My dad read the Hobbit and then LotR aloud to me when I was just a wee one. And, much later, a friend and I read quite a bit of the fellowship to a silly friend of ours who refused to read it for no good reason, yet was completely fantasy-obsessed and plowed through all the billion-page Wheel of Time books and mudded them and all...so we though she needed a dose of the good stuff. We even split up the voices and stuff. It got a bit confusing--"were you Merry or Pippin?"

I started reading The Hobbit to my daughter (she, of course, wouldn't believe me when I told her she would love it). I only made it part way through the book when she decided she wanted to read it herself (reading aload was too slow). Now she has read The Hobbit, LoTR and The Silmarillion several times. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

I myself have an extremely horrible reading voice, that I am very self-conscious about. Even though my spouse could care less about that, it bothers me immensely. I am afraid that I could not read a passage with that much needed style. The voice, in my opinion, must represent the writing words to the best of the readers ability. And I lack that style or grace, or even the insightful nature. I would always be conscious of my voice and how wrong it is. Many quotes from the novels are deep and meaningful, filled with anger and/or love, and it would be hard to match the feeling of the quoted with my personal voice. Another one of my problems would be the actual pronunciation of many of the words. My best friend and his spouse read to each other quite often. Anything from Mark Twain to Gene Wolf, I admire that. I do read to my daughter every night, and I always look forward to that 20-30 minutes we spend together diving through the lives of Arthur or the Powerpuff Girls. I am excited for her to gain interest in a genre that I myself adore. The ironic thing is, that I have signed up for some volunteer work for my job. Reading Dr. Seuss books to children. The mind of a child make me feel much more relaxed, which in turn makes it easier for me to read out loud to, then another more sophisticated person.

To get even further off topic here. How many have listened to Tolkien’s works on audio? I seem to shy away from books on tape for some lame reason that has perplexed me. Maybe it’s simply my materialistic personality, in which I would much rather own the novel, then a tape. Either way, I would like to know if any of you have them, and would recommend them.

Well, I sometimes read certain passages out loud to myself, but that´s for a different reason. I speak WAY too fast, and in order to control that, I read out loud to myself.

Also, I like to more or less "act out" certain parts, like the mirror of Galadriel or something, but that too is different.

I plan to read the hobbit aloud to my babysitter kids sometime, though. Only it wouldn´t make sense now, since they´re only 4 and 2 years, as well as 8 months old... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

my sister came over this morning.. I was in the middle of reading the two towers.. she's 8. She asked what I was reading.. I told her.. she asked me to read her a bit.. for two hours she was absolutely captivated.. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I often read to myself aloud! Sometimes it is the only way I can really concentrate on a book, especially one like Lord of the Rings, where the language is very rich and strong. I also find that reading alound improves the way you speak too.

I also enjoy reading to my two small God children (aged 7 and 2.5), and the eldest one now reads to me, which is always a pleasure.

She told me not long ago that her teacher said. "Being able to read is the most important thing to be able to learn, because if you can read you will never be lonely", and I for one think she is right!

THANK YOU GOD FOR GIVING ME THE ABILITY TO READ

I only have Tolkien's books in English (I simply refuse to even open the Danish versions!) and since everyone around me, who knows English, are older than me there really is no point in reading it aloud to any of them.

And there wouldn't be any point in someone reading it to me, since no matter how hard I try, I simply don't catch more than half of what people are saying.
It's a concentration problem and it sucks!
I'm a so-called "drifter". [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

When my mother finally got around to reading LotR last year, she had a terrible time staying awake. So finally, at Lothlorien, I had her start reading it all aloud to me. She managed to get through the rest of the book without falling asleep so much (though sometimes she would get that droning, sing-song quality to her voice that told me she was out, so I had to stop her).

But don't let this insult you all. She never even reads anything I write, so the fact that she read LotR at all was big.

I can remember when I was little my mom used to read the LotR to my dad when we went on really long trips. I would be curled up in the back seat and hear her reading. It was one of the things I think I will always remember about when I was little.

I read The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings aloud to my then seven-year-old. It took us about ten weeks. There is poetry and cadence in the language that really comes out aurally (after all Tolkien was a language guy). Reading it aloud revives a kind of storytelling experience that myth is really all about. Then there is the enjoyment of watching someone fall in love with the story who has never heard it before.

I think it's a shame that people stop reading to children just because they can read for themselves. I think the spoken word awakens something different in the imagination and changes how we experience the information.

[ February 25, 2003: Message edited by: greyhavener ]

We can all put our best reading voices to the test March 25th which The Tolkien society has named "Tolkien Reading Day". I don't have much info on it other than what you find below.
--Imladrien
Tolkien Society Events Page

When I was younger (much, much younger) my father read my LOTR and The Hobbit. Each night, on the couch by the fire, he'd read to me. I truly loved that and cherish that memory. I am currently reading LOTR to my dogs. They seem to be attentive listeners.

