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Old 01-29-2006, 01:47 AM   #26
radagastly
Shade of Carn Dûm
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Washington, D. C., USA
Posts: 302
radagastly is a guest of Tom Bombadil.
Great question! I was a late child. What I mean is that when I was young, my older brothers were all much older than I was. I remember being embarassed knocking on their bedroom door asking if I could pick out a book to read because they were all teenagers, and I was only ten. (Indeed, when I first read LotR, I my oldest brother had already left for college). They made their own money, and therefore bought their own books, and I was a slave to the assorted book clubs through school, and only those books that Scholastic Book Club considered appropriate for 3rd or 4th graders. That's when I read "Romeo and Juliet." As a result of that embarassment, I tended to choose books that were longer so I wouldn't have to go back as often. I was overjoyed to find three books with a common cover, and I remember choosing that immediately. They were the 60's editions with the mural cover that many sixties readers remember. It was some time later that I discovered "The Hobbit."

I eventually owned those sixties paperback covers, and went to college myself, and bought the seventies editions, with the Tolkien-illustrated covers, because my first copies were literally falling apart. I made the mistake of lending those to a friend at college (who I hope, still has them) and my brother, whose books I borrowed in the first place, bought me a hardcover set, including "The Hobbit" for Christmas one year when I had no money. That's the set I still use. The paper jackets are very tattered, but I still have them.
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But all the while I sit and think of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet and voices at the door.
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