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first and most recent J.R.R.T. encounter

Plato to MacDonald to Chesterton, Tolkien and the Boys in the Pub.
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first and most recent J.R.R.T. encounter

Postby Adam Linton » June 4th, 2006, 1:46 am

It looks like time for a new thread in this forum, so...

As specifically as you can remember, when, where, and under what circumstances did you acquire your first and your most recent book by or about J.R.R. Tolkien?

Mine...

First was in the summer of 1966, when I saw copies of the Ballantine Books mass market paperback edition of The Hobbit (the one with the very sixties oval illustration on the cover with the emus) at the "Big G" Supermarket (as it was then called) in Sausalito, California, grocery shopping with my father. I asked him if he would buy it for me, and he did.

Most recent would be this last January, when I purchased Marjorie Burns' Perilous Realms: Celtic and Norse in Tolkien's Middle-earth, by special order through my congregation's bookstore.
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re: first and most recent J.R.R.T. encounter

Postby Warrior 4 Jesus » June 4th, 2006, 6:39 am

When I was 12 years old I think. Was at mum and dad's friends place. My parents were on a holiday for a day or two and we stayed there. They had a book with a dragon on it called The Hobbit. I'd heard of the book before but didn't know much about it. I read part of it that night but then had to go later and never finished it. Then a bit later I borrowed it from the library and read it through. I thought it was quite good.
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re: first and most recent J.R.R.T. encounter

Postby echomae » June 4th, 2006, 6:51 am

My first encounter? the first I don't remember exactly, I do remember finding "The Hobbit" in my older brother's bedroom when I was around 14 but the first time a Tolkien story affecting my life was when I was 15 - still 6 months from being 16 and able to drive. I was horrible during my drivers training as a freshman could not horizontally park for the life of me- we took the class the summer we were 15 for free - see how times have changed? Now kids have to pay in my district.... Anyway, on my down time I was known to be sitting on the grass outside the "driving area" reading a book and the instructor walked up on me one day, saw me reading a whopper of a book and asked what I was reading and I didn't reply, just lifted up the dust jacket (which I had removed for easier reading access) and he was amazed that I was reading dr. zhivago (sp?) and a day later he came to see how far I was and I was already reading another book. which you ask? The Silmarillion ( I had already read all the tolkien books in my brother's room and had to wait until the only other one I hadn't read was avail. at the library) and he was so amazed that he passed me. he told me that anyone who can not only read and master but understand and love masters of books such as those should have no problem understanding the simple laws of our driving community... He was also my sophomore sociology teacher and loved me still despite all my "worldly views for someone so little traveled"... I still can not parallel park, he he
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re: first and most recent J.R.R.T. encounter

Postby Rosie Cotton » June 4th, 2006, 1:19 pm

First: In 5th grade our teacher read The Hobbit to the class, and I loved it, and went on to LOTR. In 7th grade I chose it for an oral report and made a poster of the Middle Earth map (A+!)

Latest: Tales Before Tolkien: The Roots of Modern Fantasy
Just read this tasty collection of short fantasy stories. The editor compiled stories by authors that were born before Tolkien, whether or not they specifically influenced Tolkien's writing. I found as much or more that seemed to find its way into Lewis' works also! I'd thought of starting a thread on this book but I was shy and today I can't locate the thing... :angry:

Read LOTR 4-5 times, but not on a regular schedule :smile:
Read the Hobbit 6-7 times
Read the Silmarillion 2-3? times
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re: first and most recent J.R.R.T. encounter

Postby A#minor » June 4th, 2006, 5:05 pm

Ah, I remember it like it was yesterday.....

During my Sophomore year at college, I was walking into the cafeteria for lunch, and I saw this guy, Greg, that I vaguely knew sitting outside reading. I ask him what he's reading, and he says The Hobbit.
I asked if it was any good, and he starts going off about how amazing Tolkien is and how I have to read this book b/c it is so good. He was so enthusiastic about it that I went to the library that very day and checked out The Hobbit.
Changed my life.... And the rest is history.
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re: first and most recent J.R.R.T. encounter

Postby Leslie » June 4th, 2006, 11:56 pm

I first read LOTR when I was a teenager, about 20 years ago, in battered 1960s paperbacks that were around the house, probably bought by one of my older sisters. I can't remember if I read The Hobbit before or after LOTR.

