Reader Friday: National Tolkien Reading Day

Today is National Tolkien Reading Day. How many of Tolkien’s books have you read? Bonus points for naming them. Which was your favorite and why?

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About Steve Hooley

Steve Hooley is the author of seven short stories published in four anthologies, a Vella serial fiction, and is currently working on the Mad River Magic series – a fantasy adventure series for advanced middle-grade to adults. More details available at: https://stevehooleywriter.com/mad-river-magic/

46 thoughts on “Reader Friday: National Tolkien Reading Day

  1. I only read the Hobbit. I keep trying to read Fellowship, but get stuck in his forewords.

    • Thanks for your comment, Azali. I, too have only completed The Hobbit. I inherited the 4 book series from my mother’s library and determined to read them all. I see, this morning from my book mark, I made it to page 68 of The Fellowship of the Ring. I have the boxed set pulled out to try again.

      Have a great weekend!

  2. I’ve only read one Tolkien book and that was due to an atypical reason. My favorite character of all time is Spock, as portrayed by the great Leonard Nimoy in the original series and movies. Years later, I saw an old music video from the late ’60’s that he sang called “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins” and I thought “Who in the world is this dude he’s singing about?”

    That led me to read The Hobbit.

    Unlike millions, I just thought the book was okay. I was not drawn in nor have I read other Tolkien works. Who knows. Maybe one day I will try another. So when I hear the name Tolkien, I don’t think of his books, but am reminded of a favorite actor instead in Leonard Nimoy. Here’s one link to the vid if you care to see it:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3fZhJN4Tdc
    (There is a reason Nimoy was an actor, not a singer. LOL! )

    • I watched the whole thing, though feeling a strong urge to flee at times. Actually, Nimoy was not bad, well up to folk-singer quality, far better than a famous chap whom Rodney Dillard likened to “a hound-dog caught in a barbed-wire fence.” Admittedly, this is setting the bar very low, but the lyrics were okay, given the era. As music videos go, today’s standards would not be kind to it.

    • Thanks for the link, BK. The video was interesting. My personal judgement is the musical ability is lacking. Interesting that such a tail as Bilbo’s would end up in a musical video.

      What I think is inspiring, is the fact that JRR Tolkien left so many detailed notes, his son, Christopher, was able to publish about 14 books from that material. Now that’s a legacy.

    • “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins” was quite, something, wasn’t it? While I started with “The Hobbit” as a teen (after trying and failing to get into “Fellowship” as a fifth-grader, I’d say LOTR is a better entry point. YMMV of course 🙂

    • Thanks for stopping by, John. I guess we have different genres for different tastes. I never thought I would like fantasy, but then discovered how much fun it was to write.

      Have a great weekend! I’m checking out shotguns and ammo, Thanks for your post on Wednesday.

  3. I’ve read both the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings (three books) twice and saw different things both times. (I’ve also seen the films and thought they were masterfully done.) I read The Silmarillion and enjoyed it thoroughly. I’m recording the new Amazon television series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. The guy created not only a world populated with different kinds of humanoids, good and bad, he actually created extensive written languages for them. Even with the occasional miraculous resolution, what’s not to love?

    • Wow, Harvey, you should be hosting the discussion this morning. Feel free to comment on any and all comments made this morning.

      When I was doing my “research” for this morning on Wikipedia, I was amazed at the number of languages that Tolkien had created for his various elves, 49 by my count, and apparently many of those publications were published posthumously. He left quite a legacy.

      Have a great weekend

      • I think no one has yet mentioned here that Tolkien’s day job was in philology, the study of languages, their history and associated literature. He taught and researched for 34 years at colleges within Oxford University. No surprise, then, how he was able to create entire lexicons and grammars for the various creatures that populated his fictional world.

    • I’m with you, Harvey. Tolkien remains a favorite author of mine and LOTR one of fantasy’s seminal works. I’m looking forward to “The Rings of Power,” too, and seeing the Second Age on the small screen.

    • Thanks for joining in this morning, Terry. checked the copyright pages in my boxed set. Looks like they were first published from 1937 – 1955. My mom read her boxed set in the 60’s, Never thought she would read fantasy. I suspect it was because of Tolkien’s influence on C S Lewis.

      Have a great weekend.

  4. I tried three times to get into Vol. 1, but just never could. Stop with the singing already!

    I do like the Peter Jackson films. E.g., Gandalf’s confrontation with the Balrog is more powerful onscreen than in the book.

    However, I recognize and admire the world building Tolkien accomplished. Mrs. B and I visited Oxford some years ago, and of course paid a visit to the The Eagle and Child pub where Tolkien and C. S. Lewis quaffed many a brew.

