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Old 01-19-2003, 10:17 PM   #161
Samwise
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Don't feel bad, Mr. Poet, sir--took me a while to discover this thread, too.
*waves at his departing back*
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Old 01-20-2003, 10:13 AM   #162
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Child of the 7th Age and mark 12_30 invited me in the other day so I'm going to jump right in here...

It was 1975. I was 10 and a voracious reader. My mother often said that I went through books like other people went through potato chips - I would chew them up and swallow them and then go looking for more. It came to pass in the autumn of that year that I realized that I had read everything on my father's well-stocked bookshelf and was at a loss as to what to do with myself. I remembered seeing a stash of books in his closet once (I didn't know at the time why they were verboten and didn't really care - I needed something to read, you see) and so ransacked the box until I found 3 hard-cover books (carefully wrapped in plastic) written by the same author of The Hobbit! I was THRILLED! I loved The Hobbit. I had read it when I was 6 and never dreamed there were more. I immediately sat right there on the floor in front of the closet (books and shoes strewn about me everywhere) and began to read.

I had gotten almost two chapters into it when my father came home and just about flipped. I didn't know at the time, but these were 1954 first editions of the original George Allen & Unwin publications. (A relative in Ireland had gotten them for him and he treasured them - imagine when he saw my grubby little ten-year-old hands all over them!) He took the books away from me, wrapped them back up and returned them to their places, admonishing me never, NEVER to touch them again. Oh, it was TORTURE!! Never had I been told that I COULDN'T read something - especially something that was so alluring in just two small chapters!

So I was a good little girl and followed orders, right? Yeah, sure. I couldn't help myself. Everyday, there were two hours that my brothers and sisters had alone in the house between the time we got home from school and my parents got home from work. So everyday, I would plant myself in front of the closet, unwrap the books, read as much as I could in those two hours and then carefully re-wrap them and replace them before my dad got home. I cannot describe to you the torment I had going to bed every night, not being able get this story out of my mind and being so limited in what I could read everyday. And weekends when I couldn't read them at all were absolute hell! And it took me almost 4 weeks between The Choices of Master Samwise and The Tower of Cirith Ungol to finally find out what happened to Frodo! Ah, sweet relief.

Anyway, I finally reached the end of The Grey Havens thinking I had at least a few hundred pages left and...WHAT? APPENDICES?!?! What the dratted HELL is THIS? I want more Frodo! I read the appendices anyway because I simply could not stop at this point but I was hugely disappointed that the story had ended. I think I could have gone on forever sneaking Middle-earth for two hours a day under threat of punishment if only the story of Frodo went on!

And so it was that I read LotR from September through November of 1975 in secrecy and silent torment. But still, that wasn't enough. I began bugging my parents relentlessy for my own copy (never telling, of course that I had read my dad's) because I wanted to read it again...and again and again. I can't describe to you the disappointment I felt that Christmas when there was no new LotR under the tree for me.

That April, I received for my 11th birthday a beautiful 1965 collector's edition bound in red with gold lettering (Oh, joy! Just like the Red Book of Westmarch!) along with a companion green-bound The Hobbit. It was not until several years later that I confessed to my father that I had read his treasured 1st editions. He wasn't surprised.

A few years later, when I left for college I was unpacking my suitcase in my new dorm-room when I found some presents wrapped in white paper with daisies on it. There was a rather large, heavy one, a large light one and a very small one. I opened the small one first...it was a small metal button-pin, white with red lettering that said, "Frodo Lives." I knew immediately what the large heavy one was - yes my father had given me his cherished 1st editions. I cried. The large, light one was a print he had had made and framed of the map of Middle-earth. My new room-mate rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, God, you're one of THEM!" I never did get to like her.

I still have and treasure both of the sets he gave me as well as the map and pin and keep them in places of honor in my home. Like my father, I have forbidden my children from touching them, however, I do keep paperback editions handy for them and - joy of joys! - have had to replace them twice already because my children are just as enthralled by Middle-earth as I ever was. The poor paperbacks are put through the wringer before they're finally retired and replaced!

