The Tolkien Coming of Age Club

Senior year in High School, class of 1966. The smartest guy in the class had one of the Ballantine paperbacks & said "you've read it, of course." I hadn't but soon rectified the situation. (Later he said he'd marry me if I knew Golias--many years later, I finally found "Silverlock." Every time I get a notice of another Class Reunion I see the message: "Does anybody know how to get in touch with S----- McC-----?" Yet another reason to avoid the reunions. Ah, well.)

I read the trilogy & The Hobbit several times. Also Farmer Giles & On Fairy Tales. I branched out to other fantasy writers--Lin Carter's series of classic fantasies was a response to the success of Tolkien. Then on to non-fiction. (I'd read "The Once & Future King" senior year as well, so I was also on the Arthurian track.) A bit of Jung & a lot of Joseph Campbell. One semester of Medieval English Literature in college.

The coming of the movies made pick up a copy of The Fellowship (the sixties were hard on my library). I was surprised to find it so delightful & plan to continue to The Silmarilion & the other works.