c97be824   
   XPost: rec.arts.books.tolkien   
   From: solar.penguin@gmail.com   
      
   Wayne Brown wrote:   
   > In alt.fan.tolkien solar penguin  wrote:   
   > >   
   > > You know, that reminds me.  I  must have another go at trying to force   
   > > myself to read The Silmarillion again.  It's been about 12 years since   
   > > I last tried.   
   >   
   > I first read it a few days after it hit the bookstores in 1977, and have   
   > re-read it a number of times over the years.  My old hardback copy is   
   > looking pretty worn.   
   >   
   > >   
   > > Yeah, I know everyone says it gets better after the first few   
   > > chapters, but how many is "the first few"?  I think I got to chapter   
   > > twenty-something last time, and it was still no better than the early   
   > > ones.  (IIRC it was the bit where Turin or Hurin or someone gets   
   > > released from Morgoth's dungeon after being tortured by being forced   
   > > to watch his son or nephew or someone live out the lead role in a   
   > > third-rate pastiche of a Michael Moorcock novella.)   
   >   
   > Wow, this really show how different tastes can be.  The first chapters   
   > (Ainulindalￜ in particular) are my favorite parts!   
   >   
   > >   
   > > The problem was, it was all in the tediously overblown, epic style   
   > > that makes so much books 3 and 5 of LOTR so dull that you always skip   
   > > them on re-reading to get back to all the wonderful homespun   
   > > philosophy between the Hobbits.  I guess my question is, how many more   
   > > chapters before The Silm's equivalent of Sam and Frodo appear?   
   >   
   > That "epic style" is one of the things that is so appealing to me.   
   > It's the "wonderful homespun philosophy between the Hobbits" that I find   
   > less interesting.  I like reading about Elves and Valar much more than   
   > about Hobbits, though it's Dwarves and Men (especially Men) that I find   
   > least interesting of all.  I always get a bit tired of slogging through   
   > all the stuff about Turin.   
   >   
   > --   
      
   I guess I like stories about the protagonists working out for   
   themselves how the world around them fits together and how they fit   
   into it.  (e.g. Frodo and Sam's conversation at the stairs of Cirith   
   Ungol is my favourite bit of all LotR.)   
      
   I _hate_ elves, because they've either worked all that stuff out long   
   before the story starts, or else they're just totally incapable of   
   learning it in the first place.  There's no middle ground, no room for   
   development.  (Ok, there are a few exceptions like Legolas and his   
   growing friendship with Gimli, but they're definitely the exceptions,   
   not the rule.)   
      
   Actually, that's my other problem with Silm.  Mogroth wants to improve   
   the story by killing off all the pompous, pointy-eared pratts, and   
   we're supposed to have a problem with that for some reason...?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)