During my first time through LotR, the person who introduced me to Tolkien and I would go sit in the woods or a field and read aloud. Once, when Frodo and Sam were in Ithilien, I mentioned I had never seen a mountain, so we packed up and went to the Appalachians. We stopped and got beef jerky, banana chips and vanilla wafers to eat, because Faramir gave them salted meats, dried fruit, and bread. We got there about 10:30 at night and found a little spot on the edge of a cliff. We built a fire and read for over two hours, taking turns. It was a moving experience.

I also read all of LotR aloud to my daughter while she was still in my tummy. Then before she was a year old, I read the Hobbit to her.

I love to read Tolkein aloud, but I have a problem of silently reading ahead 3 or 4 paragraphs and then get lost. There is something about Tolkien that just needs to be heard. Last year in school we studied LOTR for six months in Lit(I was in eternal bliss) and my teacher would have us read parts of our previous assignments aloud. That was so priceless.

I would love to hear LOTR aloud especially by Tolkien. But, alas, that will never happen. I heard the hobbit on audio tape and I absolutely loved it. The guy did different voices for each character. He was magnificent! That's what got me started with Tolkien. Hearing the hobbit... BTW, does anyone know where you can get those recordings of Tolkien reading selections? Preferably for free? Some of us are poor students. I do believe someone mentioned where you can buy them, but I was just wondering if you could get them for free (legally of course [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] ).

I'd read The Hobbit to my seven year old brother whenever I'm home, but the little prat (whom I love very, very much, of course) is always more interested in trying to finagle late-night snacks out of me. Maybe I just don't have what it takes. My mother seems to do fine in that regard. It's not that he doesn't like books, he doesn't like me. *hangs head in shame*

Secondly, I would love to have a boyfriend to whom I could read my favourite chapters of the LOTR (the Lorien chapters in particular) out loud, but boys are not interested listening to me read. Their priorities lie elsewhere.

Woe me.

*zifnab stares at Lush enticingly*

Huh? Were you saying something? [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]


aragornreborn --- I have a few little excerpts that have been downloaded from the net. I would try a nice goggle search.

When my brother was 12, he got hit in the eye with a baseball. His retina was detached, so both his eyes had to be covered by bandages. That was to keep both eyes still so the bad one would heal faster. And he had to just stay in bed a whole lot. My mom read The Hobbit to him as he lay there blind. Our oldest brother must have read it and recommended it. I can't remember how long Dave had to lie blind. But it sure is wild to think of that. It's a good book to listen to if you're temporarily blind, I think, cuz you gotta picture this whole new world in your head....

I am a bit late joining this very interesting thread, but I enjoyed reading all your posts!

I agree with you, greyhavener.
One of the things I love about Tolkien's works is the beautiful language. (Though English isn't my mothertongue I can appreciate it. Or perhaps even more so(?))

I notice that while rereading LotR or Silm. I am unconsciously moving my lips, pronouncing the words, and even read favourite quotes , songs and poems out loud to myself.

Unfortunately I am in the same position as Estely Telcontar: I would dearly like to read LotR to my husband (who never reads novels) and to my younger son, but they understand only German. (Reading aloud the German translation is out of the question, since most of the charm and beauty of Tolkien's language is lost there.) My elder son speaks a little English, but he has read LotR in German because he has only a limited vocabulary in English.
But at least to him I often recite some of my favourite passages, quotes and poems to make him hear the difference and I hope he catches a glimpse of Tolkiens wonderful language and will later read the original.

I just started reading the Hobbit to my daughter tonight. I was immensely looking forward to this, loving the book as much as I do, and was readying myself for getting into character as Bilbo and Gandalf and the Dwarves ...

... And then a few pages into the first chapter, as I turned the page, it dawned on me with terrible realisation ...

... There were songs. [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

Well, I did my best, but I'm sure that Thorin and company would not have appreciated my rendition of "We must away 'ere break of day ...".

Still, I am immensely enjoying reading it to her. It is great to have a children's book to read to my children that I can enjoy so much at the same time. And there is none better to fit the bill than The Hobbit. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I am one of those people that hates to read aloud to ppl, i can never convey across the same emotion, and sounds of the individual characters which is very annoying to me. Although i don't like reading to others i cannot resist reading aloud certain passages to myself as they feel so powerful. For example the whole of my signature thats in the Silmarillion, or when Elrod is saying that Frodo will be like one of th elf friends of old because of him taking up the burden of the ring. These are so good that i just have to hear how they sound.

To Aragornreborn

Sorry for replying a bit late on this, but you can actually get an audio cassette/CD of Tolkien reading his favourite passages from his works.

I bought the audio cassette. The original recordings were done in the 1950s so the quality is rather tinny, but it has been digitally remastered, and rather good.

It isn't all that expensive either.

I'm in the middle of reading The Hobbit to my 5 year old son, he is enthralled. We get through half a chapter every night before he succumbs to sleep. He keeps asking questions about the characters so I know he's actually taking it in. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]