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I'm also in the non-skipper club. I don't feel like I can claim to have read a book without going cover to cover, and I'd fear missing something that turns out to be important for understanding what's happening later.
That said, if there was a point when I was tempted to put the book down, it was when Tom Bombadil ring a dong dilloed on to the page. The first time I read LotR, I was in the mood for more serious business, and while the glimpses of ancient history and myth left me wanting to read more, Tom's silly songs did not. Now, I've come to appreciate the enigma and don't mind his singing quite as much... maybe in part because I've grown more comfortable with being openly silly too as I've grown older.
Despite that, Sam's song in the tower of Cirith Ungol still holds more appeal, and I'll sometimes just go to reread that chapter, and go onward through Mordor with Frodo and Sam.
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People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect. But actually, from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey... stuff.
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