> > Now I'll move on to something that *really* bugged me: the "forward" or introduction to the novel. In the particular edition that I read, it was written by E.M. Forster. He pretty much *ruined* the book for me.
>
> An introduction to any book should create anticipation and give one a vague idea of the overall themes covered within. It should not be a synopsis of the story. If I had known what was in the forward to LOTF, I would have waited until after I finished the book to then go back and read it.

I learned this lesson the hard way after reading an introduction to Jules Verne's "The Mysterious Island" which told me what the mystery was. Yay.

It only seems to happen in classic books. They generally have a scholarly introduction which assumes you *must* already know the entire plot of this book, because it's a classic, right? You're obviously only re-reading it for a literature class. So, hey, let's just talk all about why the island is so darn mysterious, and how the hero finds out what the mystery is, and who was secretly behind it all, and why.

Brunnen-"AAAAAAAH! I didn't want to KNOW that yet!"G