I was forced to read the Fellowship of the Ring in eighth grade, and I hated every goddamn word of it. I knew there was something in there I probably liked, but the pressure, time constraints, and looming chapter quizzes sucked any enjoyment there was to be had from that book.
Years later the movies came out, and as we all know they were incredible. I will never forget seeing the battle of Minas Tirith on the big screen, but I’ve also made so many wonderful memories over the years watching and rewatching those films with friends.
I developed a love for reading once school ended (go figure), but the lingering hatred for the Lord of the Rings books was too strong for me to jump back in to them. Then a few months ago I saw the trilogy on a bookshelf at my parent’s house, and figured they wouldn’t mind if I borrowed them.
I’m about 150 pages in, and man… it is so enjoyable to read these books today, after all these years. I still wish I could have enjoyed them as a young man, but I am soaking in the experience of truly reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time.
Some observations on the book as opposed to the movies:
- The pace is so much different. The first movie starts with a frantic pace, which I loved. The adventure shoots out the gate the day Frodo chances on the ring, every sequence in the film has clear and high stakes, and every scene bleeds into the next. The book is nothing like that. Tolkien sets the lore, the slow pace gives the story depth, and you feel immersed in the world he creates. It’s been quite a surprise for me to approach the stories this way, and I really enjoy it so far.
- The Hobbits are much more mature, fully realized characters than they are in the movie. Don’t get me wrong, I thought they were portrayed incredibly well by Elijah Wood and the likes, but in the films the Hobbits are a bit more whimsical and kinda tailor made for movies. Frodo is the lead, Pippin and Merry are the comic relief, and Sam is the glue that holds it together. But in the books, Merry and Pippin are far smarter and less bumbling than they are in the movies. Sam is still a loyal companion, but he has fears and flaws. All four just seem smarter, more capable, and fully realized than they are in the movie.
- Extra characters. I love the bickering of the Hobbits in the Shire, it makes it feel like an old folk’s home, but moreover they just have the sort of traits that make characters whole. The Black Riders are far more shadowy and creeping in the books, especially in Frodo’s dreams. They meet Gildor and the elves long before they even arrive in Rivendell - I loved that scene! And Fatty Bolger, Tom Bombadil… what great characters. There’s so much more to enjoy in the book already.
I’ll share more of my impressions after I finish all three if this post is interesting to people. But the main takeaway for me so far is… man, reading is so much more enjoyable when there’s no one breathing down your neck. I’m so fortunate I get to read these books, and I wish I had earlier.
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The 8th grade is when I first read The Hobbit and LotR.
I tore through the books. Only put them down when I had to — like in class. My oldest brother (6 years older than I was) got the box set. When he finished one book, then I read it. Except when I finished The Two Towers, he had taken The Return of the King on a weekend camping trip. So my middle brother took me to the store and I bought my own copy of RotK and had it read before my oldest brother returned from his camping trip. So, ironically, I started the books after he did and finished the set before he did.
I’ve read them many times since then. Both before and after the movies came out. My favorite way to read them is with The Atlas of Middle-earth beside me because it is the most incredible reading experience to have those maps open while reading what happens at those sites. It gives a whole new dimension to the books.
Years later the movies came out, and as we all know they were incredible
Not to me they weren’t. There were parts that were good, but when I think of LotR, the movies don’t even cross my mind. It’s the books. When I read the books, I visualize nothing from the movies.
As I said, I read the books many times. Last time I saw the movies was when The Return of the King was in the theaters. And I’ll go the rest of my life without ever seeing the movies again. (Unless someone kidnaps me, ties me to a chair and tapes my eyelids open.)
I fucking struggled to get through the Tom Bombadil detour. They made the right call cutting that from the movie.
reading is so much more enjoyable when there’s no one breathing down your neck
So very true. My high school English teacher destroyed Charles Dickens for me. There’s nothing in the world that would make me want to ever read “Great Expectations” again.
The LOR trilogy is top notch - glad you are enjoying it.
Same here with Dickens.
Dickens is a mixed bag for me. Even when it was required reading, I rather enjoyed Tale of Two Cities and will circle back and reread it every so often. I can’t bring myself to even think about reading Great Expectations again after some 8th grade english department thought it should be fucking summer reading.
That’s the problem though is that you have to twist their arms hard to read it. If you don’t, absolutely none of them will read it
Is reading in this way truly providing them any benefit though?
Yeah I don’t know, I feel like kids aren’t given enough time in school to read anymore. My niece has an assigned hour of reading of anything she wants every week, and it’s pretty easy for her because she likes reading, but I think about all the kids who don’t have books at home or don’t have parents who will bring them to the library or who don’t like it because it doesn’t come easy to them or who have a lot of extracurriculars… when I was in middle school, which wasn’t very long ago, we had an hour of quiet reading built into our schedule every week and everybody loved it. Like idk if schools care about reading scores dropping, maybe they should give kids space to read.
