Aloha
Otherwise known as "retinal scanning" - I've been known to do the same. I made it through The Hobbit, but nothing else. Craig, on the other hand, has read them all several times.
Good for him. *grin*
The Hobbit is definitely my favorite. But that's not saying much. 
I'm right there with you. Never been a fan. I had to read the Hobbit when I was younger and had a hard time getting through it then. But I'm not one for fantasy type stories anyway.
We have SUCH die hard fans of the Lord of the Rings in our church. (And some of them read your blog!)
I felt like such a loser outcast when the movies were "the hot thing." I just couldn't get into them--just as I could never get through the books.
Every time I try, I get bogged down in that stupid Bilbo's birthday party sequence, realize I don't care about ANY of this, and quit.
"Oh, Tara! It's SO MUCH about the fellowship of the Body!"
"Real friendship; courage; sacrifice; duty! Just skip the birthday party and dive in! It's SO GREAT."
Yeah, yeah. Blah, blah. Whatever.
If I want to read about courage and fellowship and duty, I pick up a WWII book or read about any Medal of Honor Recipient.
I just don't care about hobbits. Maybe some day I'll become literate ... but I'm getting old, so I doubt it.
You are not alone, Anne! 
Love ya,
Tara B.
I tried to like them for a long time. I do like the fantasy genre, and really liked The Hobbit which I read when I was, oh, in 3rd grade I'd guess. I then tried to plow my way through the LoTR books and made it about half-way through The Two Towers before quitting. After 15 years or so of maligning the series, I forced my way through before seeing the movies, and by the end of RoTK, I loved them. TT can be quite the slog (and I'm sure I skimmed parts), but RoTK has some glory in it, it is worth powering through.
I'm "powering through", Dawn. Forcing myself to sit down and read a chapter, and trying to avoid the "retinal scanning" that Megan mentioned. I really wish I liked the books more. I see their value, but I don't enjoy them.
It doesn't help to look around my house and see books that I'd rather be reading everywhere!
I am right there with you, but I will not tell my husband. Actually, he was teaching 3 levels of Omnibus this year and could not possibly read all of the books in time. He tries to reread the books every time he teaches them. So, we listened to a lot of the trilogy on Cd on our big summer trip last year. I appreciated it a lot more with someone else reading it to me.
Unfortunately, TLOR bores me to tears. My older two, however, absolutely love all the books. While my son was stationed in the Persian Gulf, he asked me to send him the books. It's a huge snoozer to me, but hey, it's hard to turn down those Navy guys! (He got the books post haste.)
Oh, no, say it isn't so! We will pray for you to see the light
However, I subscribe to Nancy Pearl's Rule of 50:
"Believe me, nobody is going to get any points in heaven by slogging their way through a book they aren't enjoying but think they ought to read. I live by what I call 'the rule of fifty,' which acknowledges that time is short and the world of books is immense. If you're fifty years old or younger, give every book about fifty pages before you decide to commit yourself to reading it, or give it up. If you're over fifty, which is when time gets even shorter, subtract your age from 100. The result is the number of pages you should read before deciding."
Fear not, friend Anne. I like the Tolkien LOTR books but recognize them as tough sledding for some people. "Too much testosterone," said one (female) friend, who misremembered the title as "Circle of Elves."
If ever you return to the fantasy genre and want something more accessible, try T.S. White's "Once and Future King," or Terry Pratchett's "Feet of Clay" or "Thud!"
Steer clear of Marian Zimmer Bradley's "The Mists of Avalon," which is a neo-pagan feminist retelling of the Arhurian legend, well-written but decidedly druidic in its misbegotten sensibilities.
Patrick, I wish I'd known that about Mists of Avalon before I tried to read it a few years ago. I didn't get very far before I decided that I hated it!
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