It's mine! My preciousss!
 

Last night, I took the hundred-dollar bill that a wealthy friend of my father's deposited under my Christmas tree, and went out to buy the entire Lord of the Rings; I desperatly needed my own copy. Of course, I also need a new pair of pants, so I walked out of the store with a not-so-expensive edition. One day, when I am a wealthy author, sipping martini and tending to my own stable, I will definitely own a stunning edition. I'm sure most of you do already.
Today, I went and stood in line at the local DMV for about 4 hours, due to the fact that some jerk recently swiped my wallet, and I needed a new license. I brought the book along with me. The line was long, and the people behind me were joking that I would finish the entire set by the time I got up to the main desk. And dig this, a man in front of me, having noticed what I was reading, turned and said,
"It's funny you should have that book Miss, because in my opinion, you are the splitting image of Galadriel herself, just grow your hair out a bit more." I didn't know how to respond to that.
And as if that wasn't enough, some little kid began speaking elvish to me!...At least, it sounded like elvish. He said he had read the books twice already, but didn't look a day over ten.
So this is what happens when you get your hands on Tolkien...Next thing you know, I'll be run down by a stampeding herd of orcs as I cross the street.

The DMV is such a wonderful efficient place! You don't need an expensive set, mine are my second set, the old 1980's paperbacks. The outside doesn't matter as long as you got the whole story inside! [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

I just treated myself to a new set today too. I went for cheap paperback - easier to hold and throw in a bag to read on the bus. My old set is a beautiful hardback edition, used to belong to my grandfather, bought in the 50s. But FoTR finally fell apart yesterday (read too often), and I noticed some damp bits on RoTK, so I thought it was time for a new copy [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
Like he said - it's the inside that counts!

In hindsight, it's probably better that I got a cheap edition, because I have a history of loving my books to death. They end up in my bed, on the floor of my car (I drag my books along everywhere, hoping that whatever it is I end up doing, I will have five extra minutes to read), on the dinner table splashed with coffee (I always read and eat simultaneously), and so on and so forth. Treating a 65-dollar set this way is not very practical.

I only have a big hardcover copy, i used to have paperbacks but they got lost. The hardcover i have is the one illustrated by Alan Lee and it's beautiful but i always feel the need to be extra careful with it. As careful as i am with it there are rips and tears and coffee stains and cigarette burns and i feel very guilty about it. I like a nice paperback i can throw around.

In reguards to being a girl carrying around Tolkien books--when i would read them at school sometimes i would usually have some guy come up to me and say something in elvish or reciting some quote from the book. I'm not the flirty type but i ended up making a lot of Tolkien friends that way. Don't know any female fans though [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] i have to look on the internet for them.

There seem to be alot of us female fans in here. Welcome Anya!

I have the paperback versions, but they don't match. I bought tTT after finishing FotR, and RotK after that, so they're all very well-loved, dogeared and mismatched copies. soon I'll get a hardback edition, but I've recently got a nice shiny new copy of the Hobbit. my old LotR used to be my vrothers, and it fell apart years ago (don't know what edition it was but it was all in one and had a mean looking Black Rider on the front... [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

The one I bought is movie-themed, it has one of those spooky shots of a black rider on the front, and little pictures of Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas (now you know why I chose it [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] ) and Frodo on the back. Not exactly the best, but all a poor student like me could afford for now. I am quite satisfied.

**raises eyebrow** I had to rely on gifts to get the books. I can't afford them on my own.....

Are you not old enough to work yet? Babysit every once in a while, that should do the trick.
Book-shopping is a lovely experience and should not be denied to anyone. And after all else fails, there is always the public library (Although with all the hype surrounding the movie, I doubt there will be any copies left! And that's a good thing).

At the grocery store the other day i saw this beautiful copy of the Hobbit. It was literally a matter of 'groceries or hobbit?" and unfortunately it had to be groceries, but next time it will be Hobbit. They had sold out of Fellowship of the Ring though and i thought that was cool. It's great that so many people have picked up the book since the movie came out.

Congratulations, Lush!
I had my first very own copy for christmaspresent this year...Hip hip, hurrah! And I think that our local bookstore is getting pretty tired with me, because I'm always sneaking (there's a little Gollum in each of us) there to read a few sentences from the english version of LotR!(mine is in finnish)Oops, correction: they WERE getting tired, now they have sold all the copys in english... [img]smilies/mad.gif[/img] What am I gonna do now?! [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

Nenya-I'm sure you can order the book!...I actually wonder if Tolkien was ever translated into Russian-my native language. I think it might have been...And if the translations are bad, I know what I'll be doing in about twenty years-sitting down with a pot of coffee and a few dictionaries, and working on a new translation!

