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Junesong
Rohan
Feb 12, 2:44pm
Post #26 of 29
(1206 views)
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One of my earliest memories is the Rankin Bass Hobbit. My dad had a policy that we couldn't watch adaptations before reading the book - and he was OBSESSED with Tolkien so I know he must have read it to us first but I don't remember it.
Another early memory is being home sick from school and my dad was re-reading The Lord of the Rings and since I was home he just read out loud from wherever he was at the time. I remember hearing about Merry and Pippin and just assuming that Merry was a girl.
Later in high school I read Fellowship on a whim (grade 11 I think) and was quickly pulled through the whole trilogy and then back to The Hobbit and then eventually The Silmarillion and beyond.
Since then I've read LOTR (and often Hobbit and Silm too) at least once a year.
"So which story do you prefer?"
"The one with the tiger. That's the better story."
"Thank you. And so it goes with God."
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CMackintosh
Rivendell
Feb 13, 9:19am
Post #27 of 29
(1113 views)
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Well, there I was, doing this course in English at High School, and lo and behold, the book we were to read was The Hobbit. (I'd had a friend show me his copy while we were still in Primary School, but I hadn't paid it much attention, except to note that bit about the secret door into the mountain - five foot high and three abreast - which stuck for some reason ... but I digress) I took the school copy home, and read it from cover to cover to cover to cover and there and back again, and still couldn't get enough. So I borrowed the school library's copy of The Lord of the Rings, and was hooked! (I'd had a similar experience with first year English and a copy of King Solomon's Mines - I read every one of H Rider Haggard's novels I could get my hands on. Likewise with The Thirty-Nine Steps and every novel of John Buchan I could get my grubby little paws on.)
(This post was edited by CMackintosh on Feb 13, 9:21am)
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Ioreth
Rivendell
Feb 16, 11:27am
Post #28 of 29
(917 views)
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At the age of 10 I snatched TTT in swedish translation from my parents' bookshelves :)
RAN to the local library in Hjo and borrowed ROTK in translation when finished.
One really clear memory from my childhood.
Will turn 54 this summer.
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Noria
Grey Havens
Feb 21, 9:26pm
Post #29 of 29
(703 views)
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Though I was an avid reader as a child, Tolkien’s never came my way. But I remember very well that first encounter.
Long. long ago, in the late 1960’s to be exact, my high school literature teacher loaned me her copy of LotR. I devoured it over the Christmas holidays and was enraptured. As soon as I had the money and the opportunity, I bought my own copy, as well as The Hobbit. If asked today to name my favourite book, I’d still say LotR.
The Hobbit was a disappointment. I was both too old for the childish tone and too young to grasp its other qualities, and anyway what I really wanted just then was more LotR. As I grew up, I came to appreciate TH for itself. The Silmarillion was a slight challenge because it was so different, but once I got into it, I loved it, as well as Unfinished Tales.
There was no one else in my life who’d read LotR and I grew up in a fandom of one. Eventually, I found that I didn’t really want to analyze and discuss the books, maybe to preserve their magic. I did read through HOME long ago but only possess The Book of Lost Tales and The Lost Road. One thing I recall from HOME was Trotter and I’d rather not. I prefer to remain a devoted fan, though I salute all you scholars.
Obviously, I’m quite willing to discuss the adaptations. Like Ettelewen, I disliked the animated version, though the Bakshi one had its moments. So I wasn’t very hopeful about Jackson’s movies. However, at that point I had already been a book fan for decades and if the LotR movies had turned out to be lousy, I would have soon forgotten them. But they weren’t lousy an like the book, are probably still my like the book, are probably still my favourite films, flaws and all.
Speaking of flawed movies, I’m also very fond of the Hobbit films, maybe in part because they are more-or-less what I expected them to be, they’re set firmly in Middle-earth, and plus they’re fun. I’ve already expressed my enjoyment of RoP.
There have been and are other books/movies in which I’m very invested, but Tolkien remains my oldest and dearest fandom.
The sun yet shines
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