Parts We Skip and Why

[Firefoot]

Originally, I too was very surprised at how many people find the Frodo/Sam storyline boring. I still am, but I think I can begin to understand why. The first and second halves of TTT are very different, in tone, amount and type of action, and even in the types of characters. Also, the first half is more about events and the many characters in them, while the second half is more about the characters and their journey. I can see where some people might think that the Frodo and Sam part is a bit low on action. But boring? I suppose it's just a matter of taste - I'm glad that many people who orginally found the Frodo and Sam parts to be boring have come to appreciate them more.

So the predominant reason for skipping seems to be because the events are 'boring'. How about because characters are boring? For me, this would be Treebeard and the oh so slow Ents - I routinely skip that chapter. Also, like Mithalwen, I have no tolerance for Tom Bombadil - I tend to skip his chapters, too, no matter how hard I try to keep reading through them.

Sharpis Corbis brings up a good point about people who read slow - my brother is like that as well. My brother commented that in the slower-paced second half, he had a harder time remembering what was going on. For slower readers, it would probably make the book much more interesting if something was constantly going on, whether it be battles or otherwise.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

My examples are not really the same as yours. I think I should be punished far less severely than those who skip chapters in The Lord of the Rings. (Bad - all of you!)

However...

...there are Unfinished Tales that I never go back to. I read them all in the order they come in the collection, and since then I have gone back to many of them for some delightful evenings of reading. However, it's probably more likely that I will play dominoes with Top Cat on Jupiter than ever reading the history of Galadriel and Celeborn again. Tedious (G & C that is, not Top Cat - he's amazing!)

But I treasure every word in The Lord of the Rings.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Like tar-ancalime, I did not enjoy the battle scenes and skimmed (though I never skipped) them when I first read the book. Later on I did read them more closely to comprehend the details of what happened, but I still tend to enjoy the conversations and descriptions more than fighting scenes.

[Boromir88]

When I first read, I didn't skip anything, but now that I've read them more I find myself skipping around some chapters. Mostly it would be the beginning of FOTR, with the party, and Bombadil, that I simply skip into Bree and go on. Bombadil is not one I'm greatly interested in, and I don't find him to be important to the story, however he is important to the hobbits.

A chapter a lot of people skip, and I simply just don't understand why, is the Council of Elrond. This chapter is filled with stories from Dale and Erebor, to Mirkwood, Gandalf's deals with Saruman, then with the all important Ring. It's filled with histories and tales, I just cannot see why people skip this chapter. Some say there's a lack of action. I find this chapter to be filled with action, and important details, not that fighting type of action, but a lot of interesting dialogue action. I don't really skip anything from TTT or ROTK, maybe the Passages of the Dead from time to time.

[Parmawen]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

A chapter a lot of people skip, and I simply just don't understand why, is the Council of Elrond.

I being the typical teenage-girl I am skipped over that part...except when Legolas was speaking of course

But whenever I reread the books, it's usually the parts with a lot of action I can't stand. For instance, the end of the book. Just like in the Hobbit, I can't reread the final battle. I think it's because after the intensity of reading it a first time, I felt really tired (I think I got a little to involved in the book)...and I don't want to lose that feeling of awe once the book is done.

[Sharpis Corbis]

As I said, when I first read the Lord of the Rings, I was 12. Of course I would like the battles. And going along with the Council of Elrond, the first time I read the chapter it just seemed to drag on forever. I am reading the books again and am currently on that chapter. It is much better than the first few times.

[Lathriel]

For me it changes all the time. One time when I read the book I couldn't stand it when I was reading about Frodo and Sam. However, when I re-read the book this year I really enjoyed it.
Me growing up also changed it a lot. At first like many of you I read LOTR for the story. Now as I've grown older I have re-read the book not only for the story but also for character development etc. So now there are very few parts that I do not enjoy. Although I have to confess that when I read the book this year I did skim read the Palantir part in The two Towers. This time around I thought that it was tedious. But next year...I might just enjoy it.
As for The council of Elrond,every time I approach the chapter with dread because I think it will take me a long time. It usually turns out that I read it in a jiffy.

[Nuranar]

I'm a very fast reader, and always have been. The first time through a fiction book (nearly all I read, unless under duress) I speed through it, because I'm dying to know what actually happens. But I love to reread books; in fact, that determines whether I like a book or not. It's good if I can't remember all the plot details (important for mysteries), but since I'm not devouring it to see what happens I can go slower and savor it. And even if there is a part that isn't my favorite, I'm dedicated to doing a complete job that I practically force myself to read it! I can't even think of what I would skip if I could. I even read the Appendices! Well, I get bogged down in the part on language a little...

