As I recall I first read The Hobbit in 6th grade (11 yrs old, 1972) and then made it through the Lord of The Rings in Junior High (12 or 13 years old, I remember discussing Boromir's repentance with several good friends.) What prompted me: those same friends. Dell, Martha, Carla. And then when my siblings saw the books, they said, Ah, the kid has some sense after all.
So: 30 years ago for Bilbo, 28 years ago for Frodo. (Mith, we're tied!)
I still have my original Hobbit; alas, however, my matching boxed paperback trilogy mildewed, and I threw it out last year. I had the one with Tokien's watercolors on the cover, and the Heraldric banners and tiles and insignias on the (red) box. It must have been a ballantine version, I still remember that inscription.
I have read thoroughly thru the trilogy (I think) eleven times; parts of it (Pelennor Fields) many, many more times than that. I used to gallop thru The Hobbit whenever I had a spare day.
This was Junior High, and High School; I had embroidered Tengwar on my jeans jacket and several pairs of jeans. Nobody could read it except one close friend, and she didn't squeal.
[ September 17, 2002: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]
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...down to the water to see the elves dance and sing upon the midsummer's eve.
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