The First LOTR Fans

[Laurinquë]

I must admit that sounds very cool, a bomb shelter "in the middle of no where", and LOTR!

[ArathornJax]

I was just born in the mid 60's, 65 so it was 1976 when I first read The Hobbit, and 1977 when I first read each of the LOTR books. Since then I have re-read them about once a year or so, finding them enjoyable each and every time.

I did read each of the HOME as they came out and have enjoyed the study of them. I have to say that the books are a major part of my life (literature in general is) and I have passed that on to each of my children. I guess that is not a bad legacy to leave to them.

However, Tolkien has set such a high standard for me in the realm of fantasy, that I find I am very particular about purchasing new fiction before reading it (thank goodness for the library). There's a lot of fantasy out now, since the 1960's and the 1970's, and a lot of that fantasy is badly written fantasy.

[zxcvbn]

I'm a fairly recent convert to the Tolkien fandom. In my childhood I'd hardly read novels; mostly comic books. Then I read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(borrowed from a friend) and that introduced me to the wonderful world of fantasy literature. Then I asked Mom to buy more Harry Potter books. One day she bought LOTR instead(not knowing what to buy) and I got ****ed since it was so long and tedious(I thought). Later I took the time to read throught it...and we were inseparable throughout the year. I then read the Hobbit ,the Silmarillion and other books. Now I have trouble pulling myself out of Middle-earth to focus on real world issues, like my studies...

[littlemanpoet]

I've told this before here, but when I was 8 years old, my 16 year old brother read "Riddles in the Dark" to me. I was enthralled, and hooked. I devoured The Hobbit soon after. I think I had read all of The Narnia Chronicles by then, and was ready for this new, wonderful, and though similar, somehow deeper and better thing. It seemed more like our world, only centures ago.

I read LotR for the first time over a three year period, from age 10 to 13. I got stuck for over a year where Pippin and Gandalf are about to enter Minas Tirith.

I remember in 9th grade, I think it was, we had to give oral book reports in English class, and I had gotten so excited about another book that I gave an overlong blow for blow account of the plot, which the teacher finally had to "aid me" to bring to a close. The next time I was due, I was prepared to give mine on LotR, which I think I had not yet finished even then. Another student gave an oral book report on The Hobbit, so my ground was laid. So I went up there with all three (ugly 1968 Ballantine) volumes, and plunked them down on the desk as if they were monstrous tomes. The class groaned and moaned, expecting a triple overlong account of all three books. My report ended up being about one minute long. "Remember Susan's book report on The Hobbit? Well, in this three volume set, it turns out that the Ring Bilbo found is evil, and his heir, Frodo, has to get rid of it. This is the story of his quest to do so." Then I sat back down. Probably I was too short.

I remember during my high school years, at the local university, there was a pizza joint called "Bilbo's", and on the bathroom walls were scrawled such graffiti as "Frodo Lives" and "Tolkien is Hobbit forming", and so on.

I lived in my own Middle Earth world, and knew nobody else who enjoyed Tolkien's works the way I did, except for my brothers, who by then had left home for college. It was not until my senior year of high school, that along with Dungeons and Dragons gaming, a few high school buddies and I started playing an LotR board game and talking about Middle Earth for hours and hours. Those two guys are still two of my closest friends.

But the Downs has been a great place to take it to another level.