure for the Grey Havens

or the Grey Havens itself.

[KitchenWitch]

7. Yes

[Lethe]

8. read all of them a couple a three times

i'm interested in seeing how the new Hobbit movie turns out. Del Toro is directing.

[Hardrada]

15. Thanks for reminding me about that. I want to see it too.

Also I need a newer illustrated edition of the Hobbit. I'd like a copy of the first edition too but that is as expensive as new luxury car.

[Redneck Socialist]

9. Sure, multiple times...

...and?

[Hardrada]

11. I'm curious if you read the HB or the PB? I just bought

a nice new set of the trilogy in HB in a slipcase and I wish I admire the illustrations more than any I remember.

[Redneck Socialist]

14. Paperback, though I've considered getting a nice hardbound set.

I seem to get the urge to reread them every few years.

[Hardrada]

43. There are some great editions out there. I bought a set.

Also a book of maps of the LOTR.

[wickerwoman]

16. Both.

I've read the Hobbit two or three times and Lord of the Rings maybe seven or eight.

I have a drop dead gorgeous hardbound edition that was autographed by Alan Lee (the illustrator). He's really an amazing man and incredibly talented.

[Hardrada]

36. That's the edition I just bought but I envy you for having the

illustrator's autograph. This new edition was well thought out!

[Lucian]

13. Yo.

I read them back before they were cool.

[Hardrada]

17. I read them in 1966 but after they had become a fad.

When did you discover them.

[Lucian]

18. Mid '90s.

When I was in Jr. High and High School.

[leftyclimber]

19. Annually. Including the appendices.

I read The Hobbit for the first time when I was in grade school but didn't read LOTR until I'd graduated from college (I am a child of the 70s, FWIW).

I've only read The Silmarillion two or three times, though, and have avoided all of Christopher Tolkien's various publications of his dad's notes, so I don't consider myself a total LOTR nerd, FWIW.

[Hardrada]

28. I haven't read the later books but have the one on Morgoth.

I should round them up and read them too.

[quakerboy]

20. Course

They were all read to me as a child, and I have since reread them several times. Then obtained the extras and read those. Now I have to content myself with trying to revive Tolkien to write more for me. No success yet, but I am thinking next time leach blood and high voltage/high amperage, maybe that will do it.

[Arkansas Granny]

21. I've read them all several times. I recently got my copies back that I

had loaned to a friend. Time to read them again.

[Hardrada]

41. I'm going to but need to finish some other books first.

[RoyGBiv]

22. Many times ...

The LotR has been my standard "lunch book" for a very long time. I read a few pages per day. I guess, on average, I've read it about once a year for the last 20 years or so. Read The Hobbit for the fist time when I was about 15, I think, and LotR the next year.

I've read The Hobbit a few times, but I don't enjoy it as much as LotR and so don't re-read it often. Actually I need to read it again sometime in the next three years, before the movie comes out.

OnEdit: I'm on the The Passing of the Grey Company right now. :)

[DarkTirade]

23. It's been a while since I read The Hobbit

but I used to make a habit of reading LOTR at least once a year.

[elfrangel]

24. I haven't yet, but am working on it...slowly.

My mom would read out of a collection of Tolkien stories as bedtime stories for me as a kid. Just recently found a re-print of the book she used and added it to my book collection (such as it is). I still love them. :)

[Hardrada]

38. That is a great story collection. I wish I still had a copy.

[Withywindle]

26. You mean my username didn't give it away?

Read them for the first time between about the ages of 8 and 12 or so (don't really remember). That would have been the late '70s/early 80s in my case. I was in the habit of raiding all my dad's old fantasy and SF paperbacks from the 60s then.

Loved 'em, lived 'em, passed notes around in Elven script in high school, the whole bit.

[Hardrada]

33. I wish I had been introduced to them earlier. I didn't get a clue

about them until I was 21! Still magical though.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

27. Hiho

Pardon me while I brush my feet.

[Hardrada]

66. LOL! Hobbits and their feet!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

29. My dear Hardrada!

I have read all of those books, over and over...

I love them!

Incredible stories...

[Hardrada]

34. I understand why you would have. I wandered off into science fiction

which I also love but I must emulate you and the others here and reread these. There is so much that didn't get into the movies.

