The First LOTR Fans - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Thinlómien · 02-06-2008, 07:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nogrod

But you were scared as well at least in the beginning Lommy. Do you remember when we read the part where the hobbits leave old Maggot's table and are getting nearer the Brandywine crossing... and then there's the smog and the approaching clatter of a horse... A Little Green was not the only one who was screaming...

You should know I couldn't have forgotten that horror, ever.

(And had you been following the Chapter-by-Chapter discussion lately, you would know I have not forgotten it...

)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nogrod

Just beware. One day I will actually find the time to read all those books over once again and not just check a thing or two from there to whatever purpose I need them. After that I will be flooding the threads...

I'm sure we're all waiting for that...

CSteefel · 02-12-2008, 09:58 PM

I first read it in 1964 or 1965, don't remember which. That would make me 12 or 13. I read it in a bomb shelter that my grandfather had built in a small house in southern Minnesota (so basically, the middle of nowhere). I stayed down there almost continuously for several days until I finished LOTR. Read the Hobbit later. Definitely an epiphany on the first reading...

Laurinquë · 02-15-2008, 02:33 AM

I must admit that sounds very cool, a bomb shelter "in the middle of no where", and LOTR!

ArathornJax · 02-18-2008, 07:57 PM

I was just born in the mid 60's, 65 so it was 1976 when I first read The Hobbit, and 1977 when I first read each of the LOTR books. Since then I have re-read them about once a year or so, finding them enjoyable each and every time.

I did read each of the HOME as they came out and have enjoyed the study of them. I have to say that the books are a major part of my life (literature in general is) and I have passed that on to each of my children. I guess that is not a bad legacy to leave to them.

However, Tolkien has set such a high standard for me in the realm of fantasy, that I find I am very particular about purchasing new fiction before reading it (thank goodness for the library). There's a lot of fantasy out now, since the 1960's and the 1970's, and a lot of that fantasy is badly written fantasy.

zxcvbn · 02-19-2008, 11:05 AM

I'm a fairly recent convert to the Tolkien fandom. In my childhood I'd hardly read novels; mostly comic books. Then I read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(borrowed from a friend) and that introduced me to the wonderful world of fantasy literature. Then I asked Mom to buy more Harry Potter books. One day she bought LOTR instead(not knowing what to buy) and I got ****ed since it was so long and tedious(I thought). Later I took the time to read throught it...and we were inseparable throughout the year. I then read the Hobbit ,the Silmarillion and other books. Now I have trouble pulling myself out of Middle-earth to focus on real world issues, like my studies...

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.

02-12-2008, 09:58 PM	#2
CSteefel Wight Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 204	I first read it in 1964 or 1965, don't remember which. That would make me 12 or 13. I read it in a bomb shelter that my grandfather had built in a small house in southern Minnesota (so basically, the middle of nowhere). I stayed down there almost continuously for several days until I finished LOTR. Read the Hobbit later. Definitely an epiphany on the first reading... __________________ `These are indeed strange days,' he muttered. `Dreams and legends spring to life out of the grass.'

02-18-2008, 07:57 PM	#4
ArathornJax Haunting Spirit Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Out West near a Big Salty Lake Posts: 76	The First Time I was just born in the mid 60's, 65 so it was 1976 when I first read The Hobbit, and 1977 when I first read each of the LOTR books. Since then I have re-read them about once a year or so, finding them enjoyable each and every time. I did read each of the HOME as they came out and have enjoyed the study of them. I have to say that the books are a major part of my life (literature in general is) and I have passed that on to each of my children. I guess that is not a bad legacy to leave to them. However, Tolkien has set such a high standard for me in the realm of fantasy, that I find I am very particular about purchasing new fiction before reading it (thank goodness for the library). There's a lot of fantasy out now, since the 1960's and the 1970's, and a lot of that fantasy is badly written fantasy.

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02-15-2008, 02:33 AM	#3
Laurinquë Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 347	I must admit that sounds very cool, a bomb shelter "in the middle of no where", and LOTR!

02-19-2008, 11:05 AM	#5
zxcvbn Wight Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: In front of my PC Posts: 164	I'm a fairly recent convert to the Tolkien fandom. In my childhood I'd hardly read novels; mostly comic books. Then I read Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(borrowed from a friend) and that introduced me to the wonderful world of fantasy literature. Then I asked Mom to buy more Harry Potter books. One day she bought LOTR instead(not knowing what to buy) and I got ****ed since it was so long and tedious(I thought). Later I took the time to read throught it...and we were inseparable throughout the year. I then read the Hobbit ,the Silmarillion and other books. Now I have trouble pulling myself out of Middle-earth to focus on real world issues, like my studies...

02-20-2008, 10:16 PM	#6
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.