LOTR ( was Who really killed DD - The real story)

[zgirnius]

> Neri:
> I suspect LotR is one of those books you need to read at the right 
> age. I discovered it at 14, which was just perfect. I count myself a 
> *huge* LotR fan but the truth is I haven't reread it for at least ten 
> years now. Also, LotR indeed has a very slow beginning, and I 
> remember myself skipping lines and paragraphs for 100 or 200 pages 
> before I really got hooked.

zgirnius:
I think, really, that it is more a matter of people's tastes. I 
discovered LotR at 7, and, though I liked the Fellowship, it was a bit 
too much effort to read. But I loved the beginning, because I had just 
read "The Hobbit", and it was great to see what Bilbo had done with 
himself after his big adventure. I still do, actually. The birthday 
party, the story of Sam the Spy, and the trip to Bree are all great 
(though I could live without the Old Forest). The following year, 
though, I finished the trilogy and have probably read it about 30 times 
since (I'm in my late 30s, so this works out to once a year, about). 

But I know people who did not enjoy having it read to them (a more 
typical way for a kid of single-digit age to experience Tolkien). And 
people who tried it in high school and didn't like it. And even someone 
who had never read it as a child, but loved the movies when they came 
out and read the books, and loved them even more, as an adult.