So, here I sit, a 37-yr-old mother of four who has been carrying on an unhealthy obsession with a fifty-year-old Hobbit for almost 30 years. I'm so very glad to see that I'm in very good company. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]
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- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
- Where are we going?...And why am I in this handbasket?
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Old 01-20-2003, 12:16 PM   #163
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Littlemanpoet and Aratlithiel,

So my link actually worked! Usually they don't.

Artlithiel, what a wonderful story. Third generation Lord of the Ring fans! That is quite something. And the books you have...drool, drool.

We're only working on second generation here. My parents were definitely the Gamgee types in terms of class and interests. A very loving family, but books were hard to come be. They would never have dreamed of opening up The Hobbit or LotR. But my father's family came from Lancashire and Cornwall (first Cornish miners, then Michigan's copper mines) so I grew up with a love of foods, folksongs, tales, etc passed down from grandparents that could loosely be defined as'English'.

When I read about the Shire, it absolutely struck a nerve, and I have been hooked ever since. (Ah, Littlemanpoet, now you can see why I am enamored with the idea of Tolkien's 'mythology for England.') I was in the rare situation of being able to use fantasy and Tolkien as a way to "rebel"--to define my own identity and yet to keep something of my family's values.

My parents definitely did not understand their daughter's interest in Elves or dragons, but their ideas about community, loyalty, hard work, simple creature comforts, etc. were close to those of the hobbits in the Shire.

Plus, I had the added incentive of being part of the 'Frodo Lives' generation who went to college in the late 60s, with posters, buttons, etc. festooning our dorm rooms. We trotted around in long skirts, looking like hobbit girls. I even remember being in an undergraduate Ecology class (something new back in those days!), and the teacher letting us compare the atttudes of our 'modern' world concerning the environment with the ideas expressed in LotR. I felt as if I had been admitted into a secret club!

Good seeing you both on this thread!

sharon
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Old 01-20-2003, 03:17 PM   #164
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Welcome to the Downs,Aratlithiel .

I enjoyed reading your story. I wish I could get my kids interested in Middle-Earth, but alas, My "voracious reader" is a StarWars fan, and thinks "Mom has lost it".

I am, in fact, the only Tolkien reader in all the genreations of my family (most of which came from Great Brittain, more's the pity.)

[ January 20, 2003: Message edited by: Raefindel ]
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Old 01-20-2003, 11:33 PM   #165
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Thank you for your positive feedback. Do you know I can still smell that closet if I close my eyes? I may die a doddering old fool, but I will ALWAYS remember that autumn.

And Child, thanks so much for sending me here. One of the few priviledges of age is that you get to come to a forum where you don't have to wade through the teeny-boppers drooling over Legolas!
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- I must find the Mountain of Fire and cast the thing into the gulf of Doom. Gandalf said so. I do not think I shall ever get there.
- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
- Where are we going?...And why am I in this handbasket?
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Old 01-21-2003, 03:35 AM   #166
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Aratlithiel,

I read your story to my husband (who enjoys Tolkien very much but is sick of hearing me go on and on and on about it) and even in his jaded, over-elf-exposed state he thoroughly enjoyed your story.

And so did I.

I find it interesting that while there are relatively few Legolas addicts in this (ahem) ever-so-mature-membered thread, there is more than one Frodo addict, although most of-- cough-- (us) --cough -- refrain from swooning. Most of the time.

But... don't get me started on the Balrog. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] (Bethberry will kill me.)

[img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]
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Old 01-21-2003, 07:31 AM   #167
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Wow! That makes me think of my first reading of LoTR. I needed to escape the real world, and couldn't have found a better place. It was the year after I read the Hobbit for that freshman english, oral book report. In late January, my big brother ( he was 19, I was 15) went out one night and never came home! His Corvair broke down on the highway and he was struck by several vechicals when he got out of the car. It was hit and run, the first car never stopped. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] My parents crawled into their shell for a good two years after that, and I was left alone to wonder. I picked up FoTR, went to Middle Earth, and stayed there for most of that awful year. I'd just read and reread it, and it never let me down. I was so lucky to have those books for my escape! [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
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Old 01-21-2003, 07:54 AM   #168
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mark12_30 - thanks and I'm glad you (and your husband) enjoyed it. I'm sure my husband can sympathize with yours, the poor guys. My husband likes to tell friends that his wife has no idea where the marriage license might be but can tell you the exact location of each and every piece of Tolkien paraphenalia she owns. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

