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When I graduated from college in '71 I was sick and tired of reading only non-fiction as my major was political science and my minors sociology and history. I had just gotten married and my wife bought me a bunch of books to read over the summer and HOBBIT and LOTR were among them. I had a good friend who had read them and I would call him to discuss the latest chapters I had read. He kept saying that as good as I thought it was, it only kept getting better as the book developed. And he was right.
About the same time I worked as a recreation director for Dearborn Michigan and became friends with a guy named Tom Tataranowicz. We were both Polish Catholic kids with similar backgrounds and he was interested in both LOTR and antimation. He ended up working for Bakshi on a few films including LOTR and sent me a couple of hobbit cels.
I never went in for the societies or academic groups, but kept rereading the books every five to seven years. Bought SIL the first day it came out and read a bit of it in the car on the way to a Frank Frazetta convention in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania --- at least thats how I remember it.... it could have been a World Fantasy Con... who knows anymore?
Have read all the HOME and love the Jackson movies and am looking forward to the next ME films. I am lucky to have first US editions of HOBBIT and LOTR and lots of stuff from the films. My prized possession is a signed JRRT record album - POEMS AND SONGS OF MIDDLE EARTH which I bought from the collection of a rather well known New York city collector.
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