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Joined: 8/7/2011
Posts: 6
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The size of LOTR is daunting, but it's a world to get lost in. There are some parts that bore me, and many parts I never want to end.
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Joined: 2/27/2011
Posts: 353
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Bumping this up so new members can weigh in! =)
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Joined: 2/9/2012
Posts: 427
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I like Tolkien but don't love him. (Disclaimer: I read THE LORT and THE HOBBIT years ago in a different language.) I am happy to have read him because it is evident how much influence he's had on the fantasy genre, but I prefer G.R.R. Martin's books. I do think Tolkien is the better writer stylistically, but the moral complexity and more adult feel of Martin's books appeal to me on deeper level.
I hope this makes sense...
=)
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Joined: 1/9/2012
Posts: 22
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I love Tolkien, and have lost track of how many times I've read LOTR.
Often imitated...
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Joined: 6/14/2012
Posts: 194
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I like Tolkein's work a lot. It's distinctly "older" than its actual publication date, because of his background and his scholarship--he intended it to evoke the old legends and it does. I find the closest analogue is William Morris's fantasies, with perhaps a touch of Dunsany (but not a lot--there's a very different "feel". Morris, like Tolkein, was fascinated by "northernness" though more romantically--Tolkein evokes more of the toughness, the rich texture, of the Icelandic and Nordic cultures. Dunsany is a very different writer and overlaps Tolkein only slightly, and Morris, somewhat more.)
At any rate, definitely a Tolkein fan, for the complexity, for the "color" and "tone," for the bleak understanding (gained in his WWI combat experience) of what war costs individuals and cultures. I think readers with little historical background may miss much of what Tolkein was actually doing, as well as where he was coming from and going to.
Stylistically, I'm lucky. I have read, still read, and enjoy older styles of writing as well as much modern writing, so the oft-complained-of "boring" style isn't boring to me at all. And I used to write verse, and enjoy reading verse, so the same's true of the songs and verses. In any work as long as LOTR, there will be favorite parts and not-as-favorite parts, but I've re-read it many times and will start again when I've finished the fantasy group I'm working on now. (I don't read fantasy when writing fantasy, and don't read space opera or military SF when writing that.)
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Joined: 8/7/2012
Posts: 2
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I love Tolkien and have always been a fan of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. While I was studying at UC Irvine, I stumbled on Beowulf: the Monsters and the Critics, and it really shaped my interest in Anglo Saxon history, Vikings, Normans, and all. I personally like to combine mythology and legend with history in my academic work, and I know I got it from that paper. I definitely think my education helps me appreciate his work at a level someone without that background might. On the other hand, his works represent a modern mythology which can be appreciated by anyone.
I've even got a tattoo of the White Tree of Gondor. I am the coolest nerd in my group.
That said, I used to want to write like Tolkien, but I too discovered that wasn't my true voice. I do enjoy his style and tone. I find his writing very evocative. Take, for instance:
"Then something Tookish woke up inside him, and he
wished to go and see the great mountains, and hear the pine-trees and
the waterfalls, and explore the caves, and wear a sword instead of a
walking-stick.”
I can understand the criticisms of his writing being dry, flowery, overwrought, etc, but I don't agree. 
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Joined: 9/15/2012
Posts: 1
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I first discovered the Hobbit in 6th grade (circa 1981) about the same time I discovered Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles and Lewis' Narnia stuff. We had just moved to a new state and the school library was actually well stocked. I tackled LOTR in 7th grade, and reread all 4 books every year through high school and undergrad. Somewhere in there I read the Silmarillion, Farmer Giles and Sir Gawain by JRRT too.
After undergrad I started tackling the History of Middle Earth books starting with the Book of Lost Tales, but only got about halfway through the series before job, school, etc. distracted me.
So I'm a big fan, but I haven't picked up the books to read in ages. They were formative works for me, a gateway into new worlds, and the stories have become a part of me, but I don't feel the need to revisit them when there are so many other worlds, old and new left to explore. I am however, anxiously awaiting the Hobbit films.
-M
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Joined: 6/13/2012
Posts: 13
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I was a pretty scattered person growing up. In one of my pre-high school classes, I can't recall for the life of me which one, the teacher read The Hobbit to us in class. I loved The Hobbit. I tried to read the LotR trilogy during high school but couldn't get through it. J.R.R Tolkien was just too long winded for me. He still is.
Of course its probably telling that I get bored at times reading through Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. I'm close to finishing Dragonfly in Amber now.
The really funny part is while I couldn't pay attention long enough to get through LotR, I barreled right through books such as Ender's Game and Green Rider by Kristen Britain. I read Green rider three times during high school.
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Joined: 4/26/2011
Posts: 26
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I love JRR Tolkein's stuff
But I think perhaps the movies are better than the books.
(How's THAT for an "original heresy"?)
LOL 
Cheers
JoeTV
PS - Always though his battle scenes were remarkable. Then I discovered, he was in the war. Well, they do say "Write what you know..." ?
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Joined: 10/23/2012
Posts: 1
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so undecided. love the hobbit and first book of lord of the rings, but all those ents and what they seek is such a load of laborious rubbish. Think he took himself too serious
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Joined: 12/13/2012
Posts: 1
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I love LOTR - but if I'm honest I preferred the films to the books. I never really liked the way the second and third books are cut in half, one part devoted to Frodo & Sam and the other to Aragorn and co. I'd have liked it better if the story had been told chronologically. I know Tolkien's publisher told him the same thing but he wanted it this way. So, who am I to judge? But the guy can definitely tell a story and when it comes to epic fantasy, I'm yet to find anything better. All in all, Tolkien gets a thumbs up from me
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