I had my own experience this Christmas. With the movie and my excitement for its arrival my family gave me a couple Tolkien things and they afterwards told me that the had also bought me one of those book marks with a character on it and a ring on its tassel, but the had probably lost it at the bookstore. I just smiled and said since it was bought for me I was now its master and it would find its way back to me. And sure enough it showed up in a bag somewhere. Unfortunately when I put it on, I apparently wasn't invisible.

Damn! Who knows though, maybe your ring is just *pretending* to be good. Watch out if it begins speaking to you at night, or if you end up celebrating your 111th birthday still having all your front teeth!
As for me, the next time someone starts speaking elvish to me, I will know what to answer! I am set.

Be careful with magic rings, Son of Gondor! Sometimes they make you invisible, but not your clothes (the Nine Rings), sometimes they make you vanish with your clothes (the One Ring), sometimes neither you nor your clothes will disappear (like the Three Rings), sometimes - who knows? So it is better not to test a magic ring in public...

I think it was.
Ghâshgûl

[ January 03, 2002: Message edited by: Ghâshgûl ]

[ January 03, 2002: Message edited by: Sharku ]

It must be translated to russian, if it's in finnish. The finnish version is actually good, thank god.(But it can't beat original one, of course)
Oh, and I also got "A guide to Tolkien" for present! Have any of you read it?

Not yet, but I wish I had one! I'm starting to get myself into deep discussions here, and my comparitive lack of knowledge is not helping. But I am a fast learner!
I wish I had a copy of LotR in Russian; that way, I could make my father read it. He loved the movie, and we could have one more convert.

You know I think its about time to get myself the nice hardcovers of both the Hobbit and LotR. My first book was a version of The Hobbit that had picture stills taken from the cartoon. I loved that book to death until the pages fell away from the cover. My first set was was an old paperback 4 book set (Hobbit and LotR) inside a case that was covered with various 'tiles' of the people and houses of Middle Earth. In fact I styled my picture underneath my name after one of those tiles (Elendils I think). I also have two hardcover copies of The Silmarillion, in fact they are the exact same book, I forget how I got them.

Anyways, that 4 book set is in tatters, so I think its time to treat myself to those nice leatherbound hardcovers [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

My copy is a 1979 paperback set belonging to my parents. Its incredibly battered and has food spilled on it, and a very 70's cover, but it's all good. When I start work again I'm going to buy myself a nice copy I think. Preferably one with Legolas on it, if I can find one.

I don't yet know the "Guide to Tolkien". But if you are looking for secondary literature about Middle Earth, I can recommend you the following books:

• Robert Foster, The Complete Guide to Middle-Earth , HarperCollins 1991
• Karen Wynn Fonstad, Atlas of Middle-Earth, Houghton Mifflin 2001

The Foster is very complete (although it does not yet respect the History of Middle Earth), and the Fonstad is interesting and very, very useful (it's kind of an historical atlas). Currently I am passing a lot of time in Middle-Earth because I am trying to re-tell the story of the War of the Ring from the viewpoint of a Nazgûl. (Just for fun, I am not a professional writer - but who knows?). In any case I find myself every three minutes looking something up in these two books. (Did you ever look up something about penguins in an encyclopedia and find yourself three hours later reading an article about Anselm of Canterbury? Well: These two books have exactly the same effect... [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] )

Ghâshgûl

[ January 07, 2002: Message edited by: Ghâshgûl ]

I don't have the one by Karen Fonstad but I find myself doing that all the time with The Complete Guide. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

Typical. No mention of dwarves. They're always ignored or omitted. I bet that man was a really a dwarf incognito. Did he try to get a strand of your hair?

Only unless he insulted her BEFORE he saw her. Was he carrying an axe?

Pfft...Dwarves.

This I find the most shocking:


:eek: ;)

You know, looking back on it, that incident was creepy. I was seventeen at the time, and really didn't know better than to nod and smile and go back my book. But, in hindsight... people sometimes think that just because they share a certain interest with someone, they can approach them and talk all sorts of nonsense.

Although kids speaking Elvish - that's always cute. I hope they don't give up on it now, after the movie-mania has worn off. :)