And Liriodendron - what an awful time you must have had. I'm glad you had something to give you solace in such a horrible situation.
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- I must find the Mountain of Fire and cast the thing into the gulf of Doom. Gandalf said so. I do not think I shall ever get there.
- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
- Where are we going?...And why am I in this handbasket?
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Old 01-21-2003, 02:17 PM   #169
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Aratlithiel,

How wonderful of your father to pass his 1st editions to you. I almost cried myself when I read about it.

Welcome to the Coming of Age club - I haven't been on here long myself, but have been made to feel very welcome.
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Old 01-21-2003, 02:35 PM   #170
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Lirodendron,

What a terrible thing for you & your parents to go through. I am also glad you were able to find comfort in your grief.
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Old 01-21-2003, 06:10 PM   #171
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Liriodendron, I can't imagine a trial like that. I'm glad Middle-Earth was there for your solace. I hope your parents also were able to find solace, and healing.
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Old 01-24-2003, 12:03 AM   #172
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Liriodendron, what a sad story! I also read Tolkien after a family tragedy. It was the year I lost my mother to cancer and went to live with my Aunt (who was both physically and verbally abusive). I retreated into my room with a borowed boxed-edition and didn't come out for a year.

[ January 24, 2003: Message edited by: Raefindel ]
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Old 01-24-2003, 12:05 AM   #173
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Ya know, I think we need a support group for the husbands who have lost their wives in Middle-Earth.
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Old 01-24-2003, 06:17 AM   #174
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Mine would join.
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Old 01-24-2003, 07:40 AM   #175
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LOL!!

Can your wife recite the Baggins geneology yet has been know to refer to your children as "the tall one," and "the one with brown hair"? Has she tried to convince you that your birthday is September 22nd? Have you caught her rubbing Minoxidil on your feet when you're asleep?

You may be the victim of Middle-earth-wanna-be Syndrome and we want to help. Please call 1-800-426-3253. That's 1-800-GAN-DALF.
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- I must find the Mountain of Fire and cast the thing into the gulf of Doom. Gandalf said so. I do not think I shall ever get there.
- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
- Where are we going?...And why am I in this handbasket?
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Old 01-24-2003, 07:42 AM   #176
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Thanks all, that was so long ago.....bad stuff does happen, doesn't it. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] That's interesting you found an escape from reality in LoTR also Rae. I sure do enjoy reading it just for pure pleasure now. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I can tell whenever my husband is trying to "butter-me-up". He starts talking about Tolkien! Cute! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] My son is almost seven. He fell asleep to the Hobbit last year. (I'll try again) Some of the little boys that visit, stop at my lazy susan with the entire Burger King movie figures display. They like to push the buttons and listen, trying to name all the figures is challenging though. They all seem to get Legolas and Gandalf. They have seen FoTR movie, one even TTT. I would think these a little to long, scary (ugly orcs and violence) and lots of the bits hard to explain. Now my son wants to watch FoTR, I don't know....
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Old 01-24-2003, 08:11 AM   #177
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You know, Liriodendron, ordinarily I'm pretty strict with movies that contain violence (more so than sexual references or "potty" humor as my husband calls it) but I have allowed my 5-yr-old to watch this movie and the worst reaction she's had is at the end when Aragorn decapitates the Uruk-hai chieftain and she said, "Oops, popped his head off." She begs daily to watch the DVD and I've actually had to limit how many times a week I'll allow her to see it.

