[rightwingreligiousfanatic]

When I read the trilogy aloud to my wife and boys earlier this year, I tried to do all of the voices well. Treebeard was a huge favorite, along with Gimli and Gollum.

I love reading it out loud too.... My 11 year old son has been devouring them after I first read him The Hobbit and FOTR aloud to him two summers ago. Then this past summer he read the whole trilogy and, after a break, has restarted the TTT to get ready for the movie....

I'm very proud of him....

[Wordsmith]

Great! I first read it at about 13, and a lot went over my head. But then again, a lot STILL goes over my head.

My 10 year old will likely tackle the trilogy on his own this year, after he finishes the Harry Potter books. We're planning on making a family reading of LOTR a yearly tradition, starting in the winter and finishing around Easter.

Definitely took my lead for some of the voices from the film version. Although my Gandalf is more like the old Hobbit cartoon. The toughest part is distinguishing the men, they can start to sound alike. Oddly, I found Merry and Pippen tough as well. Samwise is slow and rustic, Frodo tortured and sensitive, but I found less "voice" in Merry and Pip's lines even though they're two of our favorite characters. Oh well, maybe I'll hit on something next year.

I read somewhere that Christopher Lee has read the trilogy every single year for decades. What an inspiration!

[Sam Cree]

Yeah, I've done alot of reading it aloud also.