LOTR as consolation and encouragement

[Iris Alantiel]

Absolutely! LotR and The Hobbit are the books that I read when I'm upset about something - anything. It never fails that I'll find something somewhere in there that will encourage me and help me to keep hope and strength.

Example: Last week I was really upset about something and couldn't sleep, so I crawled out of bed and picked up The Hobbit, thinking "Well, I'll just read one chapter and maybe I can read myself to sleep." So I read 'Riddles In The Dark' (fave chapter), and stumbled upon this quote:

"Go back?" he thought. "No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!"

And somehow that quote happened to be exactly what I needed to hear to make me feel better about what was going on. For some reason this happens to me all the time with Tolkien; the books always manage to tell me exactly what I need to hear.