Challenge for LOTR fans

[Amy Z]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Michelle Apostolides" 
<michelleapostolides at l...> wrote:
> OK, here's one that will make you think.
> 
> I could not relate to The Hobbit. Can you please "sell" LOTR in 
such a
> way as to make me want to read it ?

It isn't at all like The Hobbit, which was written for children and 
has a very different tone.  So my first piece of advice would be to 
come to it as if you knew nothing about the author.

OK, why else should a person read LOTR?  

It has amazing creations like Ents and the Ring and Gollum (who is, 
IMO, is the most interesting thing in the Hobbit).  I can't quite put 
this aspect into words, but it parallels some of my favorite things 
about HP: the abundant creativity expressed in things like Dementors, 
moving paintings, Canary Creams, owl post . . .

It creates an entire world, with mythologies, languages, calendars, 
cosmologies, etc. all worked out.  If you love the world-creation 
aspect of fantasy, LOTR offers an inexhaustible resource thanks to 
the publication of many of JRRT's notebooks, early drafts, and other 
sources of background information.

It includes lots of poetry.  (Never my favorite bits, even though I 
love poetry, but for some people they're irresistible.)

It has very subtle and complex characterization.

The writing is terrific--I'm thinking sentence-level here:  the 
descriptions, the dialogue, etc.

The moral questions explored are deep and important, and they are 
treated with the complexity and depth they deserve.

There are great battle scenes.  Not my cup of tea, but perhaps it's 
yours.  They're very well-written.

That's a start.

Warning:  it starts off kinda slowly--as do the hobbits themselves 
(they really take their sweet time while the world is on the verge of 
ending, but there are reasons for that).

Amy Z