What got you started? - Page 2

FrodoFriend · 03-06-2002, 12:12 AM

The Hobbit was the first full-length book I read, at the age of 6 or 7. It made a profound impression.

After that it was just inevitable - LotR, the Sil, Tolkien Reader, HoMe, and so on and on and on in a never-ending blissful journey to nirvana!

Arathorn · 03-06-2002, 01:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by FrodoFriend
.... After that it was just inevitable - LotR, the Sil, Tolkien Reader, HoMe, and so on and on and on in a never-ending blissful journey to nirvana!

Wait a minute, nirvana's in another all too different set of books and universe.

Andúril · 03-06-2002, 08:58 AM

One day last year I saw an article in the paper about a movie. A REALLY EXPENSIVE movie. The article was about Elijah Wood as Frodo in LOTR. This article cast my mind back to my school days, when I used to do research in the library, and I would walk past a set of books with really interesting, yet fantastical covers. You guessed it : LOTR!! In those days I never read many books, and if I did, it was not going to be any fanstasy novel.

But there I was reading the paper last year and suddenly I had a urge to read the books I had seen in the library so long ago. So I read LOTR, which started out slow, but ended in sudden acceleration as I had to get to the end (something like 600 pages in the last 5 days).

Anyway, after reading all the appendices at the back, I had developed an insatiable urge for all things Tolkien. I was interested and curious about all the additional names mentioned in the LOTR, how Tolkien occasionaly gave us a glimpse of an incredibly massive underlying mythology, so I went online searching for information on characters like Sauron, Gandalf, etc.

The amount of information I found was staggering - but I had to wonder, where did it all come from. After much investigation, I found out one of source was the Silmarillian, among others. Reference was also made to the Hobbit. So I undertook the mission to read these books.

After this I was satisfied. I read LOTR again in October. Now I am just trying to get me hands on some Letters and HoMe...

rainbow · 03-06-2002, 11:19 AM

i hate to damped your j.r.r.tolkien spirits but i have to admit that i'm only on the edge of reading it do u advise reading the hobbit first?

***Sister Golden Hair*** · 03-06-2002, 11:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by rainbow
i hate to damped your j.r.r.tolkien spirits but i have to admit that i'm only on the edge of reading it do u advise reading the hobbit first?

I f you haven't read any of the books, then yes, start with the Hobbit.

Laurelyn · 03-06-2002, 12:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Anduril
Now I am just trying to get me hands on some Letters and HoMe...

If you find 'em let me know . . . I'm looking for the rest of HoME and Letters . . . and not having any luck.

Spock · 03-06-2002, 01:46 PM

One day I opened my door and there stood a wizard.

OK, so I saw "Frodo Lives" on the subway walls and was curious.

Thrain · 03-06-2002, 07:57 PM

Hey, I'm new here. Well I first heard the Hobbit from my dad when I was like 5 I read the book myself when I was 6 then again at 8 and again at 12. Around the fourth grade I read the Lord of the Rings. I had so much fun even though it took me like 5 months. I am now collecting any books by tolkien, about tolkien, or about his books. I have got roughly 25 now.

Eruviel Greenleaf · 03-07-2002, 01:04 AM

This past fall, (2001) I the teacher of my film class decided to take the class to see LotR:FotR on opening day...Since I knew the books were such classics, and after having insisted that no one see Harry Potter until reading the books, I decided to read the books first, which I had refused to look at before because of lack of female characters. (don't ask. I was a silly child) So, I started, and soon was so hooked that I became quite obsessed, as anyone could see right now. I'm going to read the Silmarillion when I'm done with LotR (2nd time) and then The Hobbit, then whatever else I can get my hands on...
BTW, Harry Potter no longer exists in my mind. Well, barely exists.

Laurelyn · 03-07-2002, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Eruviel Greenleaf
BTW, Harry Potter no longer exists in my mind. Well, barely exists.

Yeah . . . you're right, HP's official status in my mind is "Some stuff . . . yeah, great books . . . LotR kicks their butt by a long shot!"

Ërendil · 03-07-2002, 05:34 PM

When i was in Y6 (three years ago)I had read all of my books at the time and was bored so my dad incourged my to read The Lord Of The Rings. He had an old copy and half of the pages were starting to fall out and i got bored with it. But about a year after i got a new set and i couldn't believe how i thought that the books were boring!

