Lord of the Rings eBooks

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by Big McLargeHuge

Can you give me a few examples of books with errors? I'd like to get an idea of what books and publishers to avoid.

I find I get the most errors from anything published by Penguin. Most of the books I have from big publishers are Penguin books and every single one of them have at least 2-3 typos/errors.

[SteveScaffardi]

Slightly off topic, but I'm one of those who have seen the film but not read the books. If I read the books now, what are the major differences I can expect (I know there are always loads but I've heard LOTR has more than most!).

[HarryT]

The films omit a number of major episodes which are in the books, and also have composite characters. As with any book, a movie version can "fit in" a lot less than the book can.

The other major difference you'll see is the "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King" each have a number of different viewpoints, with story strands which overlap in time. This greatly increases the suspense compared with the "linearised" timeline of the films.

The books are just so much better in every way.

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The films omit a number of major episodes which are in the books, and also have composite characters. As with any book, a movie version can "fit in" a lot less than the book can.

The other major difference you'll see is the "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King" each have a number of different viewpoints, with story strands which overlap in time. This greatly increases the suspense compared with the "linearised" timeline of the films.

The books are just so much better in every way.

I totally agree with this. I loved the movies and they are among my all time favourite films, but the books are so much better (although I do admit I always skip Tom Bombadil and most of the poems/songs). I'm actually re-reading the books right now . Must be the 6th or 7th time.

[HarryT]

Tom's grown on me over the years. Now I very much enjoy that part of the story.

[Quexos]

My favorite character in the LOTR book is Sam. I am very impressed by the way he is so faithful to Frodo, even when the latter is seduced by Gollum into making Sam go away. Friendship like that is only in fairy tales sadly.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Tom's grown on me over the years. Now I very much enjoy that part of the story.

[AlexBell]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The films omit a number of major episodes which are in the books, and also have composite characters. As with any book, a movie version can "fit in" a lot less than the book can.

The other major difference you'll see is the "The Two Towers" and "The Return of the King" each have a number of different viewpoints, with story strands which overlap in time. This greatly increases the suspense compared with the "linearised" timeline of the films.

The books are just so much better in every way.

I agree with you entirely, Harry, but if my memory serves me rightly there are also many scenes put into the films which are not in the books at all. One example is the scene at the ford where Frodo is rescued by the elfin princess. In the book she has nothing to do with this part, does not appear till later, and is a less important character anyway.

I think the books are not only better, they are different.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by AlexBell

I agree with you entirely, Harry, but if my memory serves me rightly there are also many scenes put into the films which are not in the books at all. One example is the scene at the ford where Frodo is rescued by the elfin princess. In the book she has nothing to do with this part, does not appear till later, and is a less important character anyway.

That's what I meant by "composite characters". In the books, it's Glorfindel who's involved in rescuing Frodo at Rivendell. In the film, his character has been merged into that of Arwen for the "love interest" with Aragorn.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Tom's grown on me over the years. Now I very much enjoy that part of the story.

Me too. I used to think that he was almost accidentally left in from when LoTR was just a hobbit sequel, but I find I like that episode much better. It's a shame the BBC Radio adaption left it out.

But finding someone who could do Bombadil justice would be tricky.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Quexos

My favorite character in the LOTR book is Sam. I am very impressed by the way he is so faithful to Frodo, even when the latter is seduced by Gollum into making Sam go away. Friendship like that is only in fairy tales sadly.

That only happens in the film. The only time Sam leaves Frodo in the books is

Spoiler:

when Sam thinks that Frodo has been killed.

Here's a good bit about Sam:

‘Why, Sam,’ he said, ‘to hear you somehow makes me as merry as if the story was already written. But you’ve left out one of the chief characters: Samwise the stouthearted. “I want to hear more about Sam, dad. Why didn’t they put in more of his talk, dad? That’s what I like, it makes me laugh. And Frodo wouldn’t have got far without Sam, would he, dad?”’

[HarryT]

"Metafiction" .

[Quexos]

I haven't read the books in more than a decade whereas the films I have seen this year again, I guess I end up mixing up the discrepancies.

Originally Posted by pdurrant

That only happens in the film. The only time Sam leaves Frodo in the books is

Spoiler:

when Sam thinks that Frodo has been killed.

Here's a good bit about Sam:

‘Why, Sam,’ he said, ‘to hear you somehow makes me as merry as if the story was already written. But you’ve left out one of the chief characters: Samwise the stouthearted. “I want to hear more about Sam, dad. Why didn’t they put in more of his talk, dad? That’s what I like, it makes me laugh. And Frodo wouldn’t have got far without Sam, would he, dad?”’

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Quexos

I haven't read the books in more than a decade whereas the films I have seen this year again, I guess I end up mixing up the discrepancies.

I admit that I hear the radio series in my head. Luckily they took nearly all the dialog verbatim from the books.

[Quexos]

I'm wondering, does anyone who has read or is reading the books, have read or will read the appendices ? Cause those are rather exhaustive and long. When I read LOTR many years ago I skipped through the appendices cause it seemed to be unnecessary to the story (though complementary)

[HarryT]

Yes, I proof-read the appendices literally word for word and comma for comma when I created my own LOTR ebook, prior to the release of the official version. There's a lot of interesting stuff in there, although the linguistic minutiae doesn't particularly interest me.