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Jan 21, 2011

Brad rated it:

Twenty-five years ago I'd have given The Lord of the Rings my highest possible praise. I came to Tolkien's masterpiece on my own, and that meant much to me at twelve. The only books that had been reached by me alone were books on mythology and horror. Everything else I read, from DH Lawrence to Hemingway to Dickens to Shakespeare (and this also included Dracula and Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde because they were "true" classics), was suggested and sanctioned by my mother (for which I will a More...

42 comments like (76 people liked it)

Feb 10, 2012

Shovelmonkey1 is currently reading it

THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING: BOOK TWO

Inspired by the hobbity singing - jazz hands optional (and to be sung to Stand by Your Man by Tammy Wynette)

Sometimes its hard to be a hobbit
Giving all your love to just one ring
You'll have bad times
And Saruman will have good times
Doing evil things that you don't understand

But with the Fellowship you'll defeat him
Even though he's hard to understand
And though you fear him
And are war More...

30 comments like (18 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Dolly rated it:

I read Lord of the Rings first when I was about eleven or so, and then stayed up all night at a hip boy/girl party in the bathroom with Nathan O. ... talking about ents and elves and whether Tom Bombadil was God. Yes, I was a geeky child. However, all these years later, the story has stuck with me.

First a warning: Don't read Tolkien if you don't appreciate true-omnicient-narrator-style epics. Tolkien isn't a master character builder: he leaves all that to the reader's imagination. More...

2 comments like (32 people liked it)

Dec 29, 2011

Keely rated it:

Writers who inspire a genre are usually misunderstood. Tolkien's reasons for writing were completely unlike those of his followers. He didn't have an audience, a genre, and scores of contemporaries. There was a tradition of high adventure fairy tales, as represented by Eddison, Dunsany, Morris, MacDonald, Haggard, and Kipling, but this was only part of what inspired Tolkien.

His writing was chiefly influenced by his familiarity with the mythological traditions of the Norse and Welsh c More...

2 comments like (13 people liked it)

Apr 02, 2009

Manny rated it:

Considering that The Lord of the Rings is one of the most popular books of the last century, it's surprising to see how few reviews there are here. I get the impression that many people feel guilty about liking it. It's a phase you go through, and the less said about it, the better. I think this is unfair to the book, which, I am prepared to argue, is a whole lot better than it's generally made out to be; I don't think its huge success is just evidence that people have no taste. It's something t More...

25 comments like (47 people liked it)

Mar 17, 2008

William rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (11 people liked it)

Dec 01, 2007

Natalie rated it:

Everything that people like about these books is pretty much what I dislike.

There's a cool story here, it's just a chore to actually get to it. I personally find Tolkien's writing to be agonizingly bland, and he is terrible at exposition -- he's always just dumping history lessons in the middle of things where they serve little purpose. Good fantasy writers drop these in unobtrusively. I don't mean to discount Tolkien's contribution to the fantasy genre -- although to be honest, More...

20 comments like (40 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2012

Callista rated it:

I managed to avoid reading this until the first film came out. After the credits rolled on The Fellowship of the Ring, I wanted to know what happened next, and so I read the book. It took me quite a while. I'm not naturally a fan of the peculiar writing style that characterises High Fantasy, and at the risk of angering Tolkienites everywhere, I have to say there are number of things about the book I'm not wild about.
I don't like Tom Bombadil, the way orcs and uruk-hai sound like gangs of More...

10 comments like (10 people liked it)

Apr 26, 2008

Werner rated it:

Actually, I read Tolkien's masterful Middle Earth fantasy corpus, beginning with The Hobbit in the early 70's and finishing the Lord of the Rings trilogy almost a decade later, before this anniversary edition came out. (I also read all four books to my wife in the early 80's; she loved them too!)

This body of work is, of course, the genre-defining classic of modern fantasy --especially epic, or "high" fantasy -- which popularized the genre as the publishing market force it More...

2 comments like (12 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Kristin rated it:

Save time... watch the movies. This book can appeal only to a linguist. The underlying story is great, but it is buried under an avalance of horribly annoying songs and poems that do nothing to advance the story. They just take up space. I diligently read every last one, hoping that they held some deep meaning in relation to the story, but if there is one, it is so obscure that it serves no purpose. Also, the book is all about walking. Yes, I know they are on an epic quest, and there has to be s More...