    • Thanks for your thoughts, Jim. It seems there is a great divide with enjoyment of Tolkien’s work. Many love it, and many just “can’t get into it.”

      I think you mentioned, once, considering publishing a fantasy. Check out the ratings on Stephen King’s only fantasy, The Eyes of the Dragon, written for his daughter.

      Have a great weekend!

  5. Good morning, Steve. I have read…none of them! I started The Hobbit but couldn’t get into it.

    Have a great weekend!

    • Good morning, Joe. It seems a majority here, this morning, are with you – “couldn’t get into it.” I wonder if this is true with fantasy in general, or more pronounced with epic fantasy.

      I should have prepared better (or thought of my audience). I took the easy path with a national day. Next time I shall stay within the thriller genre.

      Hope you have a good weekend, too!

      • I appreciate you showcasing Tolkien today, Steve. Like Marilynn, and others, I’m a big fantasy fan, as well as a mystery/suspense reader. Incidentally, the sequence at the Inn in Bree early on in “Fellowship of the Ring” has a great crime vibe, and the later scenes with the Nazgul are downrate scary.

      • I think it’s good to discuss other genres sometimes. Whether we read a wide variety of genres or stick with just a few, there’s something to be learned from all of them.

        One of the lines of discussion that will likely prompt me to try another of Tolkien’s books are the numerous comments on his skills at world-building. World building isn’t just for fantasy and is definitely something I’m always looking to improve.

    • THE HOBBIT was written as a children’s story for Tolkien’s children, but LOTR was for an adult audience. I had a long talk about Tolkien with my Chaucer professor who couldn’t understand why Tolkien was so popular. He’d read THE HOBBIT and had been unimpressed, but I explained the child vs. adult books, and he went on to enjoy the series. (RIP, Dr Tisdale, you were an awesome teacher. )

  6. I’ve read “The Hobbit,” “The Lord of the Rings” (“The Two Towers” is my favorite of the “trilogy”), “The Silmarillion,” “Unfinished Tales,” and “The Children of Huron”. “The Silmarillion” was a bit of slog, but also fascinating, as Tolkien was creating a mythology. He put his background in languages to great use. “The Lord of the Rings” is my favorite because it’s the perfect epic tale of good versus evil. Many stories intersect there. “The Two Towers” is my favorite part because it deals with the treachery of Saruman the White Wizard as well as Sam and Frodo’s quest to enter the realm of Mordor.

    I’ve only read one book about Tolkien, and that was “Tolkien and the Great War,” which discusses his experiences as a young British infantry officer during WW1 (he was wounded on the Somme in 1916) and the influences of that cataclysmic struggle on his writing and literary creation.

    I own a paper back set of LOTR, and also a leather bound single-volume hard cover. The publisher broke LOTR up into three volumes.

    For fantasy, JRR Tolkien was and is a seminal figure and author, who popularized “secondary world” epic fantasy that became a template of sorts for many authors in the decades after “Lord of the Rings” was published.

    The road indeed goes ever on and on for Tolkien’s writings. Have a wonderful Friday!

    • Good morning, Dale, and thanks for your great and helpful comments. Like Harvey, above, I should have asked you also to host this discussion. Please feel free to jump in with responses to anybody’s comments.

      After reading your comments, I think I’ll try The Two Towers next.

      Have a great weekend!

  7. I loved The Hobbit. I read it at Butchart’s Gardens in Victoria. It was fascinating. I liked the trilogy, too. I couldn’t get into The Silmarillion, though. It seemed like backstory. Tolkien was a genius, for certain. The movies were CGI-heavy, taking away from my suspended disbelief when I realized nothing bad could happen to the characters during the collapsing bridges scene.

    • Good morning, JG. Thanks for your comments. I agree with you on the movies and the collapsing bridge scene.

      Tolkien was indeed a genius, influencing epic fantasy that followed. With our current short attention spans, I wonder how Tolkien would have been received if he had written in our current era.

      Have a great weekend.

    • It was backstory. Tolkien’s son went through his father’s extensive notes and found 14 books worth of mythology, languages, and stories which he turned into a pile of bestsellers.

  8. I’ve read The Hobbit, but never got into the others. Our son has read them many times — he even has a map of Middle-earth on a wall in his house. I’ll have to let him know that today is National Tolkien Reading Day. (Or maybe he’ll let me know.)

    Have a great weekend!

    • Thanks, Kay. Your comment made we wonder about the average age of fans of various genres. I am guessing that the average age of a fantasy fan would be younger than a romance fan, for example. That’s a totally uneducated guess.

