> Oh, you're one of *those* people, are you? Personally, I slogged through LotR once, and will probably never subject myself to that again. I do not pretend to have even a fraction of Tolkien's abilities in either world design, linguistics, Germanic myths, or even fiction writing, but the mans prose style puts me to sleep so quickly it's not even funny. I had to force my way through most of the series. It's not enough for Tolkien to say "they traveled from Bree to such-and-such a place in 12 days" he has to go on and give a description of the entire landscape and layout of the surrounding hills and valleys. Fellowship reads more like a travelogue than a novel.
>
> I'm always amazed at the people who say "I read it straight through! I couldn't put it down!" because I had exactly the opposite experience. I had to force myself to pick it up, and found it quite easy to put down--in fact, I did so involuntarily several times while reading in bed.

I agree with you. I liked the books well enough, but it was a bit much. Not to mention i was reading it in Junior High.

On the other hand, though, i have been reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series, and i love it. It is very often compated to Tolkien, but i really don't see the "ripping off" that he did, as the Wheel of Time books are a bit more readable for me. Although Robert Jordan has been leaning towards the long-winded and over-descriptive lately...

Catti"following tradition of going through ALL of the old posts"brie