Although some of the action in this film is pretty graphic, I guess I don't have as much of a problem with it as I do with, say Scream or any of the other slasher movies. I consider those gratuitous but don't feel the same about FotR. I would have no problem at all with one of my kids going trick-or-treating as an Uruk-hai or Saruman, but I'd have a serious problem with them going as Freddy Kruger. I have no idea if I'm right or wrong but so far it's worked for me and to each his own.
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- I must find the Mountain of Fire and cast the thing into the gulf of Doom. Gandalf said so. I do not think I shall ever get there.
- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
- Where are we going?...And why am I in this handbasket?
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Old 01-24-2003, 11:32 AM   #178
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Hello again [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I must say that I am very much enjoying reading all your posts, and have found some very moving indeed. I think that our beloved Professor would be delighted with the way that his works have been such a help in times of need.

I can't say that LotR has ever really been an "escape" for me, other than in the usual sense of escaping the normality of real life into an exciting world of adventure and great deeds.

I have started reading the Silmarillion, and I am thoroughly enjoying it, although I find it very different (and not quite as absorbing) as LotR. I should have read more, but I'm spending too much time on this site at the moment! [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Quote:
Ya know, I think we need a support group for the husbands who have lost their wives in Middle-Earth.
[img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] I think that my wife needs a support group for wives who have lost their husbands to the Barrow Downs!

[ January 24, 2003: Message edited by: The Saucepan Man ]
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Old 01-24-2003, 12:13 PM   #179
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I was gonna suggest we call it "Entmoot" but I guess if the ladies were involved, that wouldn't work now, would it? [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img]

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Have you caught her rubbing Minoxidil on your feet when you're asleep?
That was a kick, Aratlithiel! [img]smilies/cool.gif[/img]

[ January 24, 2003: Message edited by: Raefindel ]
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Old 01-27-2003, 11:02 AM   #180
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I can't stand to see this thread wither on the vine. And I found Mark/Helen's inspiring set of questions.

Quote:
A question I'm fond of asking: how has Tolkien's works affected your world view and your framework of belief? Tolkien has said that he setout to write a myth, and his concept of myth was a vehicle to let the truth shine through. Have any of you experienced that, and to what degree?

To put a completley different twist on the question, is there something from Tolkien's work that you always wished that you could do or be (maybe you role-play it even now) and what about that reflects what you want or wish for, or strive for, or pursue?

Does that reveal something about Tolkien, something about you, or both?
My world view? I come from a protestant Calvinist tradition which is constantly talking about "world view", but its discussion of it is always tied to the limited sphere of theology. Tolkien (and Lewis) breathed life into what otherwise would have been a rather deadish world view.

Tolkien's stories baptized my imagination, and the way that he did so was to introduce "incarnational reality". I could go on and on.

I'm out of time, for now.
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Old 01-28-2003, 05:37 AM   #181
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Tolkien has said that he setout to write a myth, and his concept of myth was a vehicle to let the truth shine through. Have any of you experienced that, and to what degree?
I suppose my last post didn't make a whole lot of sense. For me, Helen, your question has to do with what I believe about God. My religious tradition (of which I still am a member, hard to believe!) teaches Predestination and a God whose Wrath is Just and who has all power and controls our lives. At least he sent his son to save us from eternal damnation. But we can't do anything at all, and have to wait for God to even make us believe. I think it would have to be Germanic people who are in love with despair to come up with such a bitter faith. It was cold and despairing for me. Tolkien's Middle Earth opened up reality for me, made it possible for me to hope that there was more to life than my parents' cold faith (they weren't very good at holding to the coldness of it either). I knew in my heart that what was in these books was Real. So Bilbo and Tom Bombadil and the Old Forest and the Shire and Rivendell and Galadriel and Lorien brought warmth - and more importantly, hope - to an otherwise very cold and despairing world view.

[ January 28, 2003: Message edited by: littlemanpoet ]
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Old 01-28-2003, 11:27 AM   #182
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OK, littlemanpoet, I'll go with you here...

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how has Tolkien's works affected your world view and your framework of belief?
Let's start with the world view: I don't have much confidence in people as a whole and almost none when they get together in large groups and decide upon a leader - a view which Tolkien never iterates, but one I feel he might have held nonetheless. I think people (as a group) are easily lead and tend not to excercise their own intellects when there is another in a position of power whom they feel may be wiser or somehow superior to themselves. By the time those same people realize that the person they've allowed to hold power over them are really no better (and in alot of cases, are far worse) than they are themselves, it's often too late and conflict must ensue. In my view, this is illustrated through how easily Tolkien's characters (Men especially, but certainly Elves as well) succumb to the guile of Morgoth, Sauron and Saruman.

