Young Writers Society

Just a question: haven't any of you LOTR haters had to read books like the Odyssey and the Scarlett Letter in school? I'm wondering because the way you talk about how terribly boring the LOTR is, it would make me think you have never had a proper english class.

LOL!

I personally just prefer HP to LOtR in terms of reading for pleasure, but I respect Tolkien as a writer and as a Christian. And yes, I've read the Odyssey, along with the Iliad and the Aeneid and some Rousseau and some Edmund Burke and Livy and Herodotus and Dante, etc. etc. I respect Tolkien; I respect his work and when I read the trilogy and the Hobbit last year, it was actually a fairly nice break from our primary readings.

I just prefer JKR's writing style. It's fun and while it's certainly easy to read I love how she plays with names and locations and always has great subplots that never get too confusing. Tolkien is just too tedious at times.

Yes, HP is easier to read. And gives you more instant pleasure (almost every page is enjoyable). But LOTR contains comments on humanity which go far deeper than any HP book. JRR Tolkein was in WWI. After coming back he was so traumatized that he released the stress by writing a book: the LOTR. And it shows. You can see the WWI influences in this book.

Really now? I thought that part of the story was an anti-masonic message. i.e. "the evil in the east" and "the all-seeing eye", etc.

I certainly don't look down on Hp lovers-why when I have all the books, read EACH in the first week they each came out, and obviously like the series? Now I say this for myself, and I'm sure there are other LotR and HP fans who draw swords, and I verily agree this is wrong. While I'm sure if Tolkien were alive he would no doubt criticize Harry Potter with utter loathing, and maybe fans take this to heart and mind, again wrong-don't be the man, this is a liberal age, the LotR must change along with the generation, and the movies executed this well, and though I respect fans who do not like the movies, despite what they've done-bring in a whole new generation of READERS (like myself, who can now drone on about the subject that instead of falling asleep, my comrades would try to silence ME!)- I still think they should be more open to the films for this reason.

joe ducktaped-I suggest you pick the FotR up. While it may not be that book that enthralls you enough to read in excess of 200 pages non-stop in a day, it still is a good book, or rather the LotR in whole (as it supposed to be one book). And please take my word for it! I, seen by friends as a kid too exposed to LotR that he might as well be from Middle-Earth, was once a die-hard HP fan! All the way to the Goblet of Fire-so that would be apprx. 4 years. The end of Grade 7 spelled a life-change, and a significant one by looking back from this day. It was June, and nearing the end of my 7th year of school, and lo! the teacher had decided to pop in the Hobbit near the end of the day because of course there wasn't really anything else to do. I had disliked the LotR up to that point (though my mood was softened over the course of those 4 years) but only the movie-I never knew there were books, and I hadn't even watched the movie! only heard about it from friends, too me it was only a HP rip-off. But I had only heard of the Hobbit once before, and knew nothing of it, nor that it was connected to the LotR in some way. Well after watching only half-an-hour of this 70's animated film, I was enthralled! I couldn't get the Hobbit off my mind! I was going crazy, acting out Bilbo and Gandalf until the end of school. And lucky for me-the local video rental store had it! Well of course I rented it and watched it over and over! That same summer I bought TTT for it just came out, and rented the FotR-it was a lotr night for me! I LOVED the movies, and lucky for me the RotK came out that very same year near Christmas, well I bought the RotK book and read it after I watched my first lotr movie in theatres-loved it. As well as the book when I read it. Soon after, and up to this point, I have read many Tolkien and Tolkien-related books, and my personal interest and knowledge on the subject only grows with every one. So you see, if you don't try something, you might as well regret not doing it, for you don't know what your missing! And I encourage non-readers of either books to read them! Don't be ashamed of doing so, I certainly wasn't, and now I'm hooked.

But try not to be dettered by any long-windedness or difficult words or descriptions, I guaruntee if you read slowly and take everything in slowly (which is why maybe 200+ pages a night is pushing it) and/or a second time around, you'll no doubt get it (the movies do help, despite its changes and shortening) and enjoy it. ^^

Erethror, I'm off to read FotR... and I think I'll do my reread of HBP after that.

Good good, and I must re-read the HP series myself.

Holy Crap! I'm on FotR. So far I'm at page thirteen........ of the PROLOGUE.

I dont know if anybodys said this but LOTR i would have to take instead of HP. HP is really good, in my opinion, but LOTR has contributed and inspired more than HP has or will and also, if you research a little, JK Rowling uses many things from Tolkien and other sources. But then again nothing is newunder the sun, right? Dumbledore comes from Tolkien, Hogwarts from the movie Labrynth (i think). Dementors are wraiths/Nazgul. The name sirius is from northern mythology, as one of Odin's favorite hounds. Remus and hermione also comes from mythology. Minerva goddess of wisdom. Etc. Etc.

I really still like HP though. I'd just have to take LOTR over it.

~Torpid

No your wrong Tropid... JK.Rowling got most of her ideas from Greek mythology and Dementor arn't based on Nazgul if you ask me. Nazgul fight Dementor take away all your hope Nazgul are just imposing and the reason they affect frodo so if that he has the ring. Dementor are a bit like Nazgul but they're nothing like them in a way yeah they both wear black but seriously woudl you like it if Dementor wore pink polka dot cloaks.

I don't really like either. I tried reading LoTR but It bored me beyond belief. I liked the first Harry potter book but after that I developed a deep rooted hatred of Harry and found him very annoying. And the books are very very long. The longer they are, the more it hurts when your little sister drops them on your toes.

I liked the hobbit though.

The nazgul dementor topic you've got a point. She borrows stuff from Mythology and a few from Tolkien though. I dont really hold that against her, i like to do the same thing for my stories sometimes but she still takes stuff.

Torpid wrote:The nazgul dementor topic you've got a point. She borrows stuff from Mythology and a few from Tolkien though. I dont really hold that against her, i like to do the same thing for my stories sometimes but she still takes stuff.

But what author can you come up with who doesn't do that at all? Everything we write is inspired by something else we've read or seen. Even Tolkien got his ideas from somewhere.

Yes, there is nothing new under the sun

at the moment ilike the harry potter books better

I tryed reading the hobbit, but it just got too boring for me i'm told it's good if you get into it.

The lord of the rings films were amazing and the pooter films are good too especialy the latest one.

the pooter films, hehe

The Hobbit.......Too BORING!?!? *jaw drops*

I just can't...compute! I don't know what to think or feel! The madness! The sheer, utter, bewildering, and not the least, confuddling madness! My dear boy, The Hobbit is a classic childrens tale, it's to children as the LotR is to older folk!

And Joeduckedtape, I surmise you are at Of the Ordering of the Shire? Or past it by now, no doubt. I might ask how you find it thus far? Give a rating, on a scale of 1 to 10, of how: boring, absorbing, and of course interesting it is.

My dad can't stand the Hobbit, but he loves the trilogy. I preferred The Hobbit to the trilogy very easily.

Really a matter of personal preference.

Oh, and I tried to read The Hobbit when I was in fourth grade, got halfway through, almost died of boredom, and didn't pick it up again until ninth grade, when I adored it.