Kevin's Watch

Remember that The Hobbit, the LOTR and the silmirllion weren't the only books he wrote. Which ones did you like best?

Well, I've only read the Hobbit, LotR and the Silmarillion. I have to say I prefer the Silmarillion as a whole, but if you count LotR as seperate books probably books five and six (aka Return of the King)

For me it's ROTK. I just love the end where Sam has to carry poor Frodo on his back. Sam's the real hero of the book, if you ask me, and that one last selfless act summed it up for me--best part of the book. Can't wait to see it in theaters.

Lord Foul wrote:For me it's ROTK. I just love the end where Sam has to carry poor Frodo on his back. Sam's the real hero of the book, if you ask me, and that one last selfless act summed it up for me--best part of the book. Can't wait to see it in theaters.

I love the part where aragorn shows up in those ships... I actually cheered

....and behold! upon the foremost ship a great standard broke, and the wind displayed it as she turned towards the Harlond. There flowered a White Tree, and that was for Gondor; but Seven Stars were about it, and a high crown above it, the signs of Elendil that no lord had borne for years beyond count.

Me too! That's my favorite passage in the whole thing.

Lord Foul wrote:For Sam's the real hero of the book, if you ask me, and that one last selfless act summed it up for me

He is for me, too, Foul. Tolkein seemed to like him more and more, too. Look at the way he had Sam slip quietly welcomed into family life, at the very end. Rewards earned and received.

The Hobbit has always carried the entire works for me. I would have liked to had more to read of Bilbo and his adventures. Sort of Like donaldson did,three books for bilbo, three for frodo.

Even though his son Christopher wrote it, I love Unfinished Tales, but you need to have read The Silmarillion to understand it, and you need to have read The Lord of the Rings to understand that.

Sum sui generis
Vs

birdandbear wrote:

....and behold! upon the foremost ship a great standard broke, and the wind displayed it as she turned towards the Harlond. There flowered a White Tree, and that was for Gondor; but Seven Stars were about it, and a high crown above it, the signs of Elendil that no lord had borne for years beyond count.

Me too! That's my favorite passage in the whole thing.

It's my favourite passage out of all his books... I love it!

My favourite passage is one that JRRT himself thought one of his best:

The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.

'Old fool!' he said. 'Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!' And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade.

Gandalf did not move. And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the City, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of wizardry or war, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn.

And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns. In dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the North wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last.

For me, the worst disappointment in all of Peter Jackson's films was that he left out the confrontation between Gandalf and the Witch-king.

That's probably going to be in the extended version, I saw a confrontation between Gandalf and the Witch-King in a trailer. As for which book I liked the most, I have to say that it's both RotK and the Silmarillion, in two different ways: the first one is more "human-centered", meaning it's easier to lose yourself into the story and Middle-Earth itself, since there are human beings you can relate to; the Silmarillion is to me the quintessence of epic sagas as far as fantasy books go.

variol son wrote:Even though his son Christopher wrote it, I love Unfinished Tales, but you need to have read The Silmarillion to understand it, and you need to have read The Lord of the Rings to understand that.

Sum sui generis
Vs

True, a great book that was. Chuck full of good sh!t.

I'm going to say that over all I like the Fellowship the best of the main 3 from the trilogy.
It was innocent, rich in history and there was a real sense of fear of Frodo being caught by a Black Rider.
And as Sam would say, it had the most Elves!

I can reread most of the Fellowship anyday and enjoy it all but I only focus on a few parts of TT and mainly the Appendix of the RotK if I do a reread on them.

Fellowship of the Ring. I first read it back in 1978. Fantasy was not the norm then, and this book completely swept me away. The chapter "shadow of the past" is the greatest chapter in fantasy i've ever read. I still remember the impact it had; there was so much at stake, the power of Sauron seemed so terrifying! The Black Riders, when they turned up, were enthralling, I was so curious to know what they were - I never twigged that they were the Nine. And the the Council of Elrond brought the pan to boiling point. It answered so many questions, but also the treachery of Saruman felt like a mortal blow. At Moria, I just knew something dreadful was going to happen. And then Gandalf fell. I couldn't believe it. Just couldn't believe it. I actually couldn't read on at that point, my sense of sorrow was so acute. How could thy hope to succeed without Gandalf?

TTT and ROTK were also great, but Fellowship was the zenith.