Children of Hurin

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

i look at it like this.  if only 1% of people read the books but still buy them, books get more publishing power, and 1% of the population has a chance of becoming mildly more literate.  its win win.

[Axeman]

If it were possible I'd like to get Oprah to command her minions to buy and read "The Silmarillion", since that would surely snap them out of the spell.  It really pushed the envelope as far as unreadable blather goes, like trying to read a telephone directory from cover to cover.

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

personally i think it would be funnier to get them to read somehting like house of leave or revolutions

http://www.onlyrevolutions.com/

[Sharktopus]

If it were possible I'd like to get Oprah to command her minions to buy and read "The Silmarillion", since that would surely snap them out of the spell.  It really pushed the envelope as far as unreadable blather goes, like trying to read a telephone directory from cover to cover.

Thank you! I love Tolkien, but The Silmarillion is like trying to read a history textbook in a foreign language.

[Reductio_ad_absurdum]

personally i think it would be funnier to get them to read somehting like house of leave or revolutions

http://www.onlyrevolutions.com/

That seems... interesting.  Is his works the type that leave you physically ill after reading it? 

You know, I wouldn't mind writing a short story anthology like that, so gut-wrenching, morbid, and satirically decadent that it leaves you ill.  Kinda like if Monty Python did Hostel...

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

Is his works the type that leave you physically ill after reading it

no not really.  that particular book is about a boy and a girl who live forever and go through time together.  however its written in a poem type format.  Where the real interest comes in is in how its presented.  each page has two stories on it.  the boys and the girls.  you turn the book 180 degrees to read the other side.  but to make it even more interesting, the girls start from one side and the boys start from the other.  They recomend you read 8 pages at a time, then turn the book over and read 8 pages of the other. 

the guy likes to experiment with format A LOT.  house of leaves is probably a much better pick.  its a horror story (kinda).  They classify it as that although i cant figure out why.  that one is like a real novel but he still messes with a bunch of stuff.

[MarkAndrew]

personally i think it would be funnier to get them to read somehting like house of leave or revolutions

http://www.onlyrevolutions.com/

That seems... interesting.  Is his works the type that leave you physically ill after reading it? 

You know, I wouldn't mind writing a short story anthology like that, so gut-wrenching, morbid, and satirically decadent that it leaves you ill.  Kinda like if Monty Python did Hostel...

Ah, then you want China Meville (sp?)  I hated every book of his I've read (ok, that's like...two, but still) though I recognize the craft that went in to making it.

[sarcasm_made_Easy]

I hated every book of his I've read (ok, that's like...two, but still) though I recognize the craft that went in to making it.

are you referring to Mark Z. Danielewski or to china meville?

[Ranika]

I may well be one of only three people I know in person who really, actively enjoyed The Silmarillion. Though, we're all three of us historians, so I imagine we're numb to the history book-like presentation.

[hare.29]

I read the Silmarillion 5 or so years ago and dozed my way through it. Too many damn elves with names that start with 'F'. But I just finished reading it again and enjoyed it more this time.

Anywho, back to the thread starter, I read Children of Hurin, and it is a good read. I read Silmarillion after it (which overlaps some sources and story with CoH) and can pick out some paragraphs that are the same between the two books. CoH is an expansion of the story of Turin son of Hurin, who gets some treatment in the Silmarillion (and maybe elsewhere?).

[Sharktopus]

I made the mistake of regularly reading the Silmarillion before bed. I swear I was dreaming in Elvish for a while. Probably Elvish gibberish, but still.

[J-Proof]

Ranika -- I enjoyed Silmarillion as well!

I think the novel is more for people who like to read nonfiction and are intrigued by genealogy and stuff.

I was just at the book store and /completely/ forgot to pick up a copy of CoH!! Sheesh I'm stupid.... you never know how valuable it'll be in the future! Helps to have a first edition of anything Tolkien

[Ranika]

The format of the Silmarillion is very similar to historical texts like the Lebor Gabála Érenn. Covers huge stretches of time, with mentions of geneological background, seemingly completely offhand references to different historical events mixed through a main narrative, that itself jumps around a bit wildly.

I quite enjoyed Children of Hurin. It was good, very dark. A good chunk of suicide and depression.

[MSTJedi]

The format of the Silmarillion is very similar to historical texts like the Lebor Gabála Érenn. Covers huge stretches of time, with mentions of geneological background, seemingly completely offhand references to different historical events mixed through a main narrative, that itself jumps around a bit wildly.

I quite enjoyed Children of Hurin. It was good, very dark. A good chunk of suicide and depression.

I enjoyed reading The Silmarillion myself. That's not to say that it isn't a hard read at times. I've read it through once and started it again somewhat recently, but since concentration is something that's hard to come by with a house full of kids, I haven't been able to finish it again yet.

I just found out about Children of Hurin tonight  . . . from a little blurb on MySpace, strangely enough, and I'm really pumped about getting my hands on it. Now I just have to come up with the $15 or so it'll take to buy a used copy on Amazon.

[Tripe]

but its supposedly NOT christopher tolkein.  according to chris its him just editing his fathers stuff into one coherent story.

Doesn't that describe pretty much every Middle Earth book with Christopher Tolkien's name on it?

Absolutly, I'm still waiting for JRR Tolkien's The Shopping and Laundry List of the First Age edited by Chris