      Have a great weekend!

      • After I read Tom’s comment below, I realized that there may be a generational aspect to certain works. My son and his high school friends all enjoyed the Ring books. Could it be a combination of when they were born and how old they were when they were introduced to the series?

        No way I’m adding Tolkien to my pile of books to read. I don’t have that much room. 🙂

    • I had that same map. When I started dating my future wife in 1978, I learned right away she also loved reading and fantasy fiction, and enjoyed LOTR. I knew she was one in that moment 🙂

  9. Steve – The question and comments are interesting. While in high school I read tolkien’s the hobbit and his trilogy in a few days of near-continuous binge reading. Loved it. I very much wonder whether I would have been as engaged if I had attempted to read it at other periods in my life.
    Have others gone through fairly distinct periods where they’re reading taste/selections varied significantly?
    At different times in my life I was into widely different genres. As a grade school kid the Outdoors, animals, and adventure including Jack London and Jim Kjelgaard were favored.. A number of classics as I got a little older including steinbeck, Jules Verne, Daniel Defoe‘s Robinson Crusoe, Moby Dick and more.
    I had a period where I did a lot of science fiction reading and subsequently jumped to all of Leon Uris and much of Michener’s work.
    James Clavell’s shogun and Stephen King’s work and similar grabbed me.
    Several more reading epochs led me to the wondrous world of mystery, crime fiction, and thrillers. These genres encompass incredible literary content. I read others but these genres as my favorites for the last few decades.
    Likely more than any wanted to know but your question stimulated the thoughts.
    Thanks!

    • Thanks for stopping by, Tom. Good to hear from you. I loved your thoughts in your comments. I had just posed the question of average age of fans of various genres (in response to Kay, above) when I read your comments.

      Your wide reading has certainly given you a good foundation for your wonderful books.

      My experience is not nearly as extensive as yours, and riddled with periods where I read nothing but nonfiction. But seasons of genre interest throughout our lives is probably common, and a great preparation for writing.

      Good to hear from you! Hope you are doing well. Have a great weekend!

  10. Like many here, I never could get into them, but I didn’t start until I was in my 50s…maybe you need to be younger…I do have them on my Kindle…maybe one day I’ll try again.

    • Good thoughts, Patricia. Age, and maybe what’s popular at the time, could be factors. We probably find the genre we enjoy the most as we get “older” and stick with it. Young people probably read what everyone else their age is reading.

      Maybe you’ll find a way to work some epic fantasy into your Romance or Suspense.

      Have a great weekend!

  11. I read the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy in the Sixties, followed by THE HOBBIT. Yes, I got the order backwards. The mythology books like THE SILMARILLION never caught my interest although I tried. I read most of his articles on Medieval literature in college. I went on to share my love of THE HOBBIT and LOTR with my younger brother and my sister’s kids.

    Here’s Tolkien reading a short poem. His other readings on YouTube are an hour long.

    https://youtu.be/LWxnHuVEwUg

    • Thanks for the link to Tolkien reading, Marilynn. Wonderful. And thanks for your comments above.

      Tolkien’s unbelievably extensive notes that his son Christopher used to write those 14 books is quite a legacy. And thanks for the additional information on Tolkien.

      Have a great weekend!

      • Steve, it’s mind-boggling to me still how much time and effort Tolkien put into his world building–he’d never intended much of that material to be published, but certainly there’s a market for it. I’ve read some, as noted above, but never could get into the vast bulk of those 14 volumes.

  12. Have the books, never read them.

    But, I will watch and re-watch all of the movies (we own them all). They are some of my faves. I like watching fantasy, not so much reading fantasy.

    I’m sure there will be a heavenly library, presided over by Tolkien and Lewis. When I have all of eternity, I’ll read them all.

    Great weekend, everyone! 🙂

    • Thanks for stopping by, Deb. Great comments. Wouldn’t it be neat to just sit and listen to Tolkien and Lewis debating?

      Have a great weekend!

  13. I have never finished a Tolkien book. I tried. I read a little bit of The Hobbit. I read the cover of LOTR. I even saw one and a half of the Peter Jackson movies. Alas, I just don’t care for high fantasy. I like some other fantasy sub-genres, and I enjoy science fiction, but the whole horses and fake medieval life and, oh, I’m yawning already, I just can’t. I’m glad millions of others enjoy it. There’s plenty of other stuff for me to read.

    • Thanks for casting your vote, Catfriend. We seem to have deep divided between the lovers and the “I’m bored” groups on this one. It’s been an interesting discussion.

      Have a great weekend!

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