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From: rgb@nsc-pdc.UUCP (Robert Bond)
Newsgroups: net.books
Subject: Lord of The Rings on tape
Message-ID: <192@nsc-pdc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 10-May-85 14:28:34 EDT
Article-I.D.: nsc-pdc.192
Posted: Fri May 10 14:28:34 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 12-May-85 06:05:28 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: NSC Portland, Orygun
Lines: 24

I have just finished listening to a dramatization of the Lord of the Rings
on cassette.  I got it from "The Mind's Eye" in San Francisco via mail
order.  I have also noticed the same brand of cassette on display at the
local B. Dalton.  It cost $59.00 for a 12 cassette set.  This is not the
version that was aired on National Public Radio some time ago; I think
that version was done by BBC., while these tapes are marked "Jabberwocky".

The dramatization was good, and in my opinion, well worth the money.  One of
the problems I have reading the Lord of the Rings is I get so caught up in
the story that I read too fast to really enjoy the prose.  The tape rolls
along at its own pace, and the prose just keeps coming.  Frodo's encounter
with Shelob is exciting enough to send chills down your back, and the final
scene at Mount Doom made me stop in traffic (I use a Walkman).

Even 12 cassettes are not enough to really do the story justice, however.
I would have liked to hear more of the Elvish tongue spoken and more of the
heroic verse.  How do you give the effect of Treebeard talking without
blowing a whole side of a cassette?  But one can't have everything.  

In summary, well worth the time and money invested.

-- 
    Robert Bond 			nsc!nsc-pdc!rgb
    National Semiconductor		tektronix!reed!nsc-pdc!rgb