on reading The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings

I think that having seeing all three LOTR movies, and especially the extended versions of the first two before the third, I got back into the feel for high fantasy. Don't get me wrong, Tolkien's writing is still slow--but a good kind of slow. Like sipping tea. There is a real love of language in his writing, which I can certainly understand, and the slow building and layering of atmosphere is best savoured and mulled over. Although I do attribute my patience for this slowness, especially at the beginning of Fellowship, to knowing and caring about the characters. Compared to Fellowship (and from what I've heard, The Silmarillion), The Hobbit is quite easy to get into and not bogged down by references to obscure names and places. After a "leisurely" start, it does pickup as Bilbo gets himself into more and more danger, and to my delighted surprise I could hardly put it down. I'm about a third of the way through Fellowship now, and I can say it's much less boring the second time around (I tried to read it while in England, and stopped after 160 pages). The Hobbit is definitely a helpful read if a new reader wants to give a shit about the places and names mentioned in the first few chapters, as well as references to Bilbo's adventure. I do understand why I gave up the first time (it's STILL quite slow), but I'm glad I came back to it.