[Neferchoirwen]

Nurumaiel , that was so elegant! I wish that I had parents who were as read as yours and who would have given me the opportunity to be introduced to this world that can only be entered by turning its pages. I remember feeling that feeling of childhood intrigue about a part of an animation that exists in an obscure video tape (in my case, it was a snippet of Puff the Magic Dragon---although, it is a curious thing how as toddlers, we enjoy seeing things like animation without understanding the entire plot---like the way I love the Smurfs movie...oh well).

I do feel annoyed when Lord of the Rings discussions among friends fall into behind the scenes stories, or EE features, and New Zealand. I love the films, but I learned to treat the books as a separate entity from the films.

Snowdog , I was always wondering how to categorize fans, and you've hit the nail right there! I am a movie recruit, and proud of it (but I do regret nursing my book reading bag log to something as ridiculous as not reading LOtR...quite ridiculous for a Lit major such as myself), and am looking forward to giving the gift of middle earth to my kids...and somehow make adopted first born fans out of them (introduce the books to them before I make them watch the films...I'll try, I promise!).

Although, there are people I know (strange as it seems) that haven't seen the movies or read the books (and these are lit majors---less than a handful, as far as I know them). What kind of fans will they be if they choose to read them before they see the films? Just curious...