Oh, they made a book out of it?
 

I was looking at the books at the store and came across some special edition versions of the lord of the rings. On the back it said that it was one of the best book of our time (that's probably not what it said, but it's close). That made me mad. I read the books three years ago before the movies were even anounced and thought that they were the best books, but now that the movies were made, everyone that knows who Frodo is thinks he's a LotR fan. Before the movies came out, there wasn't as wide of a fanbase as there is now. But now if you ask someone claiming to be a LotR fan if they've read the book, they'll probably be surprised and ask how recently they came out. So, basicly what I'm saying is that more attention should be paid to the books and people shouldn't consider the LotR the greatest booksof our time just because a movie based on them came out. They should be considered the best books of our time because they are great books and were written by a great author. And as a last note, the books were made 50 years ago. It's obviously had a lot of time to be the greatest book of our time.

I think the movies have encouraged people to read the books. I know a lot of people who hadn't read the books before seeing the movies and now they're huge Tolkien fans. So instead of looking at it as "there's too many people who are fans of the movies and not the books" rather see it as "there's a lot of people who are fans of the books because of the movies." I'm glad the movies came out to bring more attention to the books, but I think you have to make a separation between the two art forms and and realize they are both good in their own right.

Even though hearing some of the airheads around my school gush over the "Aragorn-Arwen Romance" makes me cringe....

And Orlando Bloom. Can't forget him.

Oh yeah, well... well... We read the books before they were cool.

At least people are reading.

I remember
 

Ahh to be so young, I picked up my first LotR book in grade 3 though "Hey this sounds cool" Read a little over 100 pages of it I think, and had to return it to the library, I was hooked from that day forth though.

That experience was my whole reason for seeing the movies. My question is how much hype does it take to get the rest of this general anti-fantasy world to fall in love with the movies?

my fuggin gawd! I hate them all, friggin sheep.

What really makes me cringe about that "romance" is the un-educated fops who complain after they read the books, post-movie watching. Only to complain that it's 'barely' mentioned... That's because it wasn't key to the character development and plot relevant to the telling of the tale of the ring. If you want to read about romances and the like grab the supplementary books, they're only about 150pages each anyway. And you movie goers will enjoy them far more, they fit your limited attention spans.

i was addicted to LotR when my grade six teacher let us read the hobbit in english class. It remains the only novel i have read in school that i enjoyed.

BTW, im in 3rd year of college now, that was nine years ago.

I thought the movies were great, but I have yet to read the books I am shamed to admit. My boxed set that I've had for at least six years sits collecting dust on my shelf. I just could never get into them, even after seeing the movies. I always get bogged down by what I feel is Tolkien's obsession with having to give every little detail. I do plan to read them someday. Now I'm off to read the Belgariad for the umpteenth time.

Papa Tolkien fan since 1992. *sigh* we even had the illistrated hobbit (you know, the huge freakin square book?) and we had the LotR series on our turn table. I can still hear the narrator: Frodo and Samwise... ah good times

yeah a lot of people cant get through the council of elrond - ten minutes of movie expands to 200 pages....