Tolkien's Writings

[Handar]

We shouldn't forget about the adventures of Tom Bombadil or Farmer Giles of Ham.

Or Smith of Wootton Major. It's my favourite of his short stories, followed by Leaf by Niggle. Both have a great deal of sadness to them.

[moose]

I think its kinda unfair because The Childern of Hurin I think isnt as well knowen as others

[Aimsworth]

I'm not surprised at all by the Hobbit being in the lead (as of the time of this post). I've read the 3(6) LoTR books twice, but I've read the hobbit more times than I have fingers (no lie!). It's a more self contained novel that has a defined start/middle/end to it. You can sit down and read it in a night (or a few for you non-speed readers). The LoTR books unfortunately have a lot of cliff hangers throughout the whole process and jumps around between so many characters. While it's not a bad thing, you really have to be dedicated to get through them all.

[ragnarok]

Although the books tell stories from one and the same universe, each of them (I'm counting the LoTR trilogy as one book) has its own unique style, setting and even its own audience. The Hobbit is certainly easy to read. It is to say the door to Tolkien's universe, a story which attracts kids but one can read it again and again. The Silmarilion on the other hand is hard core stuff - you have to know what it is about before starting it.
Personally I voted for the Return of the King - I love the ending which has a deep meaning. But to be honest I do not believe that one book is better than the others - each of them has its charm.

[katebleakley08]

I haven't read all of his books. I've just read the LOTR trilogy. I think books are always better than the movies, though I think Peter Jackson did well in making the films. It was probably just hard to make a film knowing how good and detailed the book is.

[Napoleon]

I haven't read all of his books. I've just read the LOTR trilogy. I think books are always better than the movies, though I think Peter Jackson did well in making the films. It was probably just hard to make a film knowing how good and detailed the book is.

I like both the movies and books equally. I definitely agree with your fourth sentence; many, including myself, are worrying if Del Torro is going to "movie-ify" The Hobbit in a negative way or if he will follow the book. We shall see...

[Blego7]

Mine is ROTK. I just finished doing a huge research project on the entire LOTR trilogy and I found that Return of The King was the best.

[mpoh98]

I really liked the two towers. Although the hobbit and the return of the king are close behind it.

[richardanthonyc]

The sack of Gondolin and the Nírnaeth Arnoediad are two of the most tragic tales that made me fall in love with Tolkien. It is the Silmarillion for me

[jrbaker]

It's interesting to me that this thread has just revived, because I've recently been re-reading through all of my Tolkien books (a lot of them, including his philology essays). I've come to the conclusion that my favorite book is "Unfinished Tales" because it includes snippets of information about Numinore (especially in, The Mariner's Wife, and other background about Isildur losing the Ring, the Woses, and so on.

I'll also put in a good word for the non-Arda-related stories like Farmer Giles of Ham or Smith of Wooton Major. Thematically, they are very similar -- dealing with "Faerie" and "loss". If you are interested, there's a book called Tales From the Perilous Realm that contains most of the best.

Care to guess what my favorite LEGO theme is?