hooboy, so this is somewhat of an ironic tale. My dad has always appreciated Tolkien, and we had a copy of TH in the house for as long as I remember, but I had no idea what it was about nor did I really care to find out. Oddly enough, I loved reading as a kid, especially some of the great classics of our times (my mom always complained when I insisted on walking through the mall with my nose in my book...one eye on the page and one eye on passing traffic to ensure that I didn't hit anything. I also had a tendency to read past my bedtime by the light of my nightlight, probably to the detriment of my vision today
). Not only that, but I live in a part of the world that looks JUST like Middle Earth, and is as beautiful as any of the scenery that is witnessed in the Jackson films, and as a result I had a curious love affair with the outdoors (trees, forests, mountains, and streams in particular). My eventually love affair with Tolkien's world seems inevitable, yet it nearly wasn't so.
When FOTR came out, my dad took me and a friend to see it. I'll never forget that experience...it was New Years Eve and the rather old and dingy theater was nearly empty. I will also never forget the ache in my back after sitting the full three hours in the same position, arms linked with my friend out of fear. For us, the orcs and other terrible creatures were terrifying, especially when we had not been exposed to that world before. It quite overwhelmed me! I had always loved the fantastical, but have never really been exposed to 'fantasy' like that of Tolkien's world.
What a travesty. For a year I thought little of Lord of the Rings, and then the Two Towers came out. One of my cousins, who is also a close friend, had been talking about it for a while and I thought, why not? So I gave it another chance. This time my eyes were opened. I loved it and needed to know more! Shortly thereafter my family went to hawaii for a week and I brought along TTT. I read it on the beach and was done in a couple days...and was in complete shock at the ending! I had to know what happened to Frodo and Sam! My mom on the other hand refused to buy me ROTK while we were on vacation because it would be cheaper at home. It was awful. I promptly read FOTR when we got home and then finally got my hands on a library copy of ROTK. Then I read the Sil, Unfinished Tales, countless biographies and essays on Tolkien, and I never looked back.
I had always been an elf at heart but had just never known it. I shudder to think what would have happened if I hadn't given LOTR another chance when TTT came out.