When did you first read Lord of the Rings?

[Loslote]

I first "read" it when my mom read it to me. I must have been either nine or ten, (because I was still dating things by where I lived, so I couldn't have gotten used to the idea of actually staying in one place yet, which means the first couple of years in Alaska). I totally loved it at the time, but I'd mostly forgotten it (although I still remebered vividly certain parts of it - Saruman's multi-colored cloak and the story of Aragorn's death in particular. I read it again as a "school" book when I was...um...I think thirteen, maybe twelve, and that time it stuck. I read Sil, the HoMEs, UT, etc, etc. I don't remember when The Hobbit came in. I think my mom read it to me, but I don't really remember it (although I know the story well enough to be able to fumble through the Spanish version, so I had to have read it sometime... )

I loved the sense of history behind everything. The idea that there was something before now, and before that, and even before that, and that it all affected what was happening now in such an important way. I also loved the languages, particularly elvish. That's what brought me online - I was looking for elvish resources. Through a very roundabout way, that ended up here. (Very, very roundabout - including my mom having tea with Nurumaiel's grandmother and mother, and happening to mention LotR. Ah, Lady Luck will have her say. ) Anyway, during my first read-through I was so engrossed, my mom wouldn't even know where I was for hours on end, because I would hole up somewhere and totally forget where I was (a common conversation was "Lottie, take out the garbage." "Okay." *an hour later* "Lottie, take out the garbage." "Okay." *an hour later* ... you get the idea, only with my real name instead of Lottie. )

[Isabellkya]

I first read LOTR in High School. I was prompted to read the series via my math/physics teacher, as he was absolutely obsessed and put an extra credit question - LOTR related on the end of each exam. If you stumped him, he would give you double EC points.

I can not even recall my initial reaction, other than I enjoyed it - and have reread routinely in the years following.

Thinking about it now, I wonder why my parents never had copies; as they are both huge book readers, fantasy included. Though I do recall my mother telling me about my uncle having copies of the books.

[Thinlómien]

I first read LotR when I was 7 or 8 years old. I remember spending a whole summer slowly on it and enjoying it tremendously even though the poor book got quite torn by me carrying it everywhere and I fell asleep on the book while reading thh chapter The Great River.

My LotR enthusiasm started earlier though. My dad *coughNogrodcough* showed me and my sister *coughALittleGreencough* the Bakshi cartoon and read the books to us too (first TH, the LotR, then Sil and then even the UT). It had a huge impact on me and I was basically half living in Middle-Earth the rest of my childhood (and admittedly even now ).

Anyway, although most of my memory is blurred, I remember some highlight s from dad reading the stuff, like getting incredibly angry when he stopped reading in the middle of the Voice of Saruman (I started shouting and crying and threatened to finish reading the chapter on my own if he doesn't read it and in the end he and mom gave up and we got the rest of the story ) and my little sister got scared and wanted dad to stop reading more or less exactly at the point when Frodo speculates that a kid would ask his/her daddy to close the book.

Ah, happy memories!

[Rumil]

My word, when did you first read when did you first read The Lord of the Rings?

Going back to the old thread tis strange to think that I've been a Downer nearly eight years!

[Beorn of Carrock]

My 1st Tolkien book was the FoTR when I was 10; It seems that Rumil was already registered here

Soonly, it was followed by the Hobbit and the Silmarillion, and I finished the HoME series a year or so ago.

[Morsul the Dark]

I'd read the Hobbit when I was like 8 or 9 nd likedit... but somehow it slipped from my mind until the trilogy came out. I loved the first movie, and so I read the trilogy, I was partway through ROTK when Two Towers the movie came out.

I've tried to reread it numerous times... But I always get stalled around the middle of book two. For me it is a great book, however it does seem to ramble in parts(I realize this as an odd thing.) it reminds me of 1984 in that regard I want to know what happens next because it's fascinating but on the other hand it drags a lot.

Oh and I do have to add one thing. Depending on the definition I still haven't READ the trilogy....
I kind of...skipped the songs...

[Lastande Took]

It's kind of complicated. My parents didn't want me reading fantasy because they knew I'd get totally sucked in to the point where it messed up real life. Until a couple months ago, Narnia was far as I'd gone. Then, LotR came up on a Sherlock Holmes forum I frequent, and I was called a "despicable heathen" for living in ingnorance and told to "go, and read." I thought, "Hey, I'll be 18 in a few months, I can wait that long to read what I like."

Enter little brother, who checked out The Hobbit from the library. I thought to myself, "You know, they've got the Trilogy in the staff lounge at work. I guess it won't hurt to read it now instead of in July." I borrowed the Trilogy, one volume at a time, and read the whole thing, plus Hobbit, in about a week. If I'm careful, I can keep my LotR obsession down to quotes, the soundtrack on YouTube, and learning Quenya.

It may very well be early training, but I've found I don't care for fantasy outside of Narnia, LotR, Star Wars, and mythology.