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littlemanpoet · 02-20-2008, 10:16 PM

I've told this before here, but when I was 8 years old, my 16 year old brother read "Riddles in the Dark" to me. I was enthralled, and hooked. I devoured The Hobbit soon after. I think I had read all of The Narnia Chronicles by then, and was ready for this new, wonderful, and though similar, somehow deeper and better thing. It seemed more like our world, only centures ago.

I read LotR for the first time over a three year period, from age 10 to 13. I got stuck for over a year where Pippin and Gandalf are about to enter Minas Tirith.

I remember in 9th grade, I think it was, we had to give oral book reports in English class, and I had gotten so excited about another book that I gave an overlong blow for blow account of the plot, which the teacher finally had to "aid me" to bring to a close. The next time I was due, I was prepared to give mine on LotR, which I think I had not yet finished even then. Another student gave an oral book report on The Hobbit, so my ground was laid. So I went up there with all three (ugly 1968 Ballantine) volumes, and plunked them down on the desk as if they were monstrous tomes. The class groaned and moaned, expecting a triple overlong account of all three books.

My report ended up being about one minute long. "Remember Susan's book report on The Hobbit? Well, in this three volume set, it turns out that the Ring Bilbo found is evil, and his heir, Frodo, has to get rid of it. This is the story of his quest to do so." Then I sat back down. Probably I was too short.

I remember during my high school years, at the local university, there was a pizza joint called "Bilbo's", and on the bathroom walls were scrawled such graffiti as "Frodo Lives" and "Tolkien is Hobbit forming", and so on.

I lived in my own Middle Earth world, and knew nobody else who enjoyed Tolkien's works the way I did, except for my brothers, who by then had left home for college. It was not until my senior year of high school, that along with Dungeons and Dragons gaming, a few high school buddies and I started playing an LotR board game and talking about Middle Earth for hours and hours. Those two guys are still two of my closest friends.

But the Downs has been a great place to take it to another level.

02-20-2008, 10:16 PM	#24
littlemanpoet Itinerant Songster Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: The Edge of Faerie Posts: 7,066	I've told this before here, but when I was 8 years old, my 16 year old brother read "Riddles in the Dark" to me. I was enthralled, and hooked. I devoured The Hobbit soon after. I think I had read all of The Narnia Chronicles by then, and was ready for this new, wonderful, and though similar, somehow deeper and better thing. It seemed more like our world, only centures ago. I read LotR for the first time over a three year period, from age 10 to 13. I got stuck for over a year where Pippin and Gandalf are about to enter Minas Tirith. I remember in 9th grade, I think it was, we had to give oral book reports in English class, and I had gotten so excited about another book that I gave an overlong blow for blow account of the plot, which the teacher finally had to "aid me" to bring to a close. The next time I was due, I was prepared to give mine on LotR, which I think I had not yet finished even then. Another student gave an oral book report on The Hobbit, so my ground was laid. So I went up there with all three (ugly 1968 Ballantine) volumes, and plunked them down on the desk as if they were monstrous tomes. The class groaned and moaned, expecting a triple overlong account of all three books. My report ended up being about one minute long. "Remember Susan's book report on The Hobbit? Well, in this three volume set, it turns out that the Ring Bilbo found is evil, and his heir, Frodo, has to get rid of it. This is the story of his quest to do so." Then I sat back down. Probably I was too short. I remember during my high school years, at the local university, there was a pizza joint called "Bilbo's", and on the bathroom walls were scrawled such graffiti as "Frodo Lives" and "Tolkien is Hobbit forming", and so on. I lived in my own Middle Earth world, and knew nobody else who enjoyed Tolkien's works the way I did, except for my brothers, who by then had left home for college. It was not until my senior year of high school, that along with Dungeons and Dragons gaming, a few high school buddies and I started playing an LotR board game and talking about Middle Earth for hours and hours. Those two guys are still two of my closest friends. But the Downs has been a great place to take it to another level.