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The Hobbit
I decided to...
I decided to start reading the series because everyone else did so I started to read this book. I'm almost done with it, (say, 4 chapters left?) but it's a miracle I got this far. I found it SOOO boring! I don't know if I'll finish it. I don't want to read the rest of the series, but if any of you can change my mind about the other three, then please do!
submitted by Blackberry E. , age 12 and 1\2
(June 25, 2012 - 12:45 pm)
(June 25, 2012 - 12:45 pm)
The Hobbit isn't technically part of the Lord of the Rings, and I found that particular prequel pretty good. I can't speak for LotR, though.
(June 25, 2012 - 6:50 pm)
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(June 29, 2012 - 4:29 pm)
I read The Hobbit when I was really little. I don't remember much, just a few scenes, but Gollum scared me so much that I had nightmares at night. I think I remember not liking the book because it scared me, yet overall I found it good.
Gollum is my favorite character, beginning with the sound of his name! But he is scary, too.
Admin
(June 30, 2012 - 2:55 am)
The Hobbit? Yeah, I can see why you might think it boring. But please keep going. Finish The Hobbit. And yes, do read the Trilogy.
Bear in mind, please, that these are books from another era. Before Rowling, Collins, and Meyer. The Hobbit was written to amuse Tolkien's own children. The Lord of the Rings was written in the style of an epic comparable to the Aeneid, the Odyssey, the Kalevala. It's not meant to be an action-packed thriller like The Hunger Games.
So please keep reading. Don't expect any quick satisfaction or pulse-pounding action. Take your time. Be patient with Tolkien. And, believe me when I say this, one who really, really reads The Lord of the Rings cannot fail to be moved by the sheer beauty and power of an epic that's not named the book of the century for nothing.
(June 30, 2012 - 6:35 am)
I find The Hobbit a little sleepy, too, but The Lord of the Rings didn't seem boring to me. The style is old fashioned, but I found that interesting. The writing is baeutiful, when you get used to it... It's really important to read, at least I think so. The style is something you wouldn't find in modern books... But, yeah, LotR is better than The Hobbit. At least I think so. We're not ordering you to read it, but give it a chance. The only time I was really bored when reading this is is the chapter called The Council of Elrond.
I was also amazed with the vastness of Tolkien's world. No other authors I know of came up with their own languages for different races and species... Well, Gail Carson Levine did, but it was all basically like sfdkfjeali fj keeee klfneliafnirE SnooF. Not the same.
(June 30, 2012 - 8:46 am)
When I read the Hobbit, I did not find it boring. Not in the least. But I get what you mean. People nowdays expect action-packed thrillers with little to them. Toliken's world and characters were so, so much more vivid then any others I have read about. So be patient, like Maggie said. If you stop and look, the beauty is there.
I totally agree with you on that The Council of Elrond is a hard chapter to get through. I almost stopped reading it then and there. Boy am I glad I didn't!
(October 25, 2013 - 6:36 pm)
Yeah, I get what you mean. Older books don't have easy-to-read language, so it takes a while to puzzle it out. That's what makes books like that sleepy for me. I tried reading unabridged Jane Austen when I was 10, and it just didn't work.
(June 30, 2012 - 10:22 am)
My dad read The Hobbit out loud to me and my siblings when I was like eight. I liked it. It's not boring. The plot meanders a bit, but it's cool.
Maybe I'm just a fan of the archaic style of writing. I like books that seem like a historical relic in that way.
(June 30, 2012 - 2:04 pm)
Tolkien is epic, The Hobbit included. He's epic in the way J.K. Rowling is. I can't speak for Suzanne Collins or Stephenie Meyer (since I haven't and don't care to read HG or Twilight), but I am almost certain they are NOT as epic as the above mentioned.
(June 30, 2012 - 4:15 pm)
Heyyyyyy now. Is somebody lumping the Hunger Games and Twilight?
*digs a wide trench*
*fills it with molten lava*
*puts The Hunger Games on one side and Twilight on the other*
*Also puts a force field between the two*
There.
(June 30, 2012 - 10:35 pm)
Well, I'm not lumping them together. It's just that they can't be lumped together with Tolkien. They're on a completely different scale.
(July 2, 2012 - 6:43 am)
If you thinks that the Hobbit is sleepy *gollum, gollum* The Lord of the Rings (which, by the way, *gollum, gollum* was meant to be one book, but it was so big he subdivided it) is much sleepier. No offense to self, of course. *gollum, gollum* What does we think, my precious? Two *gollum, gollum* words: Nasty *gollum, gollum*........BAGGINS!
***
That was so fun to write.
(July 1, 2012 - 8:13 am)
I'm sorry it took me so long to reply! I finished The Hobbit and I am now reading the first Lord of the Rings book. I found out that the Lord of the Rings series was VERY different from The Hobbit, and after seeing a SUPER COOL Lord of the Rings Lego set in the store, decided to continue. :)
(July 3, 2012 - 2:42 pm)
@ Mattie:
That is so right. You cannot compare Tolkein with anyone but perhaps...J.K. Rowling. Everyone else is not even a fraction of the amount of epicness.
(July 4, 2012 - 10:24 pm)
In my opinion, Pratchett is better than Tolkien and Rowling combined. But I take it you haven't read him.
(July 5, 2012 - 10:11 pm)