How many times have you read Lord of the Rings?

[Davidjb]

A friend only recently read the Lord of the Rings; he read it after seeing the films. Once he gets to the end of the novel he starts over again and this is the fourth time of reading (continuously). That has to be a record. Can anyone beat it?

I've probably read it three times, but over a much longer period so not sure that counts. I am amazed at how fresh the books feel even reading them a 2nd, 3rd time.

I heard that Christopher Lee reads them once a year? Not sure as to the truth of that rumour.

[The Wizard Gethwin]

20+ times

Not consecutive though.

I did read all 20 books of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series 3 times in a row though. There was so much there, I kept picking up new stuff with each reading.

[Frank]

I've read the complete saga three times over a lifetime, never twice consecutively. I've reread Fellowship more often because it was my favorite of the three. Once, for fun, I read The Hobbit, LotR, The Silmarillion and The Book of Lost Tales in that order. At the time I believe that was about all that was available on Middle Earth. If you tried to do that now it would take you a decade, what with Christopher dredging up 400 pages worth of new notes from his father's old desk (bottomless drawers?) every year.

[che2000]

I think I first read Lord of the Rings when I was about 14 (which is more than thirty years ago) and loved it. Then I read it again in my mid-twenties and was somewhat less impressed, although by that stage I had discovered writers like Michael Moorcock, JG Ballard and others of the New Wave and had started to think of speculative fiction/science fiction/ fantasy in a different way.

Now that I'm in me forties, perhaps it's time to return to Middle Earth and see what I think now.

[Jennifer P]

I can't count that high, but will note that at the age I read it for the first time, most kids were still struggling with, say, Charlotte's Web.

[Dave]

6 or 7, although I recently started in on it again. Just finished the first volume. I tried to get my son into it, he's 12, and he made it throughthe first 2 but faded out about 100 pages into Return of the King.

[Firlefanz]

Three or four times, I didn't count it. I freely admit that on some times, I skipped Frodo and Sam's journey through Mordor ...

[Jaqhama]

I read it as one complete novel, when it came out in a giant paperback in the mid 70's. That was too much effort. I was about 13 or 14 at the time.
Read it a couple of times since then, as 3 seperate volumes. Often reading a completly difeent book in-between to change the subject material.
Never read it word for word yet.
I actually find a lot of it quite boring, although some of the descriptive writing is brilliant.
I was spoilt beforehand by ERB, Michael Moorcock, REH, John Norman, Lin Carter and Philip Jose Farmer.
As an example; LOTR kind of pales in comparisom to Moorcock's Runestaff quartet.

[The Griot]

I must admit it. I have never read Lord of the Rings. I've read the Hobbit (recently) but not LOTR. I"m kind of like Jaqhama. I've read the titles he lists. I do own the book, though. That's a start.

[Davidjb]

I love the feeling of the unknown that Tolkien manages to create. I think we are too knowledgeable now and in a way I miss that feeling of the unknown that you used to have as a child, when friends could scare you with tales of ghosts, dragons and bogarts. That's what I like about book 1 and especially the half references to a far greater history than just the current tale, such as Balrogs and Beren and Luthien. Great story. Shame you can't wipe it from memory and start again.

Somoene must be bale to beat reading it 20 times though!