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Like so many here I could read before I started school. And I have been a voracious, omnivorous reader all my life. Most of the time I read at least four books a week, although many are re-reads of favourites.

Some of my old favourites are not particularly "good" books, but I love them just the same. Some are "classics". Some, I seem to be the only person who ever read them: anyone here read The Green Kingdom by Rachel Maddux? Loose Chippings? (Just askin'! )

But LOTR is one I have probably read the most often, over the past 40 years or so I've read it four or five times a year, which comes to an astonishing number of reads. Had I read The Hobbit first, I would never have read LOTR, which makes me shiver in horror just to think of!!! I've trudged through the Sil about twenty times, I guess, but I don't get much out of it, beyond the bits I like. It's not the book LOTR is, no matter how many times I read it I still find it a trifle boring..........

Right now I'm in Lorien again with the Fellowship, re-reading Herodotus, re-reading The Last Chronicle of Barset for the umpteenth time, and working on Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel.

I agree with Voronwe and Prim, some of the things people here have written deserve wider publication.

It will be interesting to see, given the popularity of the films and the constant battle by teachers to get students interested in books on the Reading List, whether LOTR appears more often already, if not in the next few years.

I remember when I was about 8 years old my school had a book fair. I must have spent every penny I had, and conned my parents out of money to boot, to buy as many books as I could. I loved books, and have always loved reading. That said, I would not call myself an advanced reader. I tend to read fairly slow, and I have not read many of the “classics”, tending instead to fall for more pulp fiction fare - Clancy, Higgins, Follett, that sort of thing.

I first read The Hobbit when I was twelve years old and read Lord Of the Rings when I was fifteen. I was immediately hooked, and, for all intents and purposes, did not read anything but Tolkien for the next fifteen years. I went through different phases with it. At first it was the thrill of the adventure, then it was escapism, then the familiarity of the places, then the depth of the story, the languages, the history. Eventually it became like on old friend, a comfort and a reassuring constant in my life.

I was laid up in bed for a month about ten years ago due to a knee injury and started reading other things besides Tolkien. A few years ago I decide to tackle some of the classics I had missed out on. I read some Tolstoy, Dickens, Steinbeck, Dostoyevsky, Homer, Hemingway, a few others. Not much, but enough to be able to say that I have read them. I’m back to the more light reading now, Harry Potter at the moment.

As for my current opinion of Tolkien, I think the movies have created some confusion as to the nature of Tolkien “fandom”. There are fans of the movies and fans of the author, and not everyone is a fan of both. I’m sure the fame of the movies will endure, but interest in them has already begun to fade, and those who are fans of the movies alone will begin to fade as well. The books, on the other hand, have already endured for fifty years, and I have no doubt they will continue to. I have seen studies and surveys that say that LOTR is the second most widely read book after the Bible (don’t know if that’s true or not). I recall several polls done in 2000 that listed LOTR in the top ten books of the century. That was before the movies came out, mind you. I think the scholarly study and appreciation of the authors work will carry on, neither because of nor in spite of the movies, but because of the quality of the work.

That said, I can honestly say that every person I have ever met who loved Tolkien, irregardless of the movies, has been the type of person I have wanted to know. They are not all necessarily advanced readers, but they have all been the finest sort of people to know. That’s not meant to be elitist or imply superiority, it’s just an observation.

I was a voracious reader as a child. I was put into an advanced reading program which I disliked because I was forced to read someone else's choices. I didn't run into Tolkien until I was 19. I went through a period of interest in SF in my 20s with Heinlein, Herbert, and Asimov as favorites.

I read many books to my children, including the Hobbit and LOTR.

I am still a voracious reader and have an extensive library, but I have much more of an interest in history and philosophy than fiction. I try to read several books a week, but I rarely read them straight through. I frequently am actually reading a half dozen.

My reading has diminished in the last year because of a writing project, since I spend a lot of time organizing data. The writing starts soon, I hope.

In my work, I have written volumes, but nothing is published under my name.

Like Frelga, I am told I was a precocious reader... at 4 I was reading astrid lindgren books on my own...and from 2-4 I made my mom teach me letters... I would supposedly ask her how to sound each letter out and then suddenly began putting the sounds together and reading the large font newspaper headlines

Like others here, I read tolkien relatively late as well.
When I was around 11 I remember going to my school library back in poland and getting "the fellowship of the ring" out... I enjoyed fantasy stories and tolkien as the master of fantasy did enter my awareness back then... so I wanted to give it a try. I gave up because I simply could not get through the first 50 pages or so of the fellowship ...
I picked the trilogy up again when I was 17/18... my higschool literature teacher who is obsessed with tolkien basically prodded me into it...remembering my earlier failure, I eased myself into it with the hobbit... and all went well this time

I agree with what Voronwe said... tolkien readers tend to be people who appreciate complexity, creativity, values and intelligence.

Primmy wrote:

So being facile isn't enough to really be at home here

Shite!! I better move on, then!!!