[Tom Kitten]

30. Yes, in 1973!

The year Tolkein died...I was really into fantasy then...I've read a lot, like the Narnia series, the Prydian books, etc... but I still need to read the Gormenghast Trilogy...I bought those books 35 years ago and still have not read them! My sister, did, though...She said they're quite good and wants to reread them.

[Hardrada]

46. I loved the Narnia trilogy. I have always admired C.S. Lewis and

also have a lot of his academic and religious writings.

[Tom Kitten]

48. The Great Divorce

My favorite book by him. George MacDonald is a character in that book. Ever read anything by him? I love Lilith, Phantastes, The Golden Key...But back to Lewis... I also like The Screwtape Letters, and (non fantasy)Surprised By Joy. He just seemed like a very kindly person, as with Tolkein. I never read his "Perelandra" trilogy either. I did once own a first edition of his last novel, "Till We Have Faces", but I didn't read that either and ended up selling it to Powell's for like thirty dollars. That was a long time ago. I wish I would have kept it.

[Hardrada]

67. Yes, I have. I thought George MacDonald's work was "heavy!"

I read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. I have a deep affection for C.S. Lewis since my high school days since so many of his books were both high fantasy and also a consolation. I also read his "A Grief Observed" which he wrote under a pseudonym and it helped me in a hard time. I liked Perelandra too. And Clive Staples Lewis died on my birthday 11/22/1963 when I turned 19.

[Iggo]

31. Yep. Several times.

Not in the lat couple of decades, though.

[no name no slogan]

32. Several times. I've even read the Silmarillion.

I reread LOTR once every few years, just to refamiliarise myself with it. It's one of my favorite stories.

[XemaSab]

35. I read all four books

and it was DAYS of my life I will never get back. x(

[Hardrada]

40. Perhaps you like sci fi better?

[Orrex]

37. I've seen the Rankin/Bass cartoons. Does that count?

:evilgrin:

I've read the four books, but not for about seven or eight years.

[Hardrada]

39. I only got a glimpse of the cartoons. I suppose they are available somewhere.

[Orrex]

42. They're actually not bad

Some zealots here claim that they're better than the Jackson films, which is just silliness.

Still, the cartoons manage to catch a surprising amount of the atmosphere and plot of the books. Overall, though, The Hobbit cartoon is better than the one for The Lord of the Rings.

[Hardrada]

44. Thanks. I'll try to track them down and finally see them all.

[Orrex]

45. If you find them online, let me know

I've been looking every now and then, but with no success.

Orson Bean as Bilbo!

[RoyGBiv]

50. I *hate* the LotR one ...

Hate.

Hatehatehate.

Not really, but they just do not fit my image of the books ... at all. The Hobbit was closer, although the music kinda bugs me, and I never saw orcs or wood elves in quite the way they presented them.

A friend gave me the set of them a few years ago. They are much treasured.

[Orrex]

51. I can't stand rotoscope animation

And that's just about enough to kill the LOTR cartoon for me.

I never liked the way the Wood Elves were represented, either, and although the orcs were reasonably effective, I agree that they didn't match my impression of them.

[RoyGBiv]

55. Yeah, that's definitely part of it ...

I was gonna call it that "70s style" animation, but rotoscope is the correct term and, of course, is not just a 70s thing, but I associate it with that decade for some reason.

Funny thing about orcs ... I started playing D&D when I was about 13 and read The Hobbit when I was about 15. The image of orcs in D&D (that is, the artwork in the Monster Manual) did not fit in my mind the way Tolkien described them. Of course he didn't get into just an incredible amount of detail that truly painted a picture, but from D&D I took away an image of them as humanoid pigs. From Tolkien, they strike me more as what an elf or human or dwarf would look like if its physical appearance displayed a corruption of evil. I thought Peter Jackson caught that idea better, which kinda shocked me because by the time the movies came out I'd decided I was just weird for developing the mental image I had.

I never saw the Urakai the way Jackson presented them, but he got the standard orc pretty much the way I did.

[Withywindle]

58. You know what those are good for?

I was not born/too young for the original hippie/stoner LOTR thing in the late 60s/early 70s. I loved the books long before I knew about dope.