High school with assigned books is a little harder, but we still had time in class to read. Although then my enjoyment heavily depended on which English teacher I had… I remember hating all the books I read the semester my English teacher was terrible (told us what to think without giving us any room for discussion, played favorites with a couple of the boys and punished girls for everything, etc)
For sure. Time is always at a premium, though there have been initiatives like DEAR to get students straight up reading in class. I’ve also seen an interesting case study where an elementary teacher trained the kids to have a book on hand at all times and to read at the slightest lull, like waiting in line for the bathroom.
One of the biggest issues is enforcement. It’s hard to verify that a kid is silently reading
If you don’t, absolutely none of them will read it
Great Expectations?
Or any assigned reading?
Because I can tell you that out of all the assigned reading in high school, the only one that I had to be “forced” to read was The Scarlet Letter. I did not like that book. Everything else may have been assigned reading, but I enjoyed reading them.
As a teacher myself (though I don’t teach literature), I wonder what teachers can do to mitigate this problem. Just allow students to read whatever they want, at any pace they want? That would help the motivation issue, but would likely create other problems, like students reading books far below their reading level and teachers unable to guide students’ analyses of every book. Of course, even if teachers wanted to do this, they’re probably prohibited by curricula that demand students read specific texts. It’s a bit unfair to solely blame the teachers for teaching a particular book that they probably would rather not have taught in the first place.
On general principles it is often a good idea after ten years or so to go back and read some of the things you were forced against your will to read while at school. Shakespeare or Dickens or Austen or whoever may remain just the same as they were but you do not. And those changes in you can make all the difference.
I agree - some curriculums & teachers can make the reading experience really unpleasant. I had a lingering hatred of Joseph Conrad after we had to read Heart of Darkness in high school, but a few years ago I picked up several of his novels and I LOVE them & am sorry I didn’t try him again sooner. I hope more people give authors second chances after high school.
Heart of Darkness did it for me as well. Never had the desire to pick it up again.
I actually just bought my first fiction book and it’s the Fellowship of the Ring! Wish me luck, OP, in reading this!
I think those movies are some of the best examples of how a great adaptation is not necessarily one that copies every scene word for word. Books and movies can do different things well, especially in terms of pacing, and it’s one of the few series where I love the books and movies equally.
I rarely reread anything, but you’ve inspired me to do so with The Trilogy (right after my holiday tradition of viewing the director’s cut of all three films :).
Tom Bombadil got the ring from frodo put it on and resisted its powers completely. Biggest badass in the whole series
Nice to finally meet another Tom-enjoyer!
Glad you’re enjoying them! And yeah, the hobbits are much more fully characterised and mature.
The first half of Fellowship is a joy. The Shire is such a lovely, lived-in place full of characters and the descriptions of it are beautiful. It’s all so key to the rest of the story as you need to feel what the Hobbits have left behind at every stage of their adventure. The depth and detail of that part of the book does it so much more effectively than a movie scene ever could.
I am envious of the experience of reading these books for the first time, but super excited for you. Great observations, particularly about the pacing. In Tolkien’s prose nearly every detail is evocative of a world and a story that is far bigger and more mysterious than you’ll ever really grasp (even if you read all the lore), and it’s such a joy. Happy reading!
I’m currently reading the second book, the Two Towers. I agree!
If you want to really push your enjoyment of the book, get a map of Middle Earth. Get some colored pushpins and start tracking the journeys of the characters.
It really helps you visualize the world better when you suddenly realize how close those barrows really are to the Shire. How far off course the crossing of the misty mountains makes the fellowship. How the layout of the land allows the Rohirim to safeguard the Shire and much of the human lands from orcs coming out of Mordor.
Both the hobbit and the lord of the Rings are novels about characters traveling across middle Earth and running into trouble. Tracking their travel is a really fun way to figure out how it all fits together.
I’m also currently reading LOTR for the first time after believing I would hate it my whole life—at some point when I was a kid I had heard that they were absurdly difficult and dull, and I kinda soaked that in. I’m so glad I decided to read them now.
I’m most of the way through The Fellowship and already looking forward to rereading…I don’t want to reread books very often. They are so immersive.
Have you read The Hobbit?
But I feel the same way you do with several of the classics. There were so many books I was forced to read in middle and high school that I probably would have gotten so much more out of (in terms of enjoyment, and also in terms of understanding/processing them) if I had been allowed to just read them. Having to read (actually: skim) 250 pages per night on top of other homework and answer questions about random, tiny (usually completely irrelevant) details to “prove” I had done so completely ruined the experience of reading them and, yeah, reduced my enjoyment of reading as a whole for awhile.