Costume making, music, reading, movies, walking and hiking
First Lord of the Rings reading experience:
When I was 17 (all my friends were reading LOTR at the time).
But the best experience was years later, I was reading the books aloud to my then 7 year old (first The Hobbit, then LOTR). I was reading The Fellowship to her and thought that she was not listening. But I just kept reading. Then I realized that she was no longer in our living room. She was in the Shire. She was laughing and clapping at Gandalf's fireworks and partying with the Hobbits at Bilbo's birthday party. It was a special, magical moment that still brings tears to my eyes!