But those animated versions are THE SHIT for the 420 giggle fit. Especially the songs. (I tried to bribe a friends' band to cover "Where There's a Whip, There's a Way" for me once. No luck.)

edit: of course it's on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdXQJS3Yv0Y


:rofl:

[RoyGBiv]

59. You want a giggle fit?

Try this ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2HQ1K7YyQM

[Orrex]

61. Everybody needs a little shot of Nimox now and then

[Gonzo Gardener]

52. Yes, yes, it's become a family tradition!

My grandfather read all of the books to me when I was young and I have read them all to my son.

[Hardrada]

70. That's a great tradition. It's reassuring to hear it is now a generational thing!

[DeepBlueC]

53. yes, of course

peer pressure

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

54. Many times, the first time in '73.

I was very disappointed the movies didn't include Tom Bombadil and his Lady. :cry:

[Hardrada]

68. They should make a movie or feature film just about them.

I'd go see it.

[pokerfan]

74. Tom Bombadil and Goldberry don't really exist

Sadly, they are in fact, simply drug-induced hobbit hallucinations. Pretty much everything in the four chapters following 'A Short Cut to Mushrooms' is hallucinated: Fatty Bolger, Old Man Willow, Bombadil, the Barrow-wights, etc. In reality, they got stoned and wandered around the Old Forrest in a stupor for three chapters before finishing it off with some grave-robbing. They don't really come down from the mushrooms until they reach The Prancing Pony and get some food and ale in their systems.

So you see it was perfectly acceptable for Jackson to delete the chemically induced fantasies, especially considering that he was making a PG rated film.

:P

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

83. I'm thinking you know a whole lot about chemically induced fantasies

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[susanna]

56. I have. n/t

[Rue]

57. Long time ago.

Back in middle school, in fact.

[buzzycrumbhunger]

62. Every year or two since about fifth grade

Finally bought a pretty new hardcover boxed set a few years ago to replace the tired old paperbacks. I have a friend who can beat us all, though. Her dad used to travel to the UK periodically for work and brought her the books before they were even released here (I'm thinking she said it was the late '50s). Much as she hated her dad leaving on these trips, it always meant she'd finally get the next book. I understand she read the hell out of them and they had to be replaced periodically (one actually fell into the bathtub). Kind of sickening to think what they would have been worth, but I think an author would appreciate that kind of adoration over a mere collector any day.

Tolkien certainly was a major player in what shaped the Boomer generation. It was fun when the movies brought him back into vogue, though it is a little disturbing when your daughter professes a crush on the elf you've had a hard-on for since you were half her age. :eyes:

[csziggy]

63. Read the whole thing while in college

To set the time period, I was playing Rare Earth's version of "I Know I'm Losing You" at the point when Gandalf fell off the bridge with the balrog. For me, those two things are forever linked. :hippie:

[Hardrada]

99. I read The Hobbit while sometimes listening to the Fugs record

a friend had.

[Hardrada]

100. I read The Hobbit while sometimes listening to the Fugs record

a friend had.

[csziggy]

117. I'd never heard of the Fugs before - interesting history for them

It's is strange how songs can be linked to life's events, isn't it?

[regnaD kciN]

64. My first semester in college...

...autumn and early winter 1974.

[Hardrada]

69. I hope it is still one of the Rites of Passage!

[Sinistrous]

71. Also read "Bored of the Rings", the LOTR spoof from

the Harvard Lampoon. It is hysterical - but only if you have read LOTR first.

[Hekate]

120. Oh gods that was funny. Once I opened it I had to have it. nt

[ThomCat]

72. Yup, but long, long ago. I'm far past due to read them all again.

A friend of mine reads them all once every year and can recite large sections of them. I can't tell you how many trivia contests she has won. She has great one-of-a-kind Tolkien memorabilia.

[Jamastiene]

73. I read them a loooong time ago.

I wish I could write about my little world. My family discouraged Jamaland a long time ago though. So, it's incomplete in my mind. Still, I loved The Hobbit and LOTR.

[Hardrada]

94. I had a little "office" of my own where I kept my books

like "Alice in Wonderland" and if I'd known as a child about LOTR I would have had them there also.

