What do you feel when you read the book?

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

The title says it all. Whether The Hobbit, LotR, or The Silm, as long as it's a Tolkien book connected to Middle-earth.

When I read the LotR, I feel immediately sucked into the action (or inaction, as in the case of "The Old Forest") I especially love the chapters "The Siege of Gondor," "The Ride of the Rohirrim," and "The Battle of the Pelennor Fields." I feel true loyalty between Gondor and Rohan: I mean, Theoden's concerned for that...that...hot Steward? I think to myself, "If I had just one friend like that, I would be the luckiest Elf-Prince alive."

Later days! [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]
->Elenrod

[lindil]

Unfinished Tales and a few other late writings, have for me a certain magic that more than any ealier writings conveys quite abit of the level of being of the characters. I feel Tuor and Turins struggles [not too mention the visual imagery that comes to my mind via the writing] Gandalf;s retelling of the unexpected party almost gets me in his soul, not just his head. For a moment, I am breathing a finer air as Thingol did

In BEleriand King Thingol upon his throne was as the lords of the Maiar, whose power is at rest, whose joy is as an air that they breathe in all of their days, whose thought flows in a tide untroubled from the heights to the deeps.

from ch 10 - Of the Sindar - The Silmarillion
Excellent topic [in potentium [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]]

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

Thank you! I've never heard praise from a mod before.

By the way, I forgot about the Silm...*sighs* the Creation of Arda, the History of the Eldar; somehow, I feel like I was there, enduring the cold Helcaraxë, feeling the terror of Nan Dungortheb with Beren, and the admiring the majesty of the host of Valinor.

Oh, yeah...and being bloody scared of Morgoth, too.

Later days! [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]
->Elenrod

[Meela]

I feel as though I'm there, and as though I am actually part of everything that is happening, or at the least a spectator.
I mostly feel overwhelmed. A lot happens, a lot changes, and there are so many wonderful stories involving so many characters. Because there is so much there, and so much detail, it feels quite real, so it is easy to get wrapped up in it all.
I especially get 'wrapped up' in the Siege of Gondor.

[Failivrin]

when i read how Fingolfin and his party struggled for years to cross the Helcaraxe i feel their pain, i see the ice, i breathe the cold air, i see people consumed by nature. and then that BRILLIANT final paragraph in Of the Flight of the Noldor in The Silm. about how Figolfin set foot upon the Outer Lands and had blow his trumpets at teh first rising of the moon *sigh*. then i love how flowers sprang up beneath their feet as they marched. breathtaking. *Failivrin scurries off to re- read all she can about Fingolfin*

oooooooh, and Fingolfin's challenge to Morgoth. yes. in Fingolfin i see the might and power and valour of the Gnomes.

[Daisy Brambleburr]

I mostly feel overwhelmed

I agree with Meela. When I finished RotK I felt like someone had hit me with a plank of wood. There's so much to think about, and I was sort of stunned at what I'd just read. LotR is unlike anything else I'd ever enjoyed, it's so complex and immense you can't help but be affected by it.

As I'm reading the book, I feel so much stuff. Sadness a lot of the time (especially at the end), fear for Sam in Cirith Ungol, the tension when everyone's waiting for Rohan in the seige of Gondor (and relife when they turn up). I got very freaked out by the Black Riders, but the descriptions of Lothlorien were so beautiful they made me want to visit very badly.

[yavanna II]

i felt i was actually in the book,esp. the part in the sil where beren & luthien with huan got into morgoth's place. in the lost tales 1, it was just like i could talk with the elves in the cottage of lost play thing.

[Mooncalf]

When I finished reading TTT, I was absolutely stunned... you know, how the last sentence is something like, "Frodo was alive, but in the hands of the enemy." I remember closing the book with a thrilling shudder.

Let's see... and when Gandalf fell in Moria, I was so upset that I put the book down and cried.

[Iris Alantiel]

I was young when I first read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, so I don't really remember what I felt too clearly, but I just read The Silm last summer and I remember very well how I felt on finishing it. I felt awed, first of all, at the sheer scope of it, and a little overwhelmed. I also felt like as though I had accomplished something significant by managing to read the whole thing, since it can be so difficult to follow at parts. But stronger than all that was a sense of amazement at the way Tolkien wrote it. At times I thought his descriptions of the events were almost poetic. I remember walking around the rest of the day at work with a big goofy smile on my face because I was so blown away by the whole thing. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

I'm amazed with all the attention to detail that went it to all of it.

[Sapphire_Flame]

I still remember exactly what I felt when I read the Hobbit for the first time. I was only seven, but I so vividly remember the brilliantly excited feeling as I listened to the story; this was the most amazing story I'd ever heard in my life, and the people and places had me enthralled. I was so worried for Bilbo, when he was fighting the spiders, and when he was riddling with Gollum (I was sure Gollum would really try to eat him). And my first question when the book was finished: "Are there any more stories about hobbits?"

