Back in 1973, my boyfriend gave me the four books (Hobbit and LotR) and said I simply had to read them. I've always been an avid reader, and though fantasy was a category which did not yet exist for me, I had read some science fiction (because of a brother who gave them to me and said I had to read them!) and lots of fairy tales, so I was quite willing to start.
It's a good thing I had finished all major projects for that semester because, aside from the bare necessities of life, I did absolutely nothing but read for the next three days. I was enthralled, and I know I didn't pay very close attention to the poetry and merely skimmed the battle scenes, because I was eager to continue. Can you imagine my disappointment when, all of a sudden, the book was finished?! I thought I still had half a volume to go, and there the rest of it was appendices and index! I'm not sure - it's very possible that I reread the whole thing immediately, just to get back to Middle-earth.
For Christmas of that year, my boyfriend gave me the Ballantine's red box with all four volumes, Tolkien's heraldic emblems on it, and Tolkien's illustrations on the covers, and Tolkien's words on the backs:
Quote:
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This paperback edition, and no other, has been published with my consent and co-operation. Those who approve of courtesy (at least) to living authors will purchase it, and no other.
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That was the answer to the Ace publication.
I remember seeing a Tolkien calendar in a shop some time that summer, IIRC, and not liking the images, because they did not fit in with my own mental pictures. I've often wondered who the artist(s) was/were? I don't remember. Anyway, shortly thereafter I came to Germany, and over here no one had ever heard of Tolkien - even Lewis' Narnia books (which I had come to read about the same time) were unknown. I'm not sure just when the first translation of the books appeared in Germany. I became a lone closet fan, rereading the books occasionally (LotR more often than the Hobbit - I've come to enjoy it more in recent years than I did back then), and not talking to anyone about them.
The boyfriend faded out of my life, but the books stayed with me. When my children were growing up, I never read the books to them, because we spoke German at home, and I only had them in English. Later, when I found the translation and tried to read it, it could never measure up to the original, so I let it be. I was very excited when the Bakshi movie came out and was shown here - dubbed, of course (always a disadvantage!), but still, it was hyped to be state of the art animation technique. I went to see it, did enjoy it at least somewhat, and was again very disappointed when what I thought was only a break turned out to be the end of the movie! I can remember protesting that the story wasn't over yet! I never did get around to seeing the other two (RotK and Hobbit) animated movies, except in bits on YouTube these days.
Then, more years later, the Peter Jackson movies came out; I was in the States visiting family there, and went to see FotR with my siblings and several family members - nine of us altogether, to be exact! I very much enjoyed it, got out the books and reread them, talked to my family about it, read every magazine article I could get my hands on - and soon everyone around me was bored with my attempts to tell them what I thought and felt!
Somewhere I got the web address of a site that listed the best LotR websites; after combing through several of those, I checked out one of the "community sites" on the list. That was the Barrow-Downs; I started with the main page before discovering the forum - when I found the discussions there, I was hooked! Finally there were other people just as interested as I - as a matter of fact, even more interested and knowledgable! That was six years ago, and though many of the discussions that I found most fascinating date back to the "good old days", I'm still here and still enjoying it! I have been incited by the discussions to read the Sil, Letters, and many, many other books both by and about Tolkien, learning a lot from the books and the people here.
Meeting real life fans and being part of an internet community do not exclude each other. I attended "Tolkien 2005" in Birmingham, met Barrow-Downs members and members of the German Tolkien Society there as well as other international fans, and generally had a wonderful time! Then I decided to join the German Society to have that opportunity more often. Now I'm preparing (for the second time) a serious lecture for our annual Seminar, have sewn costumes for the casual get-togethers, attended Oxonmoot once, and met over a dozen Downers on my various national and international trips.
Dear me, I'm rambling like a geezer, aren't I?! I guess since you asked for "it all", you got it!
For those who are interested in more tales from the olden days, I invite you to read the "Tolkien Coming of Age Club" threads
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2. Over five years ago, I invited all Downers whose acquaintance with Tolkien's works goes back at least 18 years to join in reminiscing there, and though I have repeated my story here, many who posted several years ago have faded into memory, legend, myth even. Their tales are worth reading! Oh, and those of you who, like Ibrîn, have been Tolkien fans for over 18 years are very welcome to join us geezers there. We have plenty of rocking chairs to go around, and though things are slow, we are rather Entish beings and have long memories!