[fizzgig]

75. i read them at least once a year

it's comfort brain food for me

[hobbit709]

76. Who, me?

[Hardrada]

90. LOL!

[Puglover]

77. Back in the 7th grade.

They transported me. I remember thinking, it's too bad they will never be able to make a movie about these books.

Silly me. :)

[LibbyTreehugger]

78. I have

And I'm starting to read them to my 6 year old.

I've turned him into a fanatic as well :)

[keroro gunsou]

79. a-yup

hobbit, 3rd grade
lotr, 4-5th grade.

wrote an essay in 6th grade about what i wanted to be when i grew up... standard english class tripe.... i wrote that i wanted to be one of the nazgul when i grew up. simple reasons, cool clothes, decent job, swords, the powers.... when my teacher, who was a nun with a sense of humor (a rarity in the 70's) reminded me that to be one of the nazgul you'd need to be dead... all i replied to her was, "details...."

[yellowdogintexas]

80. but of course. twice.

Long time since I did that second reading though.

My husband has probably read it 4 or 5 times. Our daughter has read it once.

When she was 8 or 9 we decided to do some family reading aloud. So the first book we chose was'The Hobbit' She and her best friend, my husband and I would take turns reading aloud.

About half way through the book, the girls took the book away from us because we were taking too long. LOL. That was a turning point for the friend, who did not think she 'could read a book that big'.

[mitchum]

81. Never, but I did smoke from a bong shaped like Gandalf

[Hardrada]

93. That was from one of the head shops I didn't go into!

[jus_the_facts]

82. I have.....twice...

:hi:

[Hardrada]

98. You beat me by one reading.

[seemunkee]

84. Several times

and The Silmarillion, and to balance things out Bored of the Rings

[Lyric]

85. Many, many times, and the Silmarillion too.

[JTG of the PRB]

86. I just read them all (plus The Silmarillion) last fall.

I think I'm going to make it a yearly tradition of mine to read all those books every year (or at least The Hobbit and LotR). Those four books comprise my absolute favorite set of literature.

[Strong Atheist]

87. .

[Hardrada]

92. Saruman has a tank!

[Lost in CT]

88. Honestly Harvard Lampoons Bored of the Rings was the best of the bunch. nt

[Hardrada]

91. I have that one too in with the PB editions.

[Marrah_G]

89. Many times- I am a total Tolkien fan.

[pokerfan]

95. I'm the biggest Tolkien geek there is

I read the Hobbit & the trilogy for the first time more than thirty years ago. I've purchased many paperback versions over the years but I still have my original which looks like this (only with tape holding it together):



I have the Big Red Book and while it will last forever, it's just too unmanageable for easy reading. The large format paperbacks are the best for everyday reading IMO but I eschew anything with a still from the movie on the cover. I really like the art on this version:



http://mysite.verizon.net/aznirb/mtr/gallery/gallery.html">Gallery of Tolkien covers

I also have a totally unauthorized etext which is handy for searches. I rationalize my thievery by telling myself that I have purchased the books many, many times over.

I love/hate the films but I do own the extended versions.

I have the 55 CD unabridged audiobook as read by Robert Inglis, a Shakespearean actor from the UK. I've ripped them to mp3 which is great for traveling as reading on an airplane can give me a headache. I also have the BBC Radio dramatization.

I have read most of the other books and own many of them plus sundry reference material (Guide to Middle Earth, Atlas of Middle Earth, etc.)

Finally I have a large map of Middle Earth printed on silk hanging in one of my hallways:



I am Pokerfan. Lord of the Geeks!

[Hardrada]

101. Thanks for illustrations. You have a great collection!

[JCMach1]

96. Correct questions would be: HOW MANY TIMES...

answer- 15-20 when I was an obsessive pre-teen.

[Hardrada]

97. That would have been a very sensible question to ask.

I have not read them for ages. I think I will but I'll never catch up to you and the others here!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

102. Way back in the '60s, in college.

Read the whole thing.

[triguy46]

103. Yup. Do I win something?

[Hardrada]

113. My congratulations! I think the whole trilogy is a massive reading

project for anyone.