I first read it sometime in junior high, I think. I read the whole thing in about two days, skipping nothing. Of course, a lot of things (the Earendil story, &c.) I didn't understand at the time. Subsequent rereadings made me more familiar with them, and I grew to understand them at least from context. I didn't really learn it, of course, until reading the Silm; but even before then I didn't mind reading the parts. The awesome sense of history those references supply just staggered me. They made the story seem more of a piece with other things, instead of a neat plot with no loose ends or unexplained happenings. It seemed a lot more real. And of course now I do read it gradually and slowly, taking time to notice not only characterization, but also the craft of his writing. I delight in seeing how he chooses just the right words, for sound as well as meaning and connotation, and the sentence structure, as well as when he takes time to describe, when he uses dialogue, and when he writes more generally.

Hmm... Instead of explaining the above, I could just proclaim that "I don't skip!" But what's the fun in that?

Actually, the only times I did skip was when I read it aloud to my father during our work commute this summer. He got lost really fast on all the songs, so instead of enduring them he had me skip them. (I think "Earendil was a mariner" was what really did him in...) But the point is that the skipping certainly wasn't my idea.

[narfforc]

Being the runt of the last litter of my Orkish sire, I skip all the poetry, lots of Elvish rubbish bah.

Sorry I would like to apologise for the last outburst, this was from the half of me that is Orkish, I in fact love all the beauty and splendour of the Tolkien verse.

Bah! and bah again.

I think I must have skipped the bit where Old Whitchy-poo breaks that Wizards staff.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

As I alluded in my last post, it is not necessarily that I think certain parts are permanently boring, but more that at this point of my life... they just don't do it for me.

It is like the way that as you grow and experience new things, favorite characters change. The same thing, for me, happens with passages. If I am going through a particularly rough time in RL, I make it a point to avoid passages that I know will make me cry. If I feel the need to wallow in self-pity, I pointedly ignore Tom Bombadil.

I am a 17-year-old. I am [not particularly] fighting a bad case of senioritus, and right now, I'm making it a point for life to be a blast. Anything that brings me down, or sinks me back into a depression that I've finally pulled out of, is highly unwelcome in my life. Seeing Frodo falling into such despair and needing Sam to help him out of it... it makes me remember feeling helpless, and I don't like the feeling. So I avoid it, skipping the downfall and celebrating when Frodo is saved. I read specific passages that make me smile, or cry happy tears. I admit it... I have to try really hard to hold back tears when Eomer finds Eowyn at the Pelennor.

What the point is that I am trying, but perhaps not succeeding, to make, is that what we enjoy seems to be in direct relation to experiences we have had and things that we are currently dealing with.
I may, of course, be dead wrong, and feel free to berate me something fierce (preferably out of sight of the public) if I am, but from what I've observed... Fea trails off in order to allow you all to draw your own conclusions.

[Formendacil]

Like Tar-Ancalime, I have found it to be certain TYPES of chapters, and not certain BOOKS of chapters that I find less easy to read, and more easy to speed through, but while for her it is the "fighting" parts that she dislikes, for me it is more of the "travelling" parts.

I'm more of a story-oriented reader. In Book IV, for example, I tend to go at a medium speed of reading up to Ithilien, then sit back and read carefully the Faramir-interaction scenes, and then skip all the way to Shelob's tunnels at breakneck speed before slowing down to enjoy Shagrat and Gorbag.

Of course, this is a generalization, and each chapter harbours quick-read spots, and slow-down-and-enjoy spots.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Oh, the poetry! I did read that quickly, only skimming it at first, when the story was new and suspenseful and I wanted to find out what happened next. Now I take the time to savour it, even read it aloud to enjoy the rhythm and melody of the words.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I agree, Esty. The poetry is great on a rainy day, but when the adrenaline is rushing, it's hard to slow down for that sort of thing. I truly do love it, but where I can quote by memory certain passages... I'm generally in trouble if somebody asks me to speak one of Tolkien's poems. With the exception of a few... I just find it hard, what with my afore-mentioned attention span difficulties, to practically stop myself mid-story to read a poem that may or may not have anything whatever to do with the plot line. Bad me... yes, I know.

Fea