GbajiTheDeceiver
Mongoose
The Silmarillion's great! I actually have the (fairly unique) distinction of having read it before LoTR, so my whole perception of the thing is naturally somewhat twisted. But it's a damn fine book, revealing the elves as the total f--ked up badasses they really are, and with some very dark and sinister plots running through it. The unpublished material that made it into the latter History of ME books is also very good - for example, Tolkien always said that he'd deliberately kept the fall of man off-stage, but obviously couldn't resist a write up of it, and it's one of the creepiest things you'll ever read, with definite relevance to the modern political climate.
LoTR isn't actually that bad, aside from the start of Book 1 and massive chunks of Book 4. Plus the sneaky truth about it that not many really know is that it's really a sequel to The Silmarillion, and not to The Hobbit. Which, on the other hand is utter tosh - a series of disjointed disconnected "adventures".
All IMHO, of course.
LoTR isn't actually that bad, aside from the start of Book 1 and massive chunks of Book 4. Plus the sneaky truth about it that not many really know is that it's really a sequel to The Silmarillion, and not to The Hobbit. Which, on the other hand is utter tosh - a series of disjointed disconnected "adventures".
All IMHO, of course.
