For Tolkien fans...

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 1:36 pm

Loren wrote:Yeah I was hardcore, but the Silmarillion killed it for me. Oh well. You guys enjoy, I'll wait for the reviews.....

Loren

Thank you. I was afraid to be the only one to say that, because then I get..."no! The Silmarillion was, like, total immersion man! You must not be a true believer!"

It was a trudge. Like reading geneologies in the Old Testament.
I'll wait for the reviews as well.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 1:37 pm

Nanohedron wrote:
Loren wrote:Yeah I was hardcore, but the Silmarillion killed it for me.
Ditto. The Silmarillion had all the swash-and-buckle of the genealogies in Deuteronomy, I thought. I don't recall that I even finished it.

Aaaak! It happened again! I hadn't read through all the posts, I swear!

Post by **Nanohedron** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 1:41 pm

emmline wrote:
Nanohedron wrote:
Loren wrote:Yeah I was hardcore, but the Silmarillion killed it for me.
Ditto. The Silmarillion had all the swash-and-buckle of the genealogies in Deuteronomy, I thought. I don't recall that I even finished it.
Aaaak! It happened again! I hadn't read through all the posts, I swear!

You're spooky.

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 2:17 pm

You both are sad, really sad.

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 3:01 pm

Joseph E. Smith wrote:You both are sad, really sad.

It is a special and rarified frequency to which we tune, JES. Don't go getting jealous just because your dial isn't sensitive enough.

djm · Post by **djm** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 3:29 pm

JES's dial fell off. Mine, however, goes all the way up to 11. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

djm

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 4:55 pm

The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings are only a small part of the legendarium which Tolkien created.

There are other tales of breathaking grandeur and heartbreaking beauty in the Silmarillion and the other posthumously published works...but they aren't handed to you "on a platter" in the way that LOTR is. You have to work for them.

Those of us who know the story of the Tale of Beren and Luthien known how rewarding that work can be.

Those of us who have gone further than that know what is inscribed on the Tolkien's gravestones.

--James

emmline · Post by **emmline** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 5:11 pm

peeplj wrote:There are other tales of breathaking grandeur and heartbreaking beauty in the Silmarillion and the other posthumously published works...but they aren't handed to you "on a platter" in the way that LOTR is. You have to work for them.

No, no...quite right. I like my hobbits on a platter.

peeplj wrote:Those of us who have gone further than that know what is inscribed on the Tolkien's gravestones.

But I know what's written in wood glue on the inside of the drawer of the old desk our eMac sits on.

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 5:13 pm

emmline wrote:
Joseph E. Smith wrote:You both are sad, really sad.
It is a special and rarified frequency to which we tune, JES. Don't go getting jealous just because your dial isn't sensitive enough.

... actually, it fell off.

djm wrote:JES's dial fell off. Mine, however, goes all the way up to 11. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

djm

... see? What did I tell ya'?

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 5:20 pm

emmline wrote:
peeplj wrote:There are other tales of breathaking grandeur and heartbreaking beauty in the Silmarillion and the other posthumously published works...but they aren't handed to you "on a platter" in the way that LOTR is. You have to work for them.

No, no...quite right. I like my hobbits on a platter.

wine sauce?

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 7:20 pm

I may have mentioned this before around here but..

Six or seven times, over the past thirty years, I have picked up LOTR, and gave it up about a third of the way into the first book.
I just can't get past that point without thinking to myself that Life is to short to bother with all this stuff.
The Hobbit I enjoyed very much.

LOTR has always struck me as a kinda Star Wars for those who were around before SFX.

I fell asleep in the Cinema, five minutes into the first fillum..

No disrespect to JJ, but it ain't for me (which probably explains it's world wide appeal)

Slan,
D.

RonKiley · Post by **RonKiley** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 8:37 pm

I have a first edition first printing of The Silmarillion. It has some wonderful moments and some that are, well, tedious reading. But it is a nice collectors item. It has a mistake in the credits and was pulled from the shelves after I got mine.

Ron

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 9:30 pm

Put me in the pile that tried to make it through the Sillmarillion and just couldn't. I loved the others and remember being excited when "S" came out, that is, until I tried to wade through the thing.

Jens_Hoppe · Post by **Jens_Hoppe** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 3:24 am

One can't be a hardcore Tolkien fan without at least having read the Silmarillion to completion... Enjoying it is another matter.

In fact I do enjoy it, but I have to get past the first few old-Testamentish chapters and into the main action of the story.

Tyler · Post by **Tyler** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 7:16 am

peeplj wrote: Those of us who have gone further than that know what is inscribed on the Tolkien's gravestones.

--James

Yes indeed.
This is probably letting people who haven't read the Silmarillion off easy, but, then again, it may inspire some interest in others who have yet to read it.