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Poll Question: What is your favorite book and why?
Poll Choice Votes Poll Statistics
8 [33.33%]
3 [12.50%]
13 [54.17%]
0 [0.00%]
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Norbert View Drop Down
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    Posted: January 16 2007 at 08:15
The Silmarillion. It's sometimes like real mythology from the ancient times, it goes far beyond the borders of usual phantasy literature, far more than LOTR.
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Swanhild View Drop Down
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Points: 133 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 14 2007 at 20:06
Unfinished Tales has a fine (even if not quite complete) version of "Túrin Turambar", and also a good retelling of the beginning of the tale of Tuor, proceeding from the beginning of the tale through his arriving in Gondolin. There is also a (very worth reading) full version of the Fall of Gondolin in the Book of Lost Tales.
    

Edited by Swanhild - January 14 2007 at 20:09
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tuxon View Drop Down
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Points: 5502 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 14 2007 at 12:02
I prefer The Lord Of Tbe Rings, loved The Hobbit, and find Silmarillion very intriging.

The most intriging aspect is the fact that The Lord Of the Rings is merely a footnote in the Silmarillion saga.

Though I would have loved to see a further worked out tale of the Silmarillion saga (Béren en Luthién if I remember these names correctly) Should have been just as grand a tale as LOTR.
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Points: 16449 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 14 2007 at 09:35
The Silmarillion. Its a stunning piece of wrok and a culmination of Tolkiens work. Its what he started on in the trenches of WWI and what he was working on at the time of his death. I agree with Raffaella that Unfinished Stories has some great parts that could have added to the Silmarillion and fleshed out the tales there with extra infromation and depth but that doesnt detract from it. 
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Points: 1383 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 20:27
You know, the Lord of the Rings trilogy is an amazing work of fantasy, but The Hobbit captivated me more, I don't know why. I found it a bit of a chore to read TLOTR. Probably due to high expectations and all. But there were parts of the Hobbit that just took me completely away. It was like I could spend hours reading it and never realize that time was passing...fantastic experience.
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Points: 28427 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 20:12
I haven't read Semarillion yet.Embarrassed

Out of the other two, LotR definitely.
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Swanhild View Drop Down
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Points: 133 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 19:40
Silmarillion ever. In fact to some the book (and, to a lesser extent, LotR also) may at first seem difficult to get into. I could not at first enjoy the reading, but I went ahead nonetheless; luckily I did so, because by the time the story got to the Noldor princes and their conflict, it became truly great and I could no more put it down - to the extent that I managed to read (or rather, decipher) it in English, though I had at the time never seen a text written in that kind of English.
    
    

Edited by Swanhild - January 14 2007 at 19:59
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Trickster F. View Drop Down
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Points: 5308 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 17:53
Originally posted by andu andu wrote:

i will not read tolkien until he gets translated in my language because i have major problems with the english language when written with artistic intent. however, i would be very interested in reading the essay you mentioned, "On Fairy-Stories", as i assume it's written in "normal" english, not long, and works as an ars poetica - i love to understand the ways of the artist. can i find it somewhere on the internet or is it only available on paper?
 
Sure.
 
 
Scroll down, click the blue link "On Fairy Stories".
 
(I'm interested in the way he defends himself too, after reading Raffaella's post)
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andu View Drop Down
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Points: 3089 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 17:47
i will not read tolkien until he gets translated in my language because i have major problems with the english language when written with artistic intent. however, i would be very interested in reading the essay you mentioned, "On Fairy-Stories", as i assume it's written in "normal" english, not long, and works as an ars poetica - i love to understand the ways of the artist. can i find it somewhere on the internet or is it only available on paper?
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tardis View Drop Down
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Points: 14378 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 17:30
Niggle by Leaf is good too
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Australian View Drop Down
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Points: 3278 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 17:27
All Great, but as The Lord of the Rings is here counted as one book then there is no other choice.

The best single book/part of the story is The Hobbit.

You forgot to include Farmer Giles of Ham and Rover random

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Edited by Australian - January 13 2007 at 17:42
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tardis View Drop Down
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Points: 14378 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 17:19
The Silmarillion, hands down. Epic does not begin to describe his greatest life-long labour of love.
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Points: 2567 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 17:17
Lord of the Rings of course.
 
I tried to get through the Silmarillion, but was so bored by it I sadly couldn't
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Tristan Mulders View Drop Down
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Points: 1723 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 16:41
Silmarillion... why? don't know! Tried a couple of times to start one the LOTR trilogy but never managed to get passed the first few pages.. there's something about Fellowship of the Ring that does not encourage me to read along Embarrassed. I've read The Hobbit as well and quite liked it (although that was a few years ago when I was still in secondary school)
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The T View Drop Down
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Points: 17493 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 15:04
The answer is The Lord of The Rings, and the reason is far more logical than any: because I haven't read the others.
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Philéas View Drop Down
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Points: 6419 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 15:03
Silmarillion! Read it two times. I like it so much more than LOtR or The Hobbit. I can't explain why though, but I really recommend anyone who hasn't read it to do so!
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Trickster F. View Drop Down
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Points: 5308 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 15:01
TLOTR has quite an atmosphere, The Hobbit was nice, Silmarillion I found boring and never finished, but overall as a reader I've grown out of the first two and I doubt I may be giving them another read anywhere in my life.
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Evans View Drop Down
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Points: 3004 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 15:01
Originally posted by Ghost Rider Ghost Rider wrote:

I could add tons of things if I were not so tired.... Seriously, I can tell you that Tolkien hated to see "The Lord of the Rings" referred to as a trilogy - it was a book divided in three parts, not a series as far too many people seem to think!

I'm in two minds as concerns Christopher T.'s work. Some of what he did has been very useful indeed to Tolkien scholars, but there is too much that just smacks of an easy way to make money out of his father's name and reputation. Actually, of all the books he edited after JRRT's death, my favourite is probably "Unfinished Tales" - "The Silmarillion" should've probably looked like that, if Chris hadn't intervened quite heavily in order to string the various parts together.

I love both LotR and "The Hobbit", which is a masterpiece in its own right. Tolkien's shorter fiction is also quite interesting (I'll be writing something on the subject in the next few months). However, the best piece of work  by Tolkien besides LotR and TH is the essay "On Fairy-Stories" - probably the best defense of non-realistic literature ever written.
You are so cool. Seriously. You said in the gallery thread that you were a teacher for 15 years. Did you teach english, by any chance? I hope so, and i hope you made many new tolkien fans during those 15 years. :)

Back on topic, though.. i can't vote, as i haven't read silmarillion, but LOTR is one of those books i like to read once every other year or so, and as i don't really read very much, it probably makes a good third of my usual book-diet. (i should probably read more..)

'Let's give it another fifteen seconds..'
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progismylife View Drop Down
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Points: 15535 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 15:00
Originally posted by N Ellingworth N Ellingworth wrote:

I always ensure I have time to read a good book.



I usually make sure I have time to read it but 2006 was stressful and a bad year for me and I moved so I couldn't get a hold of my copies of it.
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Bern View Drop Down
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Points: 11746 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 13 2007 at 15:00
I've read most of Tolkien's work and my favorite remains the classic and epic The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit is also a masterpiece in his own right as Raffaella pointed out. I often see it as Book 1 of the Lord of the Rings. I personnally always read it before I move on to the LotR.

I also really liked the Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth. This is probably my favorite short book by Tolkien.

Anyways, clappies to a master fantasy writer. Clap

RIP in bossa nova heaven.
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