the first time

[Estelyn Telcontar]

How has your impression of LotR changed since the first time you read it? Do you see things differently when you reread it now?
I remember reading it fast, almost breathlessly the first time - of course, I had to hurry to find out what happens! And I experienced the characters on a basically fairytale level, good or bad, very straightforward.
Now I appreciate the flawed characters more; the struggles, imperfections, growth and changes have a lot to do with my changed perspective on life. And now I like to take time, savoring the rhythm of the poetry (it really needs to be read out loud, doesn't it?!), pondering on the wisdom and insights . . .
Carry on, before I get carried away!

[Gwaihir the Windlord]

Hmmm... it was different the second time I read it, but only because the first time, I din't fully comprehend that Aragorn was Elendil's heir, who Elendil was, what Arwen was, in fact most of the history bfore the Hobbit. The second time I'd read Sil and the appendixes, and the third time Unfinished Tales; and so I was introduced to the full mythology and extent of Tolkien's revised world.

[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

I read them the first with open-mouthed wonder, every moment I could get, even through English and Social Studies (teacher was not pleased). There was nothing else published then (the Sil. had just come out but everyone told me it wasn't the same, and it wasn't). I couldn't believe there was no more. I read and re-read (and after Bakshi's version read again) trying to discover what it was that made these the most beautiful stories I'd ever found. I still don't know. But my disappointment this was all wore away as I discovered they were fresh every time, and Tolkien's rich images were enhanced with each reading. There was no WWW at the time so I didn't know there were others as mad about these books as I was.

[Lobelia]

This is not my experience but a friend's who read LotR when it first came out in the early 1950s. I said that the most vivid thing I remembered about reading the book the first time was the tension and frustration after finishing volume 2 (Two Towers) -- I had to wait a day to get home from school (I, too, read it illicitly under the desk!), rush to the library and borrow Book 3 (Return of King).

This friend replied, 'But imagine what it was like for me! Imagine having to wait 8 months until the last book came out, with Frodo alive and captured by the Orcs, and Sam outside the underground gate of the Tower of Cirith Ungol!'

[Carannillion]

The first time I read LotR,I didn't really understand any of the 'behind-the-scenes' stuff. This was simply because I was too young to read 'between the lines' (Disney don't really leave much to your own imagination, do they?).

The second time and so on (don't know how many times I've read it, but it's about five,I think), I understood more and more of what it was that really went on, and I kept getting more and more frustrated on not knowing what these great deeds of the past were all about. Reading the Sil was sort of like salvation for me, 'tolkienwise', that is... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]