Tolkien's books are not for everyone. They are certainly not psychological novels in the sense that we ever get a glimpse of the characters' thoughts. What they are is a setting. Reading Tolkien is like reading a history book or looking at a tapestry. We only ever get the actions and very little of the motivations besides, "Well, Sauron is bad so we must defeat him." The way he tells the story is quite like the tales of Roland or Beowulf or Sigurd or Arthur; one can argue quite convincingly that those characters are just "types" and not "people" at all. But yet they have captured the imagination of millions, precisely because the author has left all the work of characterization to the readers.
All of that being said, Fellowship is notorious for being slower than the other two. It took me two weeks to struggle through Fellowship, but 2 days to speed through TT and RotK (a book a day and very little sleep). If it weren't for the fact that I am against picking up a book and not finishing, I probably would have stopped before finishing FotR myself. I actually was pretty neutral on the Hobbit as well (I didn't actively dislike it; I save that for the crap, and that wasn't crap, it just didn't hold me); the tone was too childish and had none of the sweeping magic. But there also weren't much elves in there to be impressed by, in any case.^^;
I don't think I am riling against your point of view, so you don't have to defend yourself.^^; Rather I am just upset that people writing their own stories can't get creative enough to make all of their species interesting. If you "don't get" the elves of Middle-earth and you want to react against them, then for crying outloud, writing them like prigs is hardly the way to go about it. The elves don't deserve all the flak, and it is the fault of the authors who don't take the time to make them likeable, rather than the fault of the readers, who are perfectly entitled to their own opinions.
Yes, you can engage me on the topic of elves morning, noon, or night.^^ I am very predictable indeed. And anyway, I've always liked non-human characters much more, anyway. *cough cough*
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Re: when I see (edit)
All of that being said, Fellowship is notorious for being slower than the other two. It took me two weeks to struggle through Fellowship, but 2 days to speed through TT and RotK (a book a day and very little sleep). If it weren't for the fact that I am against picking up a book and not finishing, I probably would have stopped before finishing FotR myself. I actually was pretty neutral on the Hobbit as well (I didn't actively dislike it; I save that for the crap, and that wasn't crap, it just didn't hold me); the tone was too childish and had none of the sweeping magic. But there also weren't much elves in there to be impressed by, in any case.^^;
I don't think I am riling against your point of view, so you don't have to defend yourself.^^; Rather I am just upset that people writing their own stories can't get creative enough to make all of their species interesting. If you "don't get" the elves of Middle-earth and you want to react against them, then for crying outloud, writing them like prigs is hardly the way to go about it. The elves don't deserve all the flak, and it is the fault of the authors who don't take the time to make them likeable, rather than the fault of the readers, who are perfectly entitled to their own opinions.
Yes, you can engage me on the topic of elves morning, noon, or night.^^ I am very predictable indeed. And anyway, I've always liked non-human characters much more, anyway. *cough cough*