Dear Members--Astra Holt has given us permission to post this topic, originally found in the Main Forum of HOL, about The Rivendell Point: a location in a book or series where a reader is finally captivated by the reading and wants to finish the book/series, rather than lay it aside. I am posting her original message because I think it's fitting that she explains it and because she credits her sister with naming the concept. I hope many of you will post titles in which you had to get to a certain point before you said "WOW"--This is great!" Prof. Opal

"My sister developed this concept, and I thought since we have so many avid readers here, some of you might like to try this out.

She is a huge Lord of the Rings fan, and she would get discouraged when friends would say, 'Oh, I tried that one, but it didn't hold my interest,' only to find out they didn't make it past the first chapter or two. So she would tell them, 'Stay with it until they get to Rivendell, THEN make up your mind if it is interesting.' From this, she developed the concept of the Rivendell Point. This is the point in any novel where, if you've read that far and still don't care what happens, you aren't going to like the rest of the book. The idea is to encourage the person to read until things really get going, rather than getting bored with the setup portion and missing the whole plot because they gave up on it right before it would have grabbed them.

For instance, when she told me about a book called Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, she said, 'Read until Harry gets to school--that's the Rivendell Point. If you don't care by then, it's not for you.' (I think I came up for breath around . . . oh, I think it was the end of Goblet of Fire, and that was because that was all that was available at that time!)

So my question for you is: What book would you like to recommend to anyone who may not have found it yet, and what is its Rivendell Point?"