22 comments like (20 people liked it)

Jul 05, 2011

Chris rated it:

Out of the wreck rose the Black Rider, tall and threatening, towering above her. With a cry of hatred that stung the very ears like venom he let fall his mace. Her shield was shivered in many pieces, and her arm was broken; she stumbled to her knees. He bent over her like a cloud, and his eyes glittered; he raised his mace to kill.

One of the best books ever. Stirred the embers of more imaginations than can be measured. Found a way to reach something vital but ineffable inside million More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2008

Wes rated it:

It's nice to have favorites. When you have a favorite -- a favorite menu item, a favorite car, a favorite shirt -- you can enter at least one corner of the maelstrom of subjective choices that life presents to you and evaluate the choices in that corner not with respect to some external criteria, but rather with respect to one specific thing.

For example, when asking oneself what the greatest book of all time is, one might first have to ask, "what makes a book great?" -- More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jul 29, 2011

Joe rated it:

1985-First read when I was about 12. Thoroughly enjoyed it then.

7/97-Although the battle scenes were difficult to follow, the Elven stuff sentimental and dialog of less developed characters (Legolas, Gimli) sometimes melodramatic, there were plenty of tense moments that made up for at all. The black riders in the 1st book, the tenuous alliance with Gollum and the horrifying scene with Shelob were the most exciting parts of the trilogy. The cleansing of the shire was triumphant.
More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 11, 2012

Amelia, the pragmatic idealist rated it:

This is going to sound really childish, but I'm feeling especially childish today, so... <spoiler>Hey new YA fantasy novels, with your grittiness, and your moral ambiguity, and your unnecessary sexual content - you can just kiss Gollum's ass, because THIS is a fantasy series. This right here. And no matter how much you try and change the genre to be edgy and gritty...LOTR will still, at the end of the day, be a multimillion-dollar series with millions of copies sold. So put that in your pi More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2011

Cillian is currently reading it

Dear Zarakoda,

After pages and pages of negotiation, mutual interventions, colloquies and friendly debates, I came to realize that a man who wrote something like this:

One Ring to rule them all,
One ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them.

Deserves to be read, enjoyed and be grateful to. I'll be sure to experience it before the end of this year, at least with the first installment.

Yours faithfully, More...

227 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 15, 2008

Dick rated it:

True story (sad when you have lived your life such that you have to add that):

When I was a child we did our yearly camping trip to the West Coast and Mootie always gave us an allowance for books/comics to read on the trip. It made traveling in the camper a little more bearable (barely). Roger and I had read in Parade magazine (Roger can correct me if I am wrong because it was a long time ago...the summer after fourth grade for me) that the hippie community was madly in love with Lo More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2010

Scurra rated it:

To even attempt to review Tolkien's epic is like measuring the coastline - the deeper you go, the more there is to find (or, as the more cynical might put it, the longer it gets.)

And it's because it is so many different stories and, indeed, types of story, all melded together into one (at times unwieldy) whole. So, for example, you can read it as a poetry book. Skip all the narrative sections and just read the verse. You'll be surprised at how much of the narrative structure remai More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 11, 2010

Tyler rated it:

This trilogy, which really is just one book divided into 6 parts (like acts), is one of the most amazing written works ever produced. Tolkien is a genuine genius in bringing about a story that touches every genre: humor, mystery, action, fantasy, war, sci-fi, romance...it's all in there.
It's beautifully crafted, very consistent, and even has multiple languages, one of which is a complete language created by Tolkien for this story.
Many might think that the beginning of the story is sl More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 24, 2008

Phil rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 11, 2007

Darin rated it:

The Lord of the Rings dominant theme (for me) is attempting the impossible, feeling the anguish of defeat, but continuing to try anyway. And in the end, when all is dark and gloomy, finally the happy moment arrives when you finish the task, overcome the trial, arrive at the destination. But there are many other inspiring messages and themes in this great book. Each reader will find their own.

