How many times have you read LOTR?

[kcbob]

Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not intending to sound like I'm bragging. As a matter of fact, I'm sure there are people out there who have read the trilogy more times than I. I'm just curious to see how many times the average person has read it.

Me, I'm currently on my ninth reading. And I will have to say that each time I read it, it takes a little longer than the previous time to get through it. But each time is still just as entertaining as the first. Well, maybe just as entertaining as the second or third. Nothing will ever be as good as the first time.

[Finduilas]

I've worn out one copy and am well on my way to needing a 3rd copy. I've forgotten how many times I read the LOTR, but I average at least once a year. I always find some new detail in it every time I read this tale. The LOTR is an old friend for me now.

I agree that nothing is like reading a book for the first time, and I wish I could recapture that feeling.

[andustar]

um ive lost count... at the beginning i just used to read some of the chapters by themselves, or several of them in a row but not the wholw thing from cover to cover. so its a bit difficult to say how many times.. i really have no idea
andustar

[IronParrot]

Four times from beginning to end, not necessarily including appendices. Many more simply reading selections out of it.

[anduin]

5 times, and a couple of months away from starting #6.

And BTW, welcome to Entmoot! :)

[bmilder]

Actually, it's been over a year, maybe two, since I've last read LotR <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/embarassed.gif ALT=":o"> . I've probably read it in its entirety at least 4, maybe 5 times.

[Eruve]

I first read it 21 years ago. I used to try to read it every year, but I find I don't have the time now... I haven't read it in about 2 years, so maybe I'll start this fall. I don't know how many times I've read it, something approaching 10 I would guess.

[emilsson]

I think it is 2.5 years since the last time I read LOTR. If I recall correctly, I´ve read it five times.

[kcbob]

Once someone gets a taste of LOTR, they're hooked. It sounds like the average person posting here has read it about 5 to 10 times with some even more than that. I wonder how many other books (the Bible excluded) can claim that kind of following?

And thanks for the welcome, Anduin. This is a wonderful board.

[anduin]

While we're at it, is there a particular time of year that everyone reads LOTR? I usually read it in the spring, but this year I have been a little busy, so I am going to read it starting in July. I have heard of others that begin during the Fall since that is when Frodo and Company began their journey, so it seems appropriate.

[Fat middle]

wow, it seems i have the lowest record: only three times from the begining to the end. i´m ashamed <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/ohwell.gif ALT=":\">

but i read it very attentively :p

[Eruve]

I like to read it in the fall (when the story starts out) or in the winter (the season I first read it in). It's neat to read in late winter and early spring, since this is when the majority of the events occur.

[emilsson]

I think I have read LOTR during all seasons. I seem to not care about what time of year it is :) . Though I´ve read it at least two times in winter.

[andustar]

i just read it when i have time.... but i'm usualy rereading UT and the silma recently, i don't know why, probably because they have more in them that i haven't found yet

[juntel]

Once.
In 1984.
Although I read the Sil maybe 3 times.

[Lord Kaos]

...although i think i´ve read LoTR 7 times, the sil 5, the hobbit 6, sir giles of ham about 12 times, and leaf by niggle about 35 times.I´ve read the history of middle earth (the 12 volumes) 2 times(ei, dont you look at me like that, im portuguese, and though i understand english weel, im not used to that "Lo!" and "Alas!" kind of thing.)
hell, i even read the complete guide straigth through!!


Lord Kaos -- Voracious reader of everything Tolkien related

[Elanor]

4 or 5 times, I think--the Hobbit included. I read the Sil for the first time a few months ago, and I've read parts of Unfinished Tales and Lost Tales.

[Anteater]

I working on my second 'go-round' with LOTR now. I recently read The Silmarillion for the first time, and I have it scheduled for re-reading as soon as I finish The Hobbit again!!! The Hobbit will have to wait for at least a month until I get through with The Return of The King, which is also a ways off as I'm only about 120 pages into Fellowship!!! DOH!!!

It is a labour of love for sure...


Later!!!

[Darth Tater]

I've only read it twice through :( , but I've read bits and peices a number of times

[bmilder]

I'm currently re-reading LotR. I started this afternoon and I'm already about halfway through Fellowship.

[IronParrot]

I must read The Hobbit again... I only read it once, and that was when I was only nine...

[BilboFrodo]

First of all the LOrd of the Rings is not a trilogy it is a novel that Tolkien wanted to divide into six books which the publishers divided into three
Well I have read it eleven times in 95 and my pages are falling out, I know try to read it twice a year and I am always finding information I have missed the time before

[RKittle]

My original copy which I read and re-read up until I graduated high school, has the inscription "Read 12 times" written on the inside the front cover (I guess I was pretty proud of the fact :) ). Since then, I have read the books an average of once a year. That adds up to, ummm, 28 times. Geesh, I gotta be nuts! :D

[Guardian 452]

I've lost count :) I'm re-reading it at the moment though, I started yesterday and am up to 'Many Meetings'. I've read LOTR so many times I've partially memoriesed it :D

I love Lord of the Rings...