When I finally got around to reading LotR just a few years ago (I tried when I was eight and it didn't work), I poignantly remember the tenseness I felt reading the battle scenes, and the sadness at the falls of Gandalf and Boromir. I also remember feeling a distict similarity in thought between Pippin and myself. Almost everything he said or thought was what I would be thinking in that situation. It's really brilliant when you can connect like that with a story, you know? It makes it seem even more personal, because you can feel that you're really there in a sense.

With Silm and UT, I felt more like I'd just been hit with a baseball bat. There was just so much information and history to absorb. I think the Creation bit in the Silm is really amazing, and it really touched me, how much thought Tolkien had put into this world. And it really helped me see all the depth in LotR as well, because now I can see all the connections to other stories and how the characters relate.

To be brief: I was Dumbed with Astonishment and Amazement which bordered upon Stupification. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

Abedithon le,

~*~Aranel~*~

[Orogaerion]

I dont really remember my exact feelings when i read Lotr the first time, but generally I was in blind awe of the complexities of the book. The times i have read it the last year i have almost cried when i read the last bit where Bilbo, Gandalf etc departed. it is kinda weird feeling to be that sad cause of fictional characters.

[Rindoien, elf of Lothlorien]

I remember exactly. I just closed RoTK and sighed happily. Then I cried [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

It was just so lovely and I remember wailing to my mum at the part about Eowyn's death and 're-surrection' if that is the right word to use. The language is so complex, and the characters so beautifully described that you just feel as if you are being thrown into their world, Middle Earth, as if you are standing there in the corner, watching the characters.

But the main reason I cried at the end was the thought of all my favourite characters leaving Middle Earth... and travelling to the Undying Lands... that really hit me hard as I wanted the story to go on for ever and ever and it couldn't because they were gone. It kind of makes Fan Fiction useless but oh well.

Do any of you feel like this? I agree with Daisy Brambleburr

When I finished RotK I felt like someone had hit me with a plank of wood

EDIT: Wow I went into a lot of 'detail'. I suppose LoTR is a big passion in my life [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[ 3:11 AM December 04, 2003: Message edited by: Rindoien, elf of Lothlorien ]

[Lily Ahern]

In truth I felt part of it, there was a true sense of belonging.(No I am not a nut case)It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside even the parts with the orcs. : [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

[Lyta_Underhill]

I think the fact that I remembered certain parts of LOTR through images many years later underscored the feelings they gave me when I first read it. Somehow, the 'feel' of Fangorn Forest stayed with me so much that I found myself subconsciously seeking communion with certain forested places. I think I sought Ents for many years without realizing I was doing so. The essential darkness that many of the characters sense in the story seemed less apparent to me than the complete enfolding of Merry and Pippin into their world. (Always looking at the world through hobbit eyes, I suppose!) I remember wishing I could always live in Fangorn and talk to the Ents forever! I also remember a sense of a full spirit when Sam comes back after Frodo's departure West and how unassumingly and prosaicly Sam takes up his regular life again, how much I envied him and loved him for being able to remain simple and enjoy the benefits of a cleaner and purer world. There's more, I'm sure, but those remain the parts that stuck around for years in images that underlay life for the last decade or so...

Cheers,
Lyta

[Enorëiel]

The first time through I was blown away by it all: there was so much to take in! I think I enjoyed it more the second time, however. I caught more things then I had the first time and I got more feeling from it. The first time I read it, I raced through it. The second time through I'm slowing it down and paying attention (yes I'm still in my second reading. My goal is to finish before the 16th and I'm just starting on book 6 so - I'll make it!). I'm catching more of the emotions of the characters and the excitement of it all. I get so caught up in it that I lose all awareness of the world around me and just get sucked in. I love it! I love the feeling of being sucked in and feeling like I'm actually there in the midst of the action! I hate it when I'm forced to put the book down and return to it later.

When I finished reading TTT, I was absolutely stunned... you know, how the last sentence is something like, "Frodo was alive, but in the hands of the enemy." I remember closing the book with a thrilling shudder.

That's exactly what I did upon finishing TTT! That last sentence gives me chills everytime! I can't wait to pick up RotK and finish it. Though I must admit, I got so caught up in that thrill that I resented ROTK starting with Pippin and Gandalf instead of Sam and Frodo. After the first two pages, however, that feeling went away and now (from where I am in reading) I want to keep reading about their adventures rather than Frodo's and Sam's. I get so caught up with one character that I just don't want to leave them - I want to know what happens to them!

[Lady Snickerdoodle]

When I first read the Hobbit in 2nd grade, I remember being absolutely terrified of Gollum after my dad had read the Riddles in the Dark chapter to me... I had nightmares about him but then I got a spine and got over it... When reading the LOTR I really got into it and became oblivious to the real world during the really good parts. During the Mordor section, I remember looking up from the book after several chapters and being completely startled that it was sunny...

[Catherine]

When I am reading LOTR I feel pure happiness(cept at the sad parts) I get sucked into the book and I hate when I have to put it down. I also hate when I get to the end cuz that means its over and I want more!! [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]