That being said, let's get a little more personal. For me, Tolkien's work has actually fit very well within the framework of belief that had already existed in my life. I found validation for my own points of view in Tolkien's writings, ie., no matter how bad things look at one point or another, things have an amazing tendancy to work out somehow in the end. Granted, it's often through the struggles of many with conflicting goals and uncommon purposes, but somehow or another, good things almost always come out of evil ones.

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is there something from Tolkien's work that you always wished that you could do or be (maybe you role-play it even now) and what about that reflects what you want or wish for, or strive for, or pursue?
Well, I've never role-played, although it has always sounded like something I'd enjoy, but Frodo has been my role-model since I was ten years old. I wish I could believe that I was like him and possessed his courage and iron will, but I know that had that Ring been thrust at me at the council, I would have run screaming and tried to crawl into Gandalf's lap. (I sometimes don't even have enough will-power to put the cookies down for heaven's sake!) But that hasn't stopped me from aspiring to be more like him. I hope this doesn't chafe anyone or sound sacriligious, but when most Christians would ask themselves, "What would Jesus do?," I would instead ask, "What would Frodo do?" I don't mean to imply that Frodo is in any way a Christ-figure to me, it's just that I simply could not possibly aspire to be like Christ and Frodo is (possibly) a more attainable goal for me. I would like to be the kind of person who would take on a task of this nature for selfless reasons and then be thought well of after I was gone.
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- I must find the Mountain of Fire and cast the thing into the gulf of Doom. Gandalf said so. I do not think I shall ever get there.
- Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
- Where are we going?...And why am I in this handbasket?
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Old 01-29-2003, 04:39 PM   #183
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Wow, Mark, I have that poster ! It's been in my bedroom, wherever I have lived, since I was little. I love it. I used to cover up the Eye though, when I was small, as it gave me nightmares. I've got it in a frame now, as the corners are so tatty and worn.

I first read The Hobbit - or had it read to me, I'm not sure - when I was about six or seven. That was 23 years ago. I then read LotR with my father the following year. We read it aloud, which helped me understand the difficult bits. He likes the books, but isn't as keen as I am now. I really got into LotR after the BBC radio version, which I loved, back in the early 80s. Since then I've read it often, and have read many parts of the Silmarillion, HoME, UT etc, but never managed to really get into them in the same way as I did with the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

It's great to hear from some fellow long-term fans. Apart from my father, I don't know anyone else who likes - or who has even read - the books. I definitely plan to read them to my children when, or if, I have any. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[ January 29, 2003: Message edited by: Elanor ]
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Old 01-29-2003, 04:44 PM   #184
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You used to cover up the eye! I love that! Smart girl! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
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Old 01-29-2003, 04:49 PM   #185
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Y'know, something jogged my memory the other day and I realized-- my fourth grade teacher read a chapter a day every day all year.... Lotsa books... Charlotte's Web, Charlie & The Choc Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The Trumpeter Swan... The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe... and (drumroll).... The Hobbit.

Ooooh, Yeeeeaaaaah.

Really, really cool teacher! Wish I could remember her name...

So I guess I "met" Bilbo two years earlier than I thought I did. I guess I won't "count" the years til I read it myself, though...

[ January 29, 2003: Message edited by: mark12_30 ]
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Old 01-29-2003, 04:53 PM   #186
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Oh...I had elementary school teachers that did that, too, though not the books you list. Sigh. I enjoyed those times. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]
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Old 01-29-2003, 05:11 PM   #187
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Huh! My third grade teacher read us almost ALL those books!
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Old 01-30-2003, 09:25 AM   #188
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lmp, I can relate. I go to an Assemblies of God church at the moment (hard to believe, but this one is looser than most... I'm a Vineyarder at heart...) there is a small enclave of us who talk about elves and hobbits. My assistant pastor actually came to see TTT with us, and so did the worship pastor. Weeell, shut mah mouth.

