[Morthoron]

I loved reading the Silmarillion. Of course, I read it when it first was published, but years after devouring The Hobbit and LotR. There was so much to learn, and so many questions that were answered (and so many others that arose!). The creation stories, particularly the Ainulindalë, were breathtaking, and offered an intriguing and even more beautiful rendering of how the Universe came into being than in the static plopping of cows onto pastures on the 5th day as one found in the Christian Bible. There was music in the voices of the Ainur and music in the rhythmic beat of Tolkien's prose. As a teenager who reveled in Norse and Greek mythology and medieval history, it was an astounding find, akin to real-world mythos, but even more special because it was attached to endearing books. It completed a circle....or a ring, if you prefer.