Harpers and Queen: Philip Pullman on Tolkien and Winterson on JKR

[dumbledore11214]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, kemper mentor 
<kempermentor at y...> wrote:


snip.
  
> As far as Tolkien, he really could have used a red pen for LotR.  
Did he have no editor at all?  The Hobbit, or there and back again, 
was an excellent read.  Don't get me wrong, LotR is an excellent 
story, but it is a below-average read.


Alla:

Could you please clarify, what do you mean by " excellent story, but 
below-average read"? Did you mean that it was to long or just poorly 
edited? 

When I first read LOTR in russian translation, I could not finish 
it, so boring I found it as a story. Few years later I read the 
original and I was absolutely drawn to the music of the language in 
it. I am not sure I agree with you, if you meant that it was not 
edited well.