[Guinevere]

Mae govannen everyone !

I’m not sure if I may join this thread of the BD-seniors or not…
I am certainly among the very oldest of you, since I am born 1951.
BUT, I am apparently an exception because I have NOT read LotR as a teenager, but only became acquainted with Tolkien’s works at the age of 50. And, let me tell you, it was quite a revelation for me! I have read a lot of books in my life , (also many English ones), yet I can honestly say that hardly any other book has so fascinated, thrilled and moved me, and none has stimulated my fantasy and enriched my life as much as LotR.

I only wonder why on earth I never came across Tolkien earlier in life. Probably because I don’t live in an English speaking country… Though I did spend a year in England (1971 and half a year in the USA (1973), none of my friends, teachers and acquaintances ever gave me a hint ( I used to borrow books from everyone. My favourite used to be Charlotte Brontë’s “ Jane Eyre”)
Anyhow, it was only 2 years ago when my elder son (now 17) started reading the Hobbit and LotR. (Several of his friends from the boy-scouts are Tolkien-Fans…) He read the books in German, while I got myself some English copies and was soon more of a fan than he was. For him, it’s just an exciting adventure story, but I get more out of it.
I proceeded with the Silmarillion (Rather hard to begin with, but fortunately I have a good memory for names…I was more troubled by the deep sadness in this work.) Thereafter, I reread LotR with a new understanding and appreciation. In between I had also read “On Fairy-stories”(Marvellous! I found so much truth in there!) and “Leaf by Niggle” which stirred a deeper interest in Tolkien’s life and thoughts, so I got his biography and the book by T.Shippey “Tolkien, author of the century”. In the mean time I had joined the Barrowdowns and have since then read ever so many interesting and thought-provoking threads.(Btw, that’s another side-effect of my Tolkien-craze: being rather a luddite, I had never touched a computer before, but my son taught me to use the internet so I could get in touch with other Tolkien- fans all over the world.) In the BD I came across several beautiful quotations from Tolkien’s letters, so of course, I had to have those treasures too! My latest acquisition are the Unfinished Tales , which I am reading now.

My younger son (12) was of course intrigued by all this talk about elves, dwarves, orcs etc and therefore also read the Hobbit last year and is now reading LotR.(He is very much interested in MiddleEarth and asks me all sorts of questions. ) Since he has to read aloud to me (on the teacher’s request) and alternately I read to him, I can compare his German copy to my English one. Alas, in no way does the translation justice to the original! Much of the charm of Tolkiens wonderful language is lost. I can just hope that my boys will later in life, when their English has improved, come back to Tolkien.
As for my dear husband, he never reads a novel, let alone fantasy. But he bears my “obsession” with patience. He even installed a DVD player , so we could watch the extended FotR-DVD.( But after 15 min. he fell asleep! It’s hopeless.)
For me, the BarrowDowns are a wonderful place, because I have no adult friends around me who know Tolkien.

Now I hope I haven’t bored anyone to death with this much too long post. I have certainly read all your posts with the greatest interest!