My unscientific analysis of this question is that, on balance, an advanced reader is more likely to read LOTR than a "non-advanced" reader simply because of its length and its more languid pace early on, but that people of all reading propensities do read & enjoy it. What I have found, again on an unscientific basis (and NOT based on my observations here or at TORC, TORN, LOTR&TT, Ringbearer, Xenite, etc. etc., but from RL), is that some people who seem most protective of the sanctity of the given text are those who you would never consider to be an "advanced" reader, but rather someone for whom LOTR is the one and perhaps only great literary piece that he or she has read -- so that, on top of the merits of LOTR itself, the added layer of the book being the one mark of that person being a truly literate reader seems to make LOTR especially dear and sacrosanct for these handful of people I've run across. [YIKES on the structure of that last sentence, but don't have the time to fix it!!!]

I was an advanced, voracious reader. I was always in the advanced group in school, my level of reading was always higher than the other kids, but I'm not much of a writer. An older sibling introduced me to LOTR as a teen.

If I don't have something to read, I'll write something, just so I can then read it. I see people sitting in a waiting room, with a stack of magazines beside them, staring into space, and think, what is wrong with them?? They could be reading!!

When I married, I discovered my husband didn't read very much! I was amazed. How the heck could he survive? He'd rather watch tv? He hasn't read a book in...at least 20 years. Rebecca took after me, her sisters are just like her dad. They mock us, and we mock them. Once, Rebecca's sister and dad went to buy ice cream. They picked something like "walnut marshmallow". All of us like "walnut", but "marshmallow"? Yuck!
Rebecca and I: "didn't you read the label?"
Them: (defensively)"We saw 'walnut'! We figured that was one we all liked! "
Us: "How could you not continue reading the next word??"
Them: "we were tired of reading."

Alatar, I'm sure it's not a clear-cut connection: love of Tolkien equals advanced literacy . I suspect you'd get a similar leaning to literacy amongst lovers of Jane Austen (check out the Austen sites; some very intelligent and literate people there too!).

We just happen to lean to Tolkien.

Actually, I lean to Austen too.

And I suspect there are some Tolkien fans who are NOT advanced readers or terribly literate. I know some; in fact, we posted in the company of a few on TORC. And on TORN. But we chose not to establish acquaintance with them because we're...erm...flocking with birds of a feather.

I agree with Prim's contention (won't try to rephrase; I agree with it all).

I was an early reader and a voracious reader; wouldn't leave the house without a book; from the age of about 9 often had 3-4 books going at the same time, in different rooms of the house; lived in the library during my early teens; preferred reading to socialising. Daughter and son look to be following that pattern.

Basically, I was a geek of the bookwyrm persuasion, as computers hadn't been invented yet.

Impenitent,

Quote:

And I suspect there are some Tolkien fans who are NOT advanced readers or terribly literate. I know some; in fact, we posted in the company of a few on TORC. And on TORN. But we chose not to establish acquaintance with them because we're...erm...flocking with birds of a feather.

Well, now I know why you never respond to my PMs. I guess I'll just have to go find some other illiterate hillbillies. So, what do facials have to do with Tolkien? Is that what the Lush thread is about?

IdylleSeethes wrote:

...Well, now I know why you never respond to my PMs.

...erm...it's in the mail.




And actually, having my words quoted back to me made me re-read them and they sound very unkind, which was not my intention. It's not that we're supercilious elitists here, it's that one tends to associate with people with whom one can make a connection, whether emotionally, culturally or intellectually - so as human beings we tend to make relationships with others who are not too dissimilar to ourselves.

Alatar wrote:

I'm currently reading the Graphic Novel of the Hobbit to my kids aged 6 and 3

Now why did I not think of that? I did try and read the Hobbit to my daughter (coming up to 7) at the beginning of this year but the language is too complex despite my trying. That IS a fabulous idea!

Prim wrote:

you have to be able to convey complicated ideas, and understand other people's responses

and that's where I falter, on the first part especially You are all so bright stars in expressing so eloquently and concisely your thoughts. I hamper with a language barrier despite the fact I speak English quite well.…. I really ought to make more of an effort even if I end up making fool of myself

In Switzerland where I grew up, kids don't usually begin reading until about age 8 or 9. That's because our spoken language, Swiss German, does not exist in writing. All writing is in high German and that's almost like another language (only of course as an adult when it's become second nature you don't quite realize it yet it's true from the learning point of view).

I read LotR first when I was 13 – in German (now I cringe somehwat when picking up a translation lol). The book almost made me fail exams because I was up all night for about a week and even during lessons in the day I had it in my lap.

I found a new universe - and everyone around me though I was nutts.

Years later when my English knowledge was drastically and quickly extended due to not having but English books available I stumbled upon a copy (LotR again) and got hooked a second time. Only then I even realized there was such a thing as The Hobbit and read that too, though I must say I never quite enjoyed it as much as LotR (I guess it must have been because there are no Rangers…..I was and still am somewhat obsessed with them )

Then I found out the movies were being made (I actually danced on the table that day) but, we were in Egypt back then and release dates.. well… you can imagine. I arranged our moving to London to be brought forward just at the opportune time then found a message-board and then went :Q:Q .. started reading the Sil, ... a few times .... but finally did make it through and really need to re-read it again *sigh*. Friends and family who by then had given up on me and my 'hobby' gifted me with the Harper Collins HOME collection and I'm still reading and not through with it yet all – far from it so you guys have light years on me

But I .. whenever I have quite times in this forum, read up and marvel at the accumlated experise in here and feel hardly ever qualified to even say peep

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Resident witchâ„¢