Aside from the Mormon cannon of scripture, I have found this trilogy to be the most enligh More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 29, 2007

Jon rated it:

LOTR has its faults, yes: it can be excessively descriptive; female characters (even the important ones) aren't as fully fleshed-out and realized as male characters (Arwen spends most of the books making a flag); Gandalf annoyingly and constantly points out how everyone else's decisions are wrong; the refusal to interweave chapter-by-chapter the stories of Frodo & Sam with the stories of everyone else results in literally hundreds of pages going by without mention of the majority of the main pla More...

1 comment like (7 people liked it)

Jun 19, 2009

Bonnie rated it:

[Update, to correct review links.:] This is my all-time favourite classic fantasy and I have read it at least four times over the years. I believe it has stood the test of time, hence - it is truly a classic.

But to read an excellent pair of reviews, I recommend that you go to Brad's, recently posted: >> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/603... <<

And for a different, but equally excellent take, see Manny's review:
>> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/389...

2 comments like (8 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Kanova rated it:

I was forced to read this book. Each member of my first book club had an opportunity to choose the book we read. When one of the members chose The Lord of the Rings I was not happy. Fantasy is not my genre! But I was a good book club member and read it anyway.

I loved it! There were times when I did not want to sleep because I wanted to finish just one more page or chapter. Tolkien creates whole worlds, languages, species, and histories. It is epic in its scope. Somehow he man More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

May 15, 2011

Hannah rated it:

THIS. IS. THE. BEST. BOOK. EVER.

It's a clever, humorous, awesome, epic, ADVENTURE!! Full of fun, action, and SO MUCH MORE!!! Ah it's a total classic. BUt the awesomest one at that. EVERYON HAS TO READ IT. It's a MUST READ. It's got everything. Action, Romance, Elves. Mythical creatures. Magical tools, wizards, great morals. Awesome hero's and heroines. It's packed.

The Languague is not modern easy breeze-through. It's more difficult. Full of good lessons and heroism for t More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 20, 2008

Brian added it

I read a lot of this while I was down with mono. And it was the omnibus illustrated hardback edition of LOTR, which in my weakened state I had to heft to an upright position in order to read its pages. Tolkien deserves the acclaim he gets for creating a world, complete with a rich history and its own languages, down to such a level of detail. Enjoyable in an operatic sense, and Tolkien does a good job balancing the need to keep the narrative moving with his desire to frequently stop and paint More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 22, 2010

Bilbobaggins19 rated it:

I loved the Hobbit. It was light-hearted, strange, mystical, with great quests and characters who defy anyway how this world works. And combining this with a pinch of silliness, it makes it one of the greatest books ever written.

When I picked Lord of the Rings off my dad's book shelve, I expected a beautifully written book unbelievably better than the Hobbit... however, I was severly dissapointed.

The book's main storyline, a Dark Lord, a hidden king, and most of all an e More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Gyst rated it:

These books were vastly influential very interesting, but they are ultimately very boring to read.

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 31, 2011

Akika rated it:

For some reason my thoughts turn towards this book every year around Autumn. Rather like Frodo contemplating adventuring out of the Shire every Autumn. I imagine that LotR is my mental equivalent of comfort food, in somewhat the same way as Enid Blyton is. Also, as I said somewhere previously, I'm somewhat obsessional and my obsessions tend to be cyclical, so I go through a LotR phase every now and then.

My first experience of Tolkien was not a good one. Some years later I was told to r More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 16, 2010

Jeremy rated it:

No, I never finished this set of books. Truth be told, I can't - they're awful and horribly written. For me I found the author to be self indulgent in his writing. I know many people are impressed that he made up the languages, races , the lands, etc... quite frankly, big deal. Star Trek did it, as did Star Wars. I realize that many many people say without this book we would not have modern Dungeons & Dragons style books, games and the many spin offs.

Again, I disagree.

Ju More...

8 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 27, 2008

Old-Barbarossa rated it:

OK, first of all I know some folk love this and I'm not saying they shouldn't. Everyone has different tastes.
I read this on my second attempt. I tried first when I was in my teens and found it dull, I gave up around page 100 or so. I finally read it years back in my early 30s, but although it was still dull I gave it the benefit of the doubt and finished it. My opinion changed from dull to dull and not that big a deal.
It seems to be full of: long descriptions of folk walking about (d More...

5 comments like (10 people liked it)