@twigs Yes! I was noticing the sly humour myself, mixed amid the vivid landscapes. (The examples at the forefront of my mind right now are from TT, when the Three Hunters enter Fangorn Forest.)

I finally made it through Moria. This time I was struck by the foreshadowing.

      One of my favorite things about the LOTR series is the fact that just in the way that I consider the LWW to be one of Lewis's most quintessential works, I consider the FotR to be one of Tolkien's most 'Tolkienish' books. I especially love the way in which he (Tolkien) spends 22 pages in chapter three catching the reader up on the Ring, Sauron and Gollum (arguably the most conflicted, complicated and interesting characters in Middle Earth). He does things like this all over the books, and its one reason why I like them so much.

      I also really enjoy reading over the section in which the Fellowship is deciding whether to head into Moria or to travel south and pass through the Gap of Rohan. I love the way Tolkien uses the dialog to give us a small glimpse into each character while they vote, and if you read that one section (about 4 pages) then you get a feel for each of the travelers in the Fellowship.

      @mel and @twigs, I totally agree, Tolkien is a serious(ish) writer, but he does use certain scenes and people to sneak in a laugh!

Child of the King: SonofStone

While I am a Lord of the Rings fan, probably one of the main issues I have with the books is the prologue in the first book. While it is a good set-up, it's really lengthy. I was like, "Please get on to the first chapter!"

@jasmine_tarkheena 

Some people might see Tolkien’s slower pace of writing as a fault. He demands more patience from the reader than C. S. Lewis, who could tell a story in fewer words.  I would tell people that they just have to take their time with The Lord of the Rings.  The book isn’t boring, but it just demands more patience from the reader.  At least it is easier reading than The Fairie Queene by Edmund Spenser, which was a favorite of both Lewis and Tolkien.  Their tastes in literature were very old fashioned and medieval. 🙂

Well, I have made it to Weathertop, but I have burning question from earlier in the story that I'm interested to poll you all on: What do you think of Tom Bombadil? Apparently he is a character that people either love or hate. But why?

On a similar topic, has anyone noticed the similarities between Tolkien putting Bombadil in LOTR and Lewis putting Father Christmas in LWW? Both were controversial inclusions. Both are jovial characters. Both could have been easily eliminated from the story if the author chose. Yet, there they are...

Posted by: @risto

Well, I have made it to Weathertop, but I have burning question from earlier in the story that I'm interested to poll you all on: What do you think of Tom Bombadil? Apparently he is a character that people either love or hate. But why?

I think a lot of hard-core Lord of the Rings fans were not happy that Tom Bombadil was cut out of the movie. I wonder if the series from Amazon is going to include him. I actually like the character. He doesn't have a very big role, but he is still iconic.

@Tom Bombadil is not mentioned in the Second Age material. The Amazon series takes place in the Second Age, whereas the Lord of the Rings is in the Third Age. Each age takes thousands of years.

Few of the familiar characters will be seen.

I've always liked Tom Bombadil (and Goldberry and their house...!) He's just this thread of story that only briefly twines with that of the hobbits--rather like the fox in the Shire--and he's far enough away from the epicenter that the War of the Ring doesn't really touch him. And if you prefer for all your threads to Do Something Important, than I suppose he'd feel superfluous.

Another similarity between Tom Bombadil and Father Christmas is the giving of edged weapons as gifts, and both characters meet the main characters while they're fleeing the bad guys.

I love the chapter "A Conspiracy Unmasked" It shows the loyalty of the hobbits as well as their fun-loving nature.

I have made it to Lothlorien. But backing up to talk about previous chapters again:

The Rivendell chapters really are a nice way for readers to catch up on all the news from distant lands from friends old and new. For a reader of The Hobbit like me, getting news from Gloin about the the Lonely Mountain and Dale was nice, and actually interesting now that I am an adult.

I think some find the Council of Elrond to be long, but I enjoy hearing the story play out from various points of view. 

What do you think of the Council of Elrond? Is it too long? Too much exposition all at once? Or do you, like me, find it interesting?

I think Tolkien gave his elves and hobbits much more character than the the people and animals in most children’s fairy tales. But of course The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are novel length books and not short stories like Grimm’s Fairy Tales. The places like Rivendell and Lothlorien have much more meaning than those in brief fairy tales since the books are actually long journeys.  With that more realism is possible, and it seems like Middle Earth could be a real place at least in the readers’ minds. 

@risto 

I will have to answer more completely about the Council of Elrond when I get to it this time. I know in the past I have gotten stuck at that part and put the book down for a while. It does have a lot of important information.

I have to admit, I'm far more familiar with the movies than the books. I did read the books once, in anticipation of the movies coming out - but I was in 5th grade and was rushing to finish them, so I don't think I absorbed very much of it. There are entire parts of the book that I entirely forgot were there, even though I know I read them.

I'm in the middle of Fellowship of the Ring right now - the company has just made it to Moria. I'm doing my best to read the books as if I knew nothing about the movies, though I'll admit I haven't really succeeded. One thing I've really noticed, though, was what @twigs mentioned earlier - the book is a lot funnier than I remembered! I've had more than a couple laugh out loud moments.

Posted by: @twigs

I love the chapter "A Conspiracy Unmasked" It shows the loyalty of the hobbits as well as their fun-loving nature.

Spoiler

A Conspiracy Unmasked

Merry especially shines in this chapter both in his ability to organize and to keep his mouth shut. I love that he was able to find out about Bilbo's ring and keep it a secret.

I wasn't quite prepared for

Posted by: @risto

What do you think of Tom Bombadil? Apparently he is a character that people either love or hate. But why?

I can see why some people might find Tom Bombadil frustrating. For a world as detailed and well thought-out as Middle Earth, having a character who seems to break all the rules like Tom does seems to throw all of that into chaos. But I rather like Tom, for a few reasons. First, I have a fondness for magic that feels wild and unexplained (Narnia is probably to blame for that 😉 ), and in that sense, Tom doesn't feel out of place at all. It just gives Middle Earth another dimension of mystery and richness.

Admittedly, the other part is because I've heard that Tom is a character that actually predates the Lord of the Rings (and possibly Middle Earth?), and is a character that Tolkien just liked to write about, and had to include in his world. As a writer with my own pet characters/ideas, I can completely sympathize.

As for the Council of Elrond... I'll admit, it felt very long when I was reading it. But that's also partly because I was trying to get at least one chapter finished before moving on to something else, and that chapter happened to be The Council of Elrond.

One thing I do really appreciate, though, is that a good deal of the length comes from not just explaining things to the audience, but also the characters going through all their possible options and crossing them off one by one. It really cements the idea that they took the question very seriously, but what they did was really the only option they could afford to take.

@mel re-reading this thread, your post reminded me that it's common in fairy tales for the hero or heroine to meet a character who helps them on their quest/journey/thing. Often the person seems strange, unimportant, poor or old, but it turns out that they were supernatural in some way, or had special powers.

@coracle - ooh, interesting that you bring up Tom Bombadil and fairy tales again... I'd just read a tumblr post (post? conversation?) talking about how Tom sets up some of the major themes and imagery in Tolkien's work. Perhaps he is also a transition point from the more fairy tale-esque Hobbit to the far grander scope of Lord of the Rings.