[Khazad Yehudi]

Twenty at least, including all the appendices (although I am a Dwarf, no Hobbit could enjoy the family trees more than I!) I ran two paperback editions into the ground and now have a Harper-Collins hardback with Alan Lee's fascinating though rather pallid illustrations — and that has just finished its sixth round.

[Puc conDoin]

I've read it one time. Beginning with the Hobbit, and ending with the Silmarillion. That was in the end of 1998 and the beginning of 1999. After that I started to buy the whole series of Raymond E. Feist. I'm almost finished with that.

For my birthday, june 9, I get the LOTR omnibus, or something like that. Then I go read it for the 2nd time, and when the movie is almostly coming out in Holland, I will read it for the 3d time...

[arynetrek]

i've read LotR cover-to-cover twice, FotR on its own once more, & Hobbit countless times. but certain favorite chapters get read individually (the moria & lorien scenes particularly) much more often. and if i can ever find my copy, i'll start Sil.

[Niffiwan]

Hobbit: Comic book version: MANY times when I was little, still read it to bring back old memories now sometimes
real book version: 3
LotR: 1, reading it again now
Sil: 1
Unfinished Tales: In the proccess

[arynetrek]

update:
i'm now rereading LotR, this is #3 for me. i started yesterday but i'm only up to tom bombadil - i've been up literally all night (mostly writing way-too-long posts to this board) & do ocasionally need sleep.

i'm going to egypt in 3 1/2 weeks, not that i'm counting, & think Sil would be great material for those 10-hour plane rides.

right now my mom & i are rereading LotR at the same time, & i'm trying to get my 16-year-old sister to start. this is pretty good for a 4-member family! :D

aryne *

[Bullroarer]

I read it once every season, and I tally each chapter to keep my place (I don't like bookmarks). But my dad had the books before me, so I get the tallys mixed up. So far, we have read the LOTR 37 times. I've had it for 4 years, so I probably read it 16 times.

37-16= My dad read it 21 times.

WWWWAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY too much much time on his hands

[PTimmins]

I must be a real strange one...

I lost count at 30 readings, and have read it a couple more times since (that includes the Hobbit, LOTR, and SIL). Am about to start again.

I have found new "stuff" every time, and have enjoyed it every time. <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/embarassed.gif ALT=":o"> )

[Quickbeam]

I haven't kept track, but I would estimate 10-12 times. The first time was in 1978. Plus, as others have noted, significant browsing through the appendixes.

[galpsi]

Kittle shouldn't feel bad at all; like PTimmins, I've read LotR more than thirty times. Only read Silma once though, and haven't read LotR in about ten years.

[mhomer4]

I've read it 11 times and a 12th right now. I'd had the books for a year before I even began, though. I've read The Hobbit twice, and half of The Silmarillion. It normally takes me 1-2 weeks to read all three from beggining to end.
The first time I hated it. I got 200 pages into Fellowship and gave up. I came back later and forced myself to read the rest of them. It took 3 months. It gets better each time I read it.

[Spock1]

More times than I'd like to admit and yet not as many as I'd have liked to!

[mhomer4]

I like more than half of it half as much as I should like; and less than half of it half as well as it deserves. Exactly right.

[Fat middle]

now i have read it four times, but i still feel ashamed on this thread :)

[Taimar]

My father read the Hobbit to me when I was 7, and after that I devoured any Tolkien material I could find. (I`ve even got a book by Ruth Noel, that`s how keen I was).
I re-read LOTR once every year until I was about 12, and somewhat less frequently from that age on. The last time was 3 years ago, when I read the whole book to my daughter, who was six at the time. So altogether, I would say I`ve read the book about 15 or 16 times.

I`ve read the Silmarillion numerous times as I prefer it to LOTR. I guess I am just a romantic fool. My interest in Tolkien has been rekindled since joining this forum and the Barrowdowns, so I have read the Sil. again and have just started LOTR. Thanks for bringing me back to the faith.

[noldo]

I've read it only twice. <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/intl/aenglish/images/emoticons/embarassed.gif ALT=":o">

[Arathorn II]

I have read LoTR 9 times in the right order and are finished with TFR for the 10th time now. But I usally don't read the books in the rigt order anymore, I just read them as I look for somthing I am trying to find out more about.

[Mresone]

Haven't a clue....

But, I picked up the Hobbit when I was 10, after watching the cartoon movie. That was 20 years ago. I don't think I read LOTR until I was 12 or so... Have not read it in about a year, but I have read the Hobbit, LOTR, the Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales at least once a year since I found them, and I never get tired of them.

