There was a time when I reread The Trilogy (for, lo, there is only one true trilogy for me) every year, but I find it's better to wait a couple years between readings, because a couple of years of life experiences change it in subtle ways.
Tolkien has a very differently tuned "ear" for language that puts a fair number of readers off. It's consistent, it actually reads aloud very well (if you pronounce everything with the proper received British accent) and owes more to Chaucer and Beowulf than to Shakespeare and King James. It's not clumsy prose.
It's not clumsy prose.
I'd disagree (at least w/r/t the Hobbit) but, you know, different people like different things!
I like the LOTR books, but they do have an antiquated feel, and they aren't something I see myself just sitting down and reading again. I've listened to audiobook versions while commuting and I think they are more enjoyable in that format.
To me,
The Hobbit
and
LOTR
are very different levels/styles of writing.
I love the LotR and Hobbit prose in different ways. It can be a bit much, though.
Maybe Buffistas need this dating site.
Pshaw! (I'm still not sure how that's pronounced, btw.) If you want clumsy prose, go see H.P. Lovecraft and give him my regards....
Speaking of clumsy prose, I am reading Twilight for the student book club, and it is KILLING ME. Seriously, I have to read a chapter quick and then take a break because it is sooooo lame and boring and I hate the completely unrealistic people and first-person narration by boring teenage girls is like my least favorite thing ever.
I liked Tolkien well enough the first time I read The Hobbit and LotR, but after I took a college course on medieval Brit lit, I loved him.
I like the movies, but the books are very boring to me. I think it is actually the detailed world building which people like that makes me dislike them.
flea, you might like the Read it and Weep review of Twilight in a cathartic sort of way.
[link]
I haven't read Twilight, so I can't really say much about it, but snark is always good. I even like snarky reviews of stuff I like.
