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Have you read these books?

Luanne

By Luanne,
in The Chat Board

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Have you read these books?  

161 members have voted

  1. 1. Have you read the Chronicles of Narnia?

    • Yes, I hvae read all 7
      111
    • I have read a few
      22
    • I have read a couple
      12
    • I haven't read any of these books
      11
    • Other (in case I am missing something)
      5

  2. 2. Have you read the Lord of the Rings?

    • Yes, I've read all 3 books
      85
    • I have read two of them
      11
    • I've read one of them
      11
    • I haven't read any of them
      45
    • Other (just because)
      9

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Luanne

Luanne

Posted
Posted

I am going to set up a poll asking about whether your child or children have read these as well.  I wanted to compare something.

 

I had read someplace that Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were good friends.  Then Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia and they were an instant success.  When Tolkien first published the Lord of the Rings, they weren't nearly as popular as the Chronicles of Narnia and that made Tolkien jealous.  They didn't talk for a long time... but did end up patching things up later in their lives. 

 

If you have different information about this, you are welcome to share it with me/us.

 

I forgot to mention that I am on book two of the Chronicles of Narnia.  I plan to read the Lord of the Rings when I am finished.

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Amira

Amira

Posted
Posted

Yes, I've read them all and so have my children. I was raised on LOTR (my oldest sister is named Lorien because of the books). I only read two or three of the Chronicles of Narnia as a child, but I read the rest as an adult. I like both series very much for different reasons.

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Mrs. Tharp

Mrs. Tharp

Posted
Posted

I read all of the Chronicles. I put other for Tolkien because I've read all three, plus the Silmarillion and other related stories. I read that Tolkien was a little appalled by the Chronicles because they were such a mish-mash of different mythologies. It was kind of the polar opposite of what he'd done with LOTR.

 

I like both series, but Tolkien's work is my favorite.

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Mrs Mungo

Mrs Mungo

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I have read them all and then some. I think I have read everything that has been published by both authors.

 

I find it hard to imagine Tolkien being upset over Narnia's commercial success. In fact, Tolkien was surprised that LOTR became popular at all. The two did have some differences that damaged their friendship such as the anti-Catholic leanings of Lewis.

 

You might like this article from Mental Floss:

http://m.mentalfloss.com/article.php?id=59736

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vonfirmath

vonfirmath

Posted
Posted

I am going to set up a poll asking about whether your child or children have read these as well.  I wanted to compare something.

 

I had read someplace that Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were good friends.  Then Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia and they were an instant success.  When Tolkien first published the Lord of the Rings, they weren't nearly as popular as the Chronicles of Narnia and that made Tolkien jealous.  They didn't talk for a long time... but did end up patching things up later in their lives. 

 

If you have different information about this, you are welcome to share it with me/us.

 

I forgot to mention that I am on book two of the Chronicles of Narnia.  I plan to read the Lord of the Rings when I am finished.

 

They were in a group called the Inklings. We named our Lit mag after them when I was in HS.

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HRAAB

HRAAB

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Posted

I've read all them, and more than once although I didn't read Narnia until I had children. While I like both, LOTR is my favorite. I just started a biography of Tolkien by Humphrey Carpenter. I've read some about their friendship but have never heard of Tolkien being jealous of Lewis over the success of Narnia. I have read that Tolkien disliked allegory. I read an article about them in some magazine - my mind is so fuzzy lately - and remember there was much more to his dislike than that. Tolkien did take mythology very seriously and didn't like the way Lewis used myths.

 

You've got me curious now. I'm going to do some research since we're in the middle of LOTR.

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Dory

Dory

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I read all the Narnia books a few times over as a kid. I Read the Silmarillian but not the LOTR or the Hobbit but I know the back story really well because of the Silmarillian. I voted other with the second question because I wasn't sure if that counted or not. I have watched all the movies, lol. Dh has read the Hobbit and LOTR but not the Silmarillian.

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Matryoshka

Matryoshka

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I've read both series in their entirety at least three times each. :)  I'll probably read them a couple more times before I'm done...

 

I read the Narnia books for the first time as a preteen, and the LOTR books for the first time in high school.

 

I've read a bunch of other stuff by Lewis, although not the really religious stuff (Space Trilogy, Till We Have Faces), and I've also read Carpenter's Tolkien biography and of course the Hobbit.  I have not managed to slog through the Silmarillion, though.

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Slartibartfast

Slartibartfast

Posted
Posted

I am going to set up a poll asking about whether your child or children have read these as well. I wanted to compare something.

 

I had read someplace that Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were good friends. Then Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia and they were an instant success. When Tolkien first published the Lord of the Rings, they weren't nearly as popular as the Chronicles of Narnia and that made Tolkien jealous. They didn't talk for a long time... but did end up patching things up later in their lives.

 

If you have different information about this, you are welcome to share it with me/us.

 

I forgot to mention that I am on book two of the Chronicles of Narnia. I plan to read the Lord of the Rings when I am finished.