[Shanamir Duntak]

I just read it twice AND AN HALF! This spring, I got the the library, borrow the book (hardcover 3in1 + annexes), read until beginning of the second book of the two towers, then, they call me and tell me someone else put a reservation on the book!!! :( I had to bring it back, unfinished. Darn. But I'll buy the book now and have my own version then i'll read it when I want!!!
:D

[Wizard of the Secret Fire]

I have lost count, but I began when I was 10 (maybe) and I have read at least one time every year. I am 18 now and I believe that I have read it between 10 and 15 times. First I read it in Swedish, but the translation is terrible so I only read it in English now. I read the Silmarillion more often now, I hope to buy it in English soon (not the same translator as LotR, but still better in English). I like the Hobbit too, I found the nice deluxe Edition with illustrations from Lee and it is really nice to read. :) Reading some parts of HoMe this summer...

[galadriel2]

I only read the Hobbit once(so far, I'm currently reading it again) and that was when I was nine. How odd.

[etherealunicorn]

Jeez, I can't believe that I have somehow missed this thread. I sure thought that I had responded to this one. Since apparently I have not, I will now do so. I think that it was 20 years ago now that I first read LotR. After I flogged my way through the first reading, I was hooked. For the first 5 years, I probably read them a couple of times a year and after that I make a habit of reading at least once a year, not counting going back to enjoy my favorite scenes exclusively. So, probably 25 or 30 times and I am currently involved in my latest reading (TT, to be exact)
I love it. Middle-Earth is not simply a great idea, it is an experience unto itself. Every reading unfolds another layer of the experience and I always find some new insight that I never considered before. I wonder if even Tolkien truly realized the wonder that he has wrought.

[Shanamir Duntak]

Just a question for you all... How many times Michael Martinez has read LOTR??? He seems to know EVERYTHING about Middle-Earth!

[Rambunctious Ugnaught]

4, and 4 for the Silmarillion as well.

[Grand Admiral Reese]

Once. But considering I just bought the books at the beginning of June, and didn't begin to read them until two weeks ago, that isn't a bad thing. I'll definatly re-read them several times.

[Shanamir Duntak]

Ah... a new fan!

[Mithadan]

Lets just say that I recall reading JRRT's obituary and I've read The Hobbit/LoTR at least twice a year on average (not including the Silmarillion and the HoME series, I bought The Silm. on the first day it was out, ditto Unfinished Tales).

[cee2lee2]

About half a dozen times. But I never made it all the way through the Sil. It's been about 5 years since I last read LOTR so it's time to start again. I want to make sure I read it (and the Hobbit and the Sil all the way through this time) before the movie comes out next year.

[Gilthalion]

I'm afraid I've lost track, but I read it about every two years, along with THE HOBBIT and THE SILMARILLION. That means at least 12 times. I'm in the middle of #13, aloud to my wife.

[Legolas]

Just once.

I have not read the Silmarrilion. Yet.


Legolas

[Grand Admiral Reese]

I haven't read The Silmarillion yet, either. But I do have it. I'm just working my way through other books right now.

[Dfsg]

I just finnished LOTR for my first time reading it! I am just starting on the Simarillion!

[dunedain lady]

I've read it all the way through twice, but it probably adds up to more like 10 times if you count all the bits and pieces I've read over and over because I like them so much. I spend an entire semester in "tech-ed" class camped out on one of the chairs in the library re-reading The Hobbit over and over again. I re-read Return of the King recently on plane trips to and from Peru, adn I've realized that I desperately need new copies! They belonged to my father, and, in the words of the lady sitting in the plane seat next to me "have been through Hell and back." Or maybe Mordor. I've read the first chapter of Sil about 3 times, then forget to read more. I've got to finish it sometime.

[Arathorn II]

When I am finished reading The Silmarillion I always start rereading, and then after 2-3 chapters I take a long pause, 6-7 months before I continue, so I newer remember the beginning..

[anduin]

Awesome user icon Arathorn!! :)

[Shanamir Duntak]

Indeed! Where have you got that?

[Arathorn II]

http://www.geocities.com/the_world_of_tolkien/gondor2.gif

[Shanamir Duntak]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!
Library called me to say LOTR was in again! I'm going to get in tomorrow! I know what I'll do next week =)

[arynetrek]

may i suggest buying a copy?

aryne *

[Shanamir Duntak]

May I suggest you hand me the necessary ca$h?
Being a student gives a bank account of -6000$ :p

[Eruve]

If I were you, Shan, I'd buy them in English. They're cheaper that way. That way you get to read the original at the same time.

[Shanamir Duntak]

I'm seriously envisaging to buy them now... I didn't get them fast enough...:(

[Morkhon]

5 times, I think. For some reason the #6 keeps popping into my head, but I know that is wrong. I've only read the Appendixes twice, first read and last read. I've read the Hobbit a few more times that LotR, I've lost exact count. The Silmarillion has gone into my brain 3 times, but I only remember the stuff from the latest 2. It's been about 1.5-2 years since I've read LotR and I plan to reread it right before Fellowship comes out next year, so that there are fresh in my mind and I can tear apart the inconsistences in the movie. Not really :)