I'm red in the face saying it but I didn't want a single thing to do with Lord of the Rings before Fellowship came out in the movies. Actually even a little after that...
My father had read Lord of Rings and the Hobbit... even to us as small children apparently... (Not that I can remember that, mind.) And my sisters had each read the Hobbit on their own but being 14 I decided that I was rebellious and just didn't want to.
When the movies aired promos I was utterly confused by it. Hearing "Middle Earth" and seeing that big blue sky... (Up until then I had figured it as some subterrainian world.) which made me even more frustrated so even as the rest of my family got excited I said that I was flat out NOT going to see those DUMB movies.
They seriously (all joking aside) KIDNAPPED me to go see them. Dragged me out to the car. Picked me up and THREW me in!
The joke is on them though... By Febuary I was into the Return of the King.. sneaking peaks at the Silmarillion. I have yet to give my twin sister either book and it drives her mad (Then again.. she won't release any Douglas Adams... I guess its a book-hostage situation?)
It's a long road with a short connecting path, I'd say. I was both hesitant (if not violently against) then quite eager to read the books... This doesn't help much at all.