Mostly recently, I've been re-reading "Leaf by Niggle" and reading for the first time "The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son."
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re: first and most recent J.R.R.T. encounter

Postby Lady Rebecca » June 5th, 2006, 4:45 am

My first Tolkien book was the Hobbit. I found it dull and unending as a 10 year old, and became extremely tired of it when they got to the part with the spiders. So I gave up on it.

My most recent Tolkien book is the Hobbit. I find it charming, delightful, and clever! It makes me grin when Tolkien keeps talking about Bilbo's pocket hankerchiefs, and the fact that many times on the journey he wished himself home with the kettle just starting to sing. "Not for the last time did he think that..."

It's interesting how Tolkien can change writing styles. From the grandiose Silmarillion to the epic Lord of the Rings to the charming Hobbit, he changes depth of perspectives with deft skill. In the Silmarillion there is no talk whatsoever of pocket hankerchiefs. :D
"Well, you know how it feels if you begin hoping for something that you want desperately badly; you almost fight against the hope because it is too good to be true; you've been disappointed so often before. But it was no good trying to throttle this hope. It might - really, really, it just might be true. So many odd things had happened already." - from the magician's nephew

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re: first and most recent J.R.R.T. encounter

Postby magpie » June 6th, 2006, 3:21 pm

In the summer of 1976 my teaching career had come to a grinding halt, I had just moved back to my home city, and I was waiting for fall so I could begin training in a new field. Someone gave me a boxed set of The Hobbit and LOTR. That's when I fell in love with JRRT!

As for the present I just finished reading Wood's The Gospel According to Tolkien which I highly recommend.
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re: first and most recent J.R.R.T. encounter

Postby Janet » June 6th, 2006, 3:50 pm

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Postby Glorfindel of Gondolin » June 8th, 2006, 4:42 pm

I got the boxed set of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit for my birthday a little over a year before the movie came out. I'm not a fan of violence and I remember thinking "Oh great, one of those books... I read the Hobbit about a month later, figuring that I should probably read it since it was a gift, and became instantly addicted. I then read the Lord of the Rings twice in a row, and have read plenty more since then. My latest book was The Treason of Isengard, which was also a birthday present from the same brother. The ironic thing is that he had never read the books, and this was before movie mania, so I'm not sure where the idea came from.
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Postby contra mundum » June 27th, 2006, 4:37 pm

The first Tolkien I read was The Hobbit--it was assigned reading in fifth grade. I didn't much care for it until the walking party reached the Misty Mountains. By the time Bilbo found the Ring and met Gollum, I was hooked. That summer, I devoured The Lord of the Rings. Afterwards I was sad, thinking I'd read all there was to read of Tolkien.

But then, two years later, to my great delight, I discovered The Silmarillion, and then Unfinished Tales. To this day, I think the story of the children of Hurin is the most amazing fictional story I have ever read.

Most recently I've been re-reading The Lord of the Rings. I've been struck by the richness and beauty of every single sentence--which is especially amazing for a work of its size and scope. You'd think it would contain at least a few throwaway lines, but not so with J.R.R.T.
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Postby A#minor » June 27th, 2006, 4:43 pm

"My brain and this world don't fit each other, and there's an end of it!" - G.K. Chesterton
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re: first and most recent J.R.R.T. encounter

Postby Dale Nelson » July 5th, 2006, 11:57 pm

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re: first and most recent J.R.R.T. encounter

Postby Dale Nelson » July 6th, 2006, 12:01 am

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re: first and most recent J.R.R.T. encounter

Postby AslansGirl » July 8th, 2006, 4:37 am

Oh gee... lets start with my latest encounter. I just got 'Return of the Shadow' out from the library (I am way to impoverished to buy books:rolleyes:).

Um... The first time I read Tolkien was when I had to read The Hobbit for school right before the movies came out. I grumbled through it. I thought it was kind of cute but disliked it in general. I was still getting through The Council of Elrond when I saw the movie.
The first time I heard about Tolkien was when we watched the cartoon Return of the King when I was too little to understand. Then I kept hearing people talk about these books called The Lord of the Rings. I had a vague idea that it had something to do with magic circus rings or something like that. The first time I saw the book was on the book shelf of a girl I met at camp whom I was quite in awe of. She was older than me by a few years and I was a shy ten year old. She was going on and on about these great books. The covers looked too scary for me so I snuck away and didn't give them another thought.

I scraped up enough pocket money to buy Fellowship of the Rings at Barnes and Noble sometime in 2001. :pleased:
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