Glorfindel is a girl?!

[MatthewM]

Originally Posted by alatar

I read that, when introducing someone new to LotR that one may consider telling the person to start reading at Bree, as the chapter prior tend to bog some readers down like so many marshes. Once the person is hooked, he/she may then reread the entire FotR book, now wondering what all of that minutia was about.

Surely you can not be serious. Anybody who skips the first chapters of the book is hopeless anyway, and probably shouldn't even be reading the book in the first place. If you're going to read LotR, you should read it front to back, none of this skipping business. Not to mention, the reader would be completely lost starting from "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony".

[Folwren]

Oh, I don't know. Let's see...the only real main character that would be missed is Gandalf, and he comes back later in the tale and tells what happened to him. The importance of the Ring is made clear in The Council of Elrond.

Mind you, I don't think that it's a good idea to skip around like that, but I have heard of many people who picked up the FotR and said they couldn't get through it. It never occurred to me to ask at which point they quit trying.

[MatthewM]

Originally Posted by Folwren

Oh, I don't know. Let's see...the only real main character that would be missed is Gandalf, and he comes back later in the tale and tells what happened to him. The importance of the Ring is made clear in The Council of Elrond.

Although made crystal clear at the Council, I disagree.

Originally Posted by Folwren

but I have heard of many people who picked up the FotR and said they couldn't get through it. It never occurred to me to ask at which point they quit trying.

Blasphemy!

[Folwren]

Originally Posted by MatthewM

Blasphemy!

Well...yes...I thought so to, but I refrain from saying anything.

[alatar]

Originally Posted by MatthewM

Surely you can not be serious.

I am, and don't call me 'surely'...

Anybody who skips the first chapters of the book is hopeless anyway, and probably shouldn't even be reading the book in the first place.

If you truly want people to share the joy that is reading LotR, wouldn't you want them to get into it anyway that they could, even if it meant skipping a few slower chapters or even seeing the Peter Jackson films first? Once hooked, they will go back (or not).

If you're going to read LotR, you should read it front to back, none of this skipping business. Not to mention, the reader would be completely lost starting from "At the Sign of the Prancing Pony".

Not sure that that'd work for everyone. Check out the usual book selling sites and read the reviews of those that give FotR a poor rating (the horrors! ). Some see it as "dull" and quit reading it after "60" or so pages.

Another soul lost.

[Folwren]

Hm. Tale of Two Cities is like that. My dad can't get through the first five chapters and my younger sister said that when she finally read it, it was when she skipped those first several chapters (she'd already read them and put down the book several times). I myself did that with Oliver Twist - reading the first several chapters, putting the book down for half a year, picking it up again, reading the first chapters, and putting it down again. Finally, when I picked it up again, I skipped those chapters and read it to its finish.

Anyhow, this is sadly off topic. Do you know - Glorfindel isn't even in the first several chapters of the FotR?

[alatar]

In that vein, read the story regarding the The Princess Bride where William Goldman tells how his father always skipped the slow parts and made the book interesting. When, nostalgically, Goldman asked his son to read this wonderful story, he couldn't understand why his son was close to tears trying to finish the first chapters. It wasn't until he himself picked up and actually read the story that Morgenstern penned that he realized what a slog it was and how wonderful his own father was in editing it (in his head).

Originally Posted by Folwren

Anyhow, this is sadly off topic. Do you know - Glorfindel isn't even in the first several chapters of the FotR?

And just what did he accomplish after the Ford beside harrumphing at the Council? Speaking of sending girls to fight wraiths, why did Elrond keep this elvish weapon home?

[MatthewM]

Originally Posted by alatar

If you truly want people to share the joy that is reading LotR, wouldn't you want them to get into it anyway that they could, even if it meant skipping a few slower chapters or even seeing the Peter Jackson films first?

Who said anything about wanting to share the joy?

Originally Posted by alatar

Not sure that that'd work for everyone. Check out the usual book selling sites and read the reviews of those that give FotR a poor rating (the horrors! ). Some see it as "dull" and quit reading it after "60" or so pages.

Another soul lost.

That's horrible. Another soul lost indeed!