How did you first encounter Tolkien's works?

I definitely did not come by them in a normal way! When I was 14, the Bakshi LOTR movie came out. I had heard of LOTR (I had older brothers that had read it, but for some reason I never did) and had tried to read TH, but couldn't get into is, something about the childish tone. But when the movie came out, there was something written up about it in this magazine we got in English class. There was a picture of Gandalf on the cover, and for some reason this made me want to see the movie. So I did. Then I read the trilogy (and realized how bad the movie had been at that point). BUT I loved LOTR!! I even went back and read the Hobbit after that and liked it too. Then I read Sil. It took a couple tries to get into that, too, but I finally managed it and that was the best. When I was 16, Unfinished Tales came out and my dad got it for me for Christmas! Heaven... It all began over 20 years ago. I try to read LOTR and Sil every year, but I don't always succeed.

In 4th grade, I think, I became pretty friendly with Ben. We had known each other before, but 4th grade was the fost time we were in the sme class. He told me bout Tolkien and stuff and I decided I wanted to read them. I think it was for my birthday in 4th or 5th grade that he got me the Hobbit and LotR boxed set. I started off eagerly reading the Hobbit. I actaully liked it, but slowly and slowly, I read less and less. Eventually I stopped about a third through the book. My favorite part was the part with all the riddles and ****.

Looks like your memory is going :P Actually, we weren't in the same class until fifth grade. (well, I guess you're right if you include math in fourth, but that doesn't count )

Well since we sat next to each other the whole year in math, I count it that it was the same class.

Oh yeahhh... ok :P

When I was in about first grade, I had a friend, older who was always talking about this play she was in. It was The Hobbit. Last year(7th grade), I was looking for something to read in my English class. I saw a copy of The Hobbit and remembered that was the play Cara had been in. So I read it, and my dear friend, Galadriel24(who never ever posts here) caught me with it. She has the books so I bummed LOTR from her until I finished it. It didn't take long, partly because I read fast and partly because she kept nagging me to get her own books. Now I have my own copy!

Ahhhhhhh memories! First post here, so hello all. Pleased to make your acquaintance. My mother bought The Hobbit for me when I was 12 or so, I think to encourage my reading. I liked it although I realised it was for a younger age group. I thought the Lord of the Rings was going to be similar and at first it was although I was disappointed at Bilbo's early exit. Let's just say that by the time I got to the Barrow Downs, I never wanted to leave Middle Earth again. I read it and re-read it again and again. My mother became worried, I was reading nothing else, neglecting my studies (or at least those which weren't germane to Tolkien). I read the Silmarillion and was disappointed, far too short I thought. I had expected it to be of about the same size and depth of LoTR, after all this is what had been broadly hinted at in the works on Tolkien at the time. But of course I grew to love that too. Unfinished Tales was even more (initially) disappointing, by it's very nature it was bound to be unsatisfying. I came back to it later and found that it was a real treasure trove of tiny nuggets of information. I put down Tolkien for many years then, (I had discovered girls, and none of them seemed to be particularly impressed with my (carefully cultivated) otherworldly air). I only picked up LoTR again about three years ago, I felt as though there was something missing in my life, something I had a long time ago but had lost, and reading LoTR again was designed to remind me of what that was. Now I know. I was missing enchantment. A life without Faery is no life at all. I have become a born again Tolkien obsessive.

Welcome to Entmoot! I'm the mean admin That last line is a treasure!

Nice to meet you and welcome I had a similair experience, particularly the part about getting into girls...well, guys actually But it was over the Beatles and not LOTR. LOTR occurred during my second round of discovery: college. I wish, however, that my mom handed me The Hobbit when I was 12.....humpf....I probably wouldn't have bothered, since I didn't like to read. It wasn't until I read LOTR, that I discovered reading for pleasure....

My brother read lotr to me when I was about 6 or 7(he is six years older). From the "Tower of Cirith Ungol" I had to read it to HIM cause he got ill. (I read a lot at that age, a lot more than now; I had no computer). Including this first time I read it 11 times now, the last time is over two years ago, though. Ten times in German, last time in English.
I read the Hobbit after lotr, and the Silmarillion and all the other books a couple of years later, I was about 15, I guess.
I read The Hobbit to my younger brother when he was 6 (nine years younger than me). He fairly liked it. Then I tried to read lotr to him, and he didn´t like it. Until then I thought he was an intelligent child!