Tolkien is responsible Lewis being a Christian

 

Why would Tolkien be jealous? Tolkien wrote The Hobbit first. It was published thirteen years before The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe and it was very successful. Tolkien did write that he felt that Narnia series was heavy handed with the theology and Lewis did have some Anti-Catholic sentiments in some of his writings, which offended the Catholic Tolkien.

 

The Screwtape Letters was dedicated to Tolkien and Tolkien's copy of The Screwtape Letters is personally signed by Lewis with "In token payment of a great debt." Tolkien didn't find much humor in religion and it annoyed him. 

 

They did have disagreements but I don't believe it was related to jealousy but theology.

 

Tolkien's mother was a young widow when she converted to Catholicism, her family was Baptist and they abandoned her after her conversion and stopped all financial support. When Tolkien was 12 his mother passed away from diabetes leaving him and his brother orphans.

 

I think this had a huge impact on him and would lead him to have a more sacred and serious view of religion than most other people.

 

 

 

 "My own dear mother was a martyr indeed, and it is not to everybody that God grants so easy a way to his great gifts as he did to Hilary and myself, giving us a mother who killed herself with labour and trouble to ensure us keeping the faith."
~Tolkien

 

The popularity of Lord of the Rings was never in question. It was always popular. Of the best selling novels in the world The Lord of the Rings is number two and The Hobbit is number four. Tolkien was a cult icon in his lifetime. People were dressing up and speaking elvish while he was still alive.

 

 

 

I have read everything by Lewis and Tolkien, I prefer Tolkien. The Narnia books  are written for a very young audience (with an extremely grim ending!) and they don't stand up to so many rereads as well as LOTR. 

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Grover

Grover

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Posted

I have read all of both sets.  I liked some of Narnia, but not all... some of them I would not bother with again.  LOTR I'm kind of mixed about.  I really should read it again because it was a very long time ago, but it just seems like such an enormous undertaking, lol!  Maybe I should see if I can get them on my e-reader. 

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Guest

Guest

Posted
Posted

I love the Chronicles; The Magician's Nephew is my favorite.

 

I read most of TLOTR, but quit somewhere in, I think, the third book. I was reading them under one binding, so I kinda forgot where it was. Just didn't like it that much. I also tried to read The Hobbit alone a few times, but I always got bored with it.

 

My dd read all 7 Chronicles. My youngest has listened to them ll on audiobook.

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PrincessMommy

PrincessMommy

Posted
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I've read both sets of series over and over.  I've also read the Silmarilian.  Wonderful book.

 

As to the friendship: their friendship suffered when Lewis married Joy (a divorcee) which Tolkien, a devout Catholic, couldn't condone (remember this was in the 50s).  Anyway...that is what I've always heard was the reason for the fracture in their relationship... but I'm not sure I'd know where to find it online as I've never actually read a book about their relationship.

 

I think if Tolkien was "jealous" about anything it was that he had hoped very much that Lewis would become a Catholic.  Instead Lewis entered the Anglican church when he became a Christian.  Not that that is really jealousy, but it could have had some effect on the friendship.

 

 

 

 

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vonfirmath

vonfirmath

Posted
Posted

I have read all The Chronicles of Narnia over and over and over. I love those books. I think I read The Hobbit once and struggled through first Lord of the Rings books. I enjoyed the Hobbit, but just got bogged down in the other books.

 

This is me. I have read the Chronicles of NArnia over and over

 

The Dawn Treader is my favorite.

Or maybe its The Last Battle.

But I love The Lion the Witch and The Wardrobe as well...

 

I really enjoyed the Hobbit and have slogged through The Lord of the Rings all the way -- twice. Trying to figure out what was so great about it. I decided the second time was probbly the last. There are parts I enjoy but too many parts I don't in between. I do enjoy the movies.

 

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SKL

SKL

Posted
Posted

I only read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  (I also read the Hobbit, but I assume that doesn't count.)  I would probably enjoy reading the others, but haven't much time for fun reading.  :)  My sister loves all of them (both series), has read them many times, and has been trying to get me to read them for decades.  Someday.

 

I have read several CS Lewis books about spirituality and such.  Not my favorite, but interesting perspectives.

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foxbridgeacademy

foxbridgeacademy

Posted
Posted

I read all of the Narnia books several times as a child.  DS and I are about 1/2 through the Hobbit and will follow it up with LOTR.  I'm loving the Hobbit but I think if I had tried to read it and LOTR's as a teen (like all my geeky friends did) I wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much.

 

ETA: it was my understanding that Tolkien did not want to be famous, preferring to continue teaching and living quietly.  I think it was the religious differences that caused the rift between him and Lewis. 

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Mrs Mungo

Mrs Mungo

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I've read a couple of Narnia, I'll probably read them all at some point, it's in my to read pile.

 

I forced myself through the Hobbit with the intention of reading LOTR afterwards, but I just couldn't bring myself to it. I probably will not bother.

A few people have talked about not being able to get through The Hobbit, so not doing LOTR. I just want to say that LOTR is much different than The Hobbit. The Hobbit is an adventure/fairy story for kids. LOTR is a history. It reads more like Les Mis than anything else. There are bits of one story line, then some history/battles, bits of another story line, etc.

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