Lord of the Rings boring books

[Faramir Jones]

I can understand when someone, who has made a genuine effort to read LotR, finds it boring. I recall feeling that way at the start, when first reading it at thirteen; but then things began to pick up for me by the time of Gandalf's death, then Boromir's.

I remember particularly enjoying, by the time of RotK, how everything was coming together, hoping that Minas Tirith would be relieved, and that Frodo and Sam would succeed. That they did with Gollum's intervention amused me. Farmir and Eowyn's romance made me go all mushy. In short, I was no longer bored.

All this is, of course, my own experience.

[Erestor]

Society today is very rushed, and this is also something that defines the taste of a large part of the population. Films, which is the most popular artform nowadays, are densily packed with action, with almost no room to breath. People today seems to find it boring to relax, find any moment that doesn't seem to be a large step forward in a story (or anything else) as a waste of time, and boring - of course, this is not including holidays, when those same people are being grilled on beaches.

However, the thing that makes it boring to other people, is the thing that attracts me in LotR: it gives me room to breath, to let me wander throughout Middle-Earth. It makes it feel the journey more realistic: not a chain of action sequences, but a long time travelling while there isn't happening much.

Of course, this is a matter of taste and state of mind, so I can't criticize them for finding it boring. If they actually read it of course.

[Morthoron]

There are plenty of classics that are infinitely dull; for instance, Camus could perhaps be the only writer to make a plague tedious, and I would rather stick a rusted fork in my eye than read Jane Austen or Thomas Hardy ever again (Jude was obscure for a reason!).

But I love the long novels of Victor Hugo, Tolstoy and Umberto Eco. I even enjoy James Joyce (but Joyce requires more research than actual reading, honestly, particularly in the case of Finnegan's Wake and Ulysses).

It is all a matter of preference, really. There are those readers who agree with me, and those with no evident taste.

[Belegorn]

I used to think the Odyssey sucked. I couldn't really follow along when we had to read it in 9th grade.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I found The Fellowship rather boring when I first read it, it took me a month before I made it to Rivendell... I don't know what happened then, but I got hooked and finished the rest of the trilogy in a weekend.

I normally acknowledge that Tolkien's writing style is very detailed, and not necessarily an 'easy read'.

I find it much harder to deal with my nerd friends, that insist that LotR is more of a mythology, than it is 'proper/good fantasy'.

[demnation]

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

I found The Fellowship rather boring when I first read it, it took me a month before I made it to Rivendell... I don't know what happened then, but I got hooked and finished the rest of the trilogy in a weekend.

I normally acknowledge that Tolkien's writing style is very detailed, and not necessarily an 'easy read'.

I find it much harder to deal with my nerd friends, that insist that LotR is more of a mythology, than it is 'proper/good fantasy'.

And I'd say being called a mythology is really rather a compliment, anyway.

[Faramir Jones]

Welcome to the Downs, demnation!

I agree with your comment about Rune calling LotR more a mythology being 'rather a compliment' to the author.