There, that is my very boring story of how i first read a tolkien book!

Alethes · 03-07-2002, 08:37 PM

When I was about 7, I made a deal with my dad that I would read The Hobbit if he would read the first 3 Baby-Sitters Club books (they're short and easy to read). He read his books immediately, but The Hobbit was really boring, and I didn't want to read it. My mom told me to try reading a chapter a day; shortly after that, I read my one chapter and decided I would read "just one more chapter" that day. I kept reading just one more chapter until I finished the book. A year or two later, my dad told me about LOTR and suggested I read it, so I did, and really liked it.

athelas · 03-08-2002, 05:24 AM

Whew... im back. These past few weeks have been terribly busy ones. Thank God for term breaks.

Anyway, I picked up LotR when I saw a friend reading it. At that time I was desperately waiting for the fifth HP book and needed something to keep my mind off it. I bought a copy of FotR at a 2nd hand bookstore and soon I was hooked, and continued on to finish the whole thing. Soon after, I bought the Hobbit and the Silmarillion. I finished the Hobbit in 2 days, then started on the Sil., which im still reading. ( just finished the huge chapter on Turin and Nienor)

***Earniel*** · 03-08-2002, 12:22 PM

My first contact with Tolkien was not through any of his books but through the Bestairy (don't know if I translated that coreectly, I have the dutch print) of David Day. I must have been around 10 years old. It stood on a shelf in my parents bedroom. One day I picked it up, sat (well at first) on their bed and started reading. Since I read none of the books it all was very confusing and I remember thinking of elves as fairies (and fairy-sized dunno where I got that from) Th'is funny how much I remember of that day. I remember how the sun shone through the windows as I lay dreaming of faraway lands where the elves went. It was only about 5 years later that I started reading the Hobbit. I ran out of books that time and my mum said I should read the Hobbit. Being hooked ever since.

galadriel88 · 03-09-2002, 03:35 AM

I heard about LOTR from my best friend. She and I were both really into Harry potter, and that turned us on to fantasy stuff. Well anyway, I saw her reading The Hobbit at the beginning of the schol year (this year), asked her if it was good, and got an affirmative reply. She then told me about LOTR. So for my birthday, in September, I asked for The Hobbit & LOTR. By this time my friend was reading TTT. So, I started reading, and now I am 5 chapters away from being done with TTT. I plan to finish today.

Funny, just last year I saw The Hobbit on my teachers bookshelf, read the back cover, and thought, "What in the world is THAT?!"

Thrain · 03-09-2002, 09:24 AM

Well I was always involved with Fantasy because my dad played fantasy computer games used to sell Fantasy and he always loved Fantasy books. My dad ever since the age of three would sit up and read me the Narnia series

and then we read the Hobbit. Fantasy was always part of my life and it just led into Tolkien.

Kwijibo · 03-09-2002, 01:12 PM

Well, my Mum read the Hobbit to me when I was about 6 and I was getting really annoyed coz I could only really remember 3 parts: where William, Bert and Tom were arguing over how to cook the Dwarves; When Bagginsss ssstole the preciousss and had a game of riddleses with Gollum; and when Bilbo (invisible) had a conversation with Smaug.
Then, last July, we were in WHSmith in Cardiff and we saw the box set of the Lord of the Rings for just £10!!! I'd heard of it and wanted to read it, but Mum said I had to read the Hobbit again first, but she bought it neway. I re-read the Hobbit and began the Lord of the Rings in early September, I wanted to finish before the movie but not rush at the same time - I finished on the day the movie came out!
Then I got the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales for Christmas. I started the Silmarillion but couldn't concentrate, so now I'm reading the Lord of the Rings again an I'm using the 'You Know You Like Tolkien Too Much' thread as a suggestion list!

BTW, this my entire life story - only to those who dare to join the Entmoot have permission to read it! So there

!

Liviaine · 03-09-2002, 10:33 PM

My dad has always loved LotR, and when he said a movie would be released in a few months, I began reading FotR.

Grey_Wolf · 03-16-2002, 12:15 PM

The first time I read LOTR I was 12 years old