Hmm, let's see. My dad gave me a bunch of his books when I was little and they including the Hobbit and tLotR trilogy. I think I tried to read the Hobbit when i was little, but never got passed the first chapters with the dwarves as they annoyed me and were a little boring.
Later I heard that they were coming out with the LOTR movies. Having heard that these were the fantasy books, I decided to read them before the movies came out. I read the entire trilogy (minus the Old Forest/Tom Bombadil scenes which bored me) and anxiously awaited the movies. After FOTR came out I was definately hooked and prceeded to read the Silmarillion and the Unflinished Tales, as well as learn to write Tengwar and know random LOTR facts. Eventually I read and loved the Hobbit, and read most of the History of Middle Earth.
My most recent encounter? Hearing that Peter Jackson wants to make the Hobbit into two movies.