[SidneyCarton]

104. Tolkien nerd here, have read both and the Silmarillion several times.

[lukasahero]

105. Oh please, who hasn't? Who's read the ENTIRE Silmarillion? eom

[Hardrada]

114. I have!

[lukasahero]

132. Ok then

You are worthy. ;)

I have a number of friends though who claim they have read the LotR only to discover upon further questioning that what they read was The Hobbit and only The Hobbit. I think people feel like they 'should' have read the LotR so they say they have. Posers...

[elocs]

106. Many times, and at this very moment I am watching The Two Towers

on my 7' screen using my front projector with a nice surround sound system. I have even watched all 3 extended versions in a marathon session (about 11 hours). Also I have The Hobbit and LOTR read on cd.

[Hardrada]

115. Sounds like a fine system you have. I have never seen the

exttended versions and will have to seek them out. I do have a CD soundtrack of LOTR.

[elocs]

122. I don't use my front projector and big screen for all movies,

but ones like LOTR cry out for it because they are big screen movies. The extended version boxed sets are great and the extra minutes added to each movie are nice. The opening versions of Fellowship are somewhat different and I prefer the original theater release version. There is a really good added scene in Return of the King where they ride up to the gates of Mordor to parlay with the Mouth of Sauron.

[Hardrada]

129. Thanks for the tip. I will look for the original versions also.

[Glorfindel]

107. Yes, of course, several times

They never grow stale.

[Hardrada]

112. You have an appropriate name for this thread!

Welcome aboard.

[tigereye]

108. yes, and out loud the last time! They were wonderful read out loud

(for the kiddo's benefit.)

[Aristus]

110. I've read LotR all the way through three times, and The Hobbit more times than I can count.

I have seven or eight editions of the book. A limited edition hardcover with slipcase and Tolkien's original illustrations. A plain text paperback. A folio-sized paperback illustrated with watercolor paintings, an annotated edition, a German-language edition...

I'm a Hobbit geek. B-)

[Hardrada]

111. That's a great collection. I've heard of some of those and

wish I had similar copies.

[Zoigal]

116. Oh yes, the whole shebang.

Saw all the movies, too. Great graphics. z

[Hardrada]

118. I'm thinking of waiting for the Hobbit flick to appear before I

watch all the LOTR movies again. For a sense of sequence to them all.

[Hekate]

119. Ha! Not only that, I read them all aloud to my son when he was 9 or 10, every word...

He was really gripped by it.

I first read them in the summer of 1965, just after high school, when the paperbacks mysteriously turned up in my parents' house. I read

Well, not that mysteriously: dad always had a couple of boxes of fantasy and sci fi paperbacks in the house that he swapped around with his buddies at Lockheed. He subscribed to Analog and F&SF. It was as mother's milk to me: I read it all.

Next question?

Hekate

[Hardrada]

128. My favorite SF magazine was Galaxy. Did you know that one?

[Hekate]

130. Yes, indeed. But the one I remember the best was Analog; I think dad subscribed to it forever....

Strange, I never attempted to discuss my reading with my friends at school, so I didn't have any idea that girls weren't "supposed" to read sf. My senior-year boyfriend also liked sf and impressed me by being able to remember the titles and authors at will, whereas I could remember every plot but not who wrote them.

Nice memories.

Hekate

[Hardrada]

131. I liked Analog too when I could get it. No one in my high school

would have been caught dead with an SF magazine. I went my own way and carted them around with me.

[warrior1]

121. I did

[Hardrada]

127. Thanx for kat!

[KamaAina]

123. And the Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales...

I was once literate in the Tengwar (the Cirth, not so much). To this day I can draw a passable map of Middle-earth from memory.

If being a Tolkien geek is wrong, I don't want to be right!

[Hardrada]

126. It is right and you are right to be one!

I need to be a better one.

[NewJeffCT]

124. Here

I've read no other Tolkien books, though. Just those four multiple times.

[Witchy_Dem]

125. I'm a ringer geek so I've read all of them and watched the movies in all formats.

[Strong Atheist]

133. I KILL Gandalf!

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OffTheRails

http://www.populationchicken.com/2008/11/i-kill-gandalf.html

[MrSlayer]

134. I read them every year.

I like modern fantasy better but you always go back to the roots.

[DemBones DemBones]

135. Read them in the mid-Sixties; it was the law. nt