Top 20 Books, #18
OK, so this is a no-brainer. I don't know anyone...well maybe I do, but I can't think of anyone at the moment who has not read Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is a seminal part of anyone's reading experience and, if you haven't read the three (throw in four, if you count The Hobbit) volumes of this essential part of the canon, then you must go out and do so immediately. Don't rent the movies. Not that they're bad. I saw the first one, but not the second two. Read the books. They're one of the few sets I can say I've read multiple times, at least thrice. I must have read them at least twice in high school and then again in college.
I can't say anything about them that hasn't been said already. Sure, The Two Towers drags a bit, but it is nonetheless essential. Personally, I think that any list without at least one of these books on it is deeply flawed. I've grouped them together as one for the purposes of....well, because it's my list, and I can do what I want.
2 comments:
Okay Bill...I have to comment on the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and I'm certain there will be huge groans of disagreement with my opinion, but I HATED these books. Yep, definitely HATED. I got through the first one, found it moderately interesting, went on to the second thinking it would pick up (it didn't) and read half of the third one before throwing it out of the window of a moving train somewhere in the middle of Europe. My only regret is that I littered.
And the movies, which I also tried to get through, (and I really did try...saw all three despite my doubts but I didn't want to give up) nearly inspired me to poke white-hot needles in my eyes. I think that may have been entertaining that watching seemingly endless computer-generated battle scenes. YAWN!
Okay, I'm sorry, a little harsh, but my list of favorite books definitely doesn't include this trilogy and although my list may be deeply flawed for other reasons, it's not because of this omision.
I liked "The Hobbit" though...
Please excuse my typos...my frenzied commenting made me ignore proofreading!
Post a Comment