Anyway, I have found that looking back through a Tolkienish lens brings some things I had once thought lost to me, back into focus. The Mythos worked for me, is still working, and I wonder if Tolkien looks on and smiles. I hope so.

It makes me want to write. Tolkien and George MacDonald are the reasons Bolco and Noldo materialised; seeing how they let glimpses of the One True Myth shine through their works makes me want to do the same.
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Old 01-30-2003, 04:12 PM   #189
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I don't qualify to post here since I only discovered Tolkien last year even though I am WELL over 18 years of age myself. But what I wanted to say is that after reading many of your posts I hope you know how lucky you are to have had someone in your life that introduced you to if nothing else great literature. And even supported this love of fantasy.
My parents never could understand why I always had my nose in a book. Even sometimes the same books over the years. Sure they agree reading is fundamental but they forget the fun.
So here I am, trying to play catch-up in all genres of literature. I am not trying to be a big cry-baby, but just to point out that maybe there is someone in your own life you need to call, write or email and thank them.
And don't forget to pay it forward.
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Old 01-30-2003, 04:17 PM   #190
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Good point, hobbitlass. Thanks for the reminder.
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Old 01-30-2003, 10:00 PM   #191
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Quote:
maybe there is someone in your own life you need to call, write or email and thank them.
Sure wish I could. "Merry" moved away after her first and only year here in my hometown. First it was only a town away, then she disappeared. I'd love to hear from her again, and share all the renewed memories that are coming about with the releases of the movies and all. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]
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Old 01-31-2003, 10:11 PM   #192
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It truly was a long descent through the deepest barrows to find this lovely thread. Thank you for the invitation Estelyn. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

All of your tales of Tolkein discovery have been refreshing to read. My own is simple, but meaningful to me. I was given a copy of the hobbit at 10, I am 30 now, and until that point had little interest in reading at all. The Shire and the Hobbits were the most memorable, with the Forest of Mirkwood coming in second. I remember it oh so clearly, turning from the last page right back to the first and beginning again. That summer I must have read it five times, and on occasion thereafter. Maybe two years later I was given LotR and began with Fellowship. I was so scared by the Black Riders that I closed the books and did not open them again for more than a year. I thought, if those things are gonna be chasing the Hobbits through three novels I want no part! Seriously. Afterwards however, I was able to accomplish about three readings, but I would always begin with The Hobbit. As far as I was concerned it is a four book trilogy, if there is such a thing! Anyhow I later attempted the Silm. and did not pass one chapter before retiring it.

That was it until just late last year. I have now reread The Hobbit, LotR (x2), UT, and am working on the Silm.

Something else - I saw Fellowship in the theater now over 1 year ago, but it wasn't until six months ago that I began the reading again. Without doubt, it is the prescence of the movies and the hype that this has occured.
However, after seeing Fellowship I truly thought "Why did I enjoy this story so much when I was younger?" It had no effect on me. But it had been so long, 15 years or so, I just assumed they must be very similar to the books.

Thanks heavens for the decision to delve in to Tolkein's words again! And thank you to all the Honorable Dead of the Barrow-Downs for educating me and showing me how much more there is to Tolkein than just "fancy tales."

Oh, and much AD&D and many Renaissance Fairs blossomed from my Middle Earth dreams... I won't waste your time with those stories!

Happily haunting the downs,
Tar-Palantir [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

[ January 31, 2003: Message edited by: Tar-Palantir ]
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Old 02-01-2003, 07:13 AM   #193
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Tar-Palantir,

Quote:
turning from the last page right back to the first and beginning again.
I still do that. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

Welcome, and thanks for coming...
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Old 02-01-2003, 09:26 PM   #194
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Quote:
turning from the last page right back to the first and beginning again.
Sigh...I used to do that. Back when I had...now what was that called again ...Oh, yes. TIME. [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]smilies/tongue.gif[/img] [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]

