How were you introduced to Tolkien?

[jallanite]

I first encountered Tolkien as a child with The Hobbit in an edition from the local public library. I generally visited the library with my parents and brothers on Saturday, once a week, and used to take out about four books, each of which I usually read twice, before returning them.

I liked The Hobbit. I remember borrowing it at least a second time. I enjoyed it, but less than many other books: Walter R. Brooks’ Freddy the Pig series, C. S. Lewis’ Narnia books, Hugh Lofting’s Doctor Dolittle books, Robert A. Heinlein’s juvenile sf, Andre  Norton’s juvenile sf, E. Nesbit’s children’s fantasy, and Catherine Anthony Clark’s wonderful children’s fantasy (which is almost unknown outside of Canada) as well as other books whose names I do not now recall, including much non-fantasy fiction and books on myths and legends.

I next encountered the name Tolkien in the adult library in a note at the beginning of C. S. Lewis’ That Hideous Strength which referred to Numinor [sic]. I wanted to know more, though I did not remember Tolkien then in connection with The Hobbit. But when I looked up Tolkien in the library card catalogue, the only books mentioned under that name were located in the stacks, not on the open shelves. Possibly the maps were the reason for their being so protected. But since I did not know if the books there listed had anything to do with the manuscript mentioned by Lewis, I did not bother to request them and soon forget about them.

Then, in my last year of high school, in a drug store where I often bought my sf, I saw a new book published by Ace which was then the most prominent publisher of paperback sf, with Ballantine following them. The book was entitled The Fellowship of the Ring, had a red background on the cover, and was about three times the thickness of a normal Ace book, and three times the price: 75¢ as against the usual Ace cost of 25¢.

I again did not remember the name Tolkien either in connection with The Hobbit or in connection with C. S. Lewis. But the book looked interesting. I wondered it it might be an Arthurian novel, since the wizard on the cover, dressed in yellow, wore a pointed hat usually associated with Merlin. Also the Ring in the title might refer to Arthur’s round table. I was already aware that in many sources this table was ring shaped, with an empty centre. But browsing through the book showed no mention of Arthurian names but much mention of Frodo and Gandalf, and other non-Arthurian names. I was somewhat disappointed.

Then, by chance, I flipped to the page which had the ring inscription and read under it the words: “‘I cannot read the fiery letters,’ said Frodo in a quavering voice.” There was also the blurb on the front cover which read: “‘Superb—one of the major achievements of epic imagination in our lifetimes, and your life is the poorer if you have failed to read it.’—ANTHONY BOUCHER”. There were other blurbs and recommendations on the covers and opening pages. I knew then that whatever this book was about, I had to have it.

Once at home with my new book, I began to read it, and discovered it was a sequel to The Hobbit which I had read as a child. This delighted me! Why shouldn’t a children’s book have an adult sequel? But I was going to read this book RIGHT! Before continuing I walked the half mile to the local library and again borrowed The Hobbit from the children’s section of the library to refresh my memory before I continued.

But perhaps this account is overlong. For further details on my first reading you my see my account published in Amon Hen 241. Here I will only mention that my greatest joy was reaching the end of Fellowship and being puzzled that the story was not yet complete. Searching for an explanation for this in the editorial matter at the front of the book, I found the explanation:

Now Mr. Tolkien has written The Lord of the Rings, an heroic romance published in three parts, the first of which is The Fellowship of the Ring.

I was ecstatic that I had yet two more volumes to read, presumably just as good as the first volume.

[Elyna of Rivendell]

My Dad read The Hobbit aloud to me each night for about two months when i was about 8, and i remember thinking it was awesome, but i didn't really get hooked on it until i was about 11 and my Dad and my older cousin were arguing about somethign to do with how Sauron should be pronounced, and i got a bit curious, so i got the book off my dad's bookshelf and started to read. It was the start of a very long, (still going) obsession.

[Zigûr]

For some reason when I was, I think, ten years old, my mother decided to read "An Unexpected Party" to me. I don't know why she did, I was certainly very much grown out of having books read to me by that age, but I think she just wanted to get me interested in a new book and thought this was a good way to do it.

The thing that captured my attention the most, for whatever reason, were the Dwarves. Much like Bilbo is temporarily enraptured by their song, I found the Dwarves very interesting. In any event I promptly read the rest of The Hobbit on my own, followed by The Lord of the Rings (I was at first resistant, confusing its title with Lord of the Flies of which I had been told before, and not interested at that time in reading about boys trapped on an island!). I even attempted The Silmarillion all before age eleven but it wasn't until a few years later that I was really able to get to grips with that and start working on bringing the whole legendarium into focus.

[Elyna of Rivendell]

Originally Posted by Zigûr

I even attempted The Silmarillion all before age eleven but it wasn't until a few years later that I was really able to get to grips with that and start working on bringing the whole legendarium into focus.

I know what you mean, I read it when i was 12, but i had to read it twice in a row to figure it all out!

[Alcidas]

Picked it up in my school library when I was 12. Wanted to go on to read the Lord of the Rings, but they did not have a copy, and I only got to read it when I went to secondary school.

[blantyr]

I was around 12 years old. It was Christmas. I was looking forward to toys. My aunt gave me books, instead. Books! A series of three of them. Stupid aunt. My mother insisted I give them a shot.

It only took 30 years for me to wear them out, and have to buy a new set.

[Faramir Jones]

When I was 10, I saw a dramatised version of The Hobbit on a UK children's TV series called Jackanory, transmitted over 2 weeks and 10 episodes. I was impressed; as it was a nice mix of very well and less well-known actors of the time, Bernard Cribbins playing Bilbo Baggins.

While the effect of the dramatisation on me was significant, it was delayed; because it was two years later before I began to read the book. The occasion was my family moving house, me coming across a forgotten copy of The Hobbit, and eventually reading it to pieces. The rest, for me, is history...

[Ring Bearer]

It was the "Riddles in the Dark" scene for me in the first Hobbit movie.

Read "The Hobbit" in the summer of either 2013 or 2014.
I still haven't read The Lord of the Rings--I intend to read them some day.

I do know about a lot of things from the book because of the Internet(and my brother).
I do not intend to read The Silm because it is just too long(and I have spent hours on the Fandom wikia reading about the characters and thus know that it is too time consuming and meaningless for me).

[MCRmyGirl4eva]

I had the 1st and 3rd movies at home, and I had watched part of Fellowship, but I usually watched Disney or read Harry Potter instead. However, when the Return of the King video game came out, my neighbor bought it for her son and I would play it with him. (By which I mean get killed by the elephants). I liked the game, even though I was terrible, so I watched Fellowship and Return of the King all the way through. Since we didn't have The Two Towers, I read in in my freshman year of High School when I saw that my school library had it. Then I read Fellowship and ROTK, and I found TTT movie at a flea market, so I bought it and watched it.

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

I got introduced to LotR when my parents watched the movies. I had nothing better to do so I decided to watch FotR with them. I was hooked from that point on. I immediately started reading the books and finished those within a few weeks. Then I decided to read The Hobbit and finished that in a day. I have been obsessed with Tolkien and Middle Earth since.

[TilloW]

My parents had read the Hobbit so I thought that I would try it. It's a great book so I thought read the sequels. They were great books so I read the Silmarillion. That was a great book so I read Unfinished Tales. Oh, and I've seen the movies in between.

[Belegorn]

Originally Posted by Elyna of Rivendell

my Dad and my older cousin were arguing about somethign to do with how Sauron should be pronounced

hahaha, funny. Saw-Ron, Sou [like Sour] -Ron, etc? haha