I have found two persons in my lifetime I could talk about Tolkien on same basis of knowledge and devotion(EXcluding Internetboards, of course). The first one was a guy at school, the other one I met at the army. We recitated qoutes out of the books and the other one had to say where the quotes belong to. That was the only fun for me in the army!

Hi, Glaurung....where in Germany do you live?

i read Lotr first, when i was in 4 or 5Th grade.
it was my mom and dad who got me into reading.
and they have read Lotr and thought incredebly good.
so iread it.
now i have read far more of Tolkien books than they.

um... i can't remember
no just kidding, i only don't know when i first read the hobbit

i read fotr just over one year ago, when i was 11 or 12 not sure. i was then stuck for the next two books, my library didn't have them. can you imagine whats it like to have to reread gandalf dying and all that many many times before he comes back?????? misery misery as gollum would say

but at least it made me very familiar with everyone and everything by the time i managed to get hold of the rest of it. i finished the last two books in two days i could not put them down! then i found the silmarillion and UT and i'm still rereading the whole lot. i would be surprised if there has been a single day since i read lotr in which i haven't thought of it at least once.
thats how obsessed i am! and the worst of it is theres hardly anyone my age who is...
pity. if there is anyone my around 13 please e mail me, shani@parity-bit.com and as you can tell from the name i come from israel! whoops ive gone a little off the subject....
andustar

Well, I'm 16 and have read most of Tolkiens books in the last 3 years.
A friend of mine had read LotR and I saw the first part of the film with him when I was 11.
Immediately I wanted to read the books, but my aunt told me to start with The Hobbit so she gave it to me for christmas. After reading the last chapters of TH a year She gave me LotR for christmas. Five days later I was finished, it was just breathtaking. I discussed the books with my friend who then had read Silm and UT. He told me parts of the story, but it took me more than a year before I borrowed them at a library. I thought the first chapters of Silm was boring, I had to keep all the names apart. But later I started to enjoy it more and more. UT was not that difficult and I changed from reading Tolkien to studying him. I have now read 7 of the books in the HoME series,(I haven't read the books on LotR and Morghoths Ring)
and I read bits of books almost every day.
I read a lot of history books too and compare real hisory with Tolkiens history. He's right up there with the Illiad

Maglor

They say the first thing to go when you get old is your memory and the second is... I forget.

I tried to read the hobbit when I was a senior in college (1971). I got about a third of the way through it and quit. I don't know if I felt it was too childish or what. (I'm sure it wasn't because I was studying too hard.) At any rate, I then picked up FOTR about six months later during the summer before my last semester. (4 1/2 years to graduate.) I flew through FOTR, TT, and ROTK in about a week. And numerous times since.

The recently release movie trailer says it best. It IS the best book of the 20th century.

hmm let's see *finally walks into one of these threads*
well, when i was real young. (alot younger than now. maybe when i was 8 or 7 posibly 6) my mom read me the hobbit. i really liked it! So, Bmilder (my brother ) agreed to read me the rest of the books. He read me the first one (fellow ship of the ring i think) Then he read me the Two Towers. Then he read me the FIRST hcapter of the third (return of hte king or somthing)Then, an AWFULL ( ) thing happend! Ben found the internet..............we always had it but it was like ben "discovered it" for himself. I think that was when he played Gem Stone 3. and he created hiss web page...he would never finish the 3rd book. always to busy to this day i still have not read or had it read to me.

Tarps...you really shouldn't wait any longer...something tells me that Ben will never read you the rest. :P Still it is sweet that he read as far as he did....now it is up to you to finish it. You must read what happens!!

OMG, how can you stand the suspense???? I couldn't wait to read through Book V before I found out what happened to Frodo in the tower. I had to go right ahead and read the beginning of Book VI before I could read the rest in the proper order. I don't know how you could possibly wait three years to find out! (Although I suppose Ben's told you by now.)

Wonderful sig Eruve!

CT, I have been thinking....maybe you should put down those Harry Potter books, and pick up LOTR instead.

lol. maybe