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Old 02-01-2003, 10:21 PM   #195
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Samwise, I don't have that much time anymore either... For me it's not a question of time; it's reassurance that when I come back, when I DO have time, they'll still be there, waiting. For a Long-Expected Party...
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Old 02-01-2003, 10:33 PM   #196
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*SIGHS* Then of course, there's the fact that I enjoy WRITING my own stories than I do reading more than when I was young. And as for LOTR, well, the first time I read to the end of ROTK it broke my heart, and I could (I thought never) pick it up again. Now, 20 years after I put it down and am in
TTT, I am finding it hard to MAKE myself read 'cause I'm nearing "The Steps of Cirith Ungol", and even though I know what happens afterward, I can't bring myself to read my poor Sam's heart shattered again quite so quickly. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]
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Old 02-02-2003, 12:24 PM   #197
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I always used to read my favourite books several times. But with no other book as LotR I was quite so spellbound that I couldn't " get out" of it's world again for - hmm, how long is it now? - nearly two years!

When I finished RotK, I walked about in a dreamy, melancholy mood, every now and then picking up the books and browsing through my favourite parts. I then read the appendix, then the Silmarillion, because there were so many intriguing allusions and mysterious things in LotR, that I wanted to know more about.
The Silmarillion puzzled me - not only its style being quite different, but it seemed so incredibly sombre and pessimistic and lacked the hope I found in LotR.
For more information I read Tolkiens biography, and now his letters.
Every time I reread LotR (or part of it) I find new meaning in it. And I always enjoy Tolkiens beautiful language.
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Old 02-03-2003, 04:11 PM   #198
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Hello fellow ancient Downers, [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I must confess that I have done the 'double', 20ish years since reading LoTR and come of age as a hobbit.

If I remember, Lord of the Rings had always been around on my parents' bookshelf but even though I was (and still am) an avid, not to say addicted, reader I didn't pick it up until a friend in school recommended it. The first time I read LoTR was on holiday in a little cottage in Aberporth, West Wales, on the edge of the sea. Strangely, I read The Hobbit after LotR, curled up in front of the fire at home with a bad case of the flu (thag you very buch!).

In common with many here, I was into D+D ( I still wonder if Balak the Unlucky will ever come out of retirement), AD+D and MERP. Are there any MERP-ers still around? It was an RPG system based on Middle Earth (admittedly fairly shakily at times). My big passion was wargaming, both historical and fantasy-based. I still chuck a few dice on occasions, but rarely wield the paintbrush!

Also, as many here have found, Tolkien has helped me through some bad times. Its like visiting an old friend when you accompany Frodo and co. for a while.

The Downs, and to some extent the films, have re-awakened my Tolkien interests. Its nice to know that there are some like-minded people out there. I still keep in touch with the friend who recommended LotR, and who now writes excellent books on the Roman army. I find that many people at work (a University) like LotR, and have varying opinions on the films, but few are inspired to delve very deeply into the subject.

Hail and well met, fellow Downers,
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Old 02-03-2003, 05:27 PM   #199
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Hail and Well Met, Rumil.

Welcome to the Downs.

I can't imagine what it would be like to come from a family who had LOTR on the bookshelf! How wonderful for you!
I'm rather regarded as a family oddity.
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Old 02-03-2003, 06:37 PM   #200
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I'm so glad to have found this thread! It's so hard to find Tolkien forums that provide comfy, easy-to-get-out-of chairs, "loaner" reading glasses, and pitchers of Metamucil on every table. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

My passion for The Professor's works goes back to 1967, when I discovered them my freshman year in college. My then-boyfriend and I hung around with the rest of the campus hippies and 'heads, one of whom noticed me reading Robert Heinlein and asked if I'd read LOTR yet. I bought a copy the next day and have never looked back - still have my beloved (if slightly yellowed) Ballantine paperbacks (1966) with the acid-inspired fantasy art covers that JRRT disliked so much. Then a few years later read The Hobbit, but didn't actually get to The Sil until 2 years ago.

Like most of you probably have, I've re-read LOTR every year since then, until the books started showing the strain and were tucked safely away in the desk drawer. I actually had no idea how popular the books had become until PJ started filming them.

Have looked everywhere, but can't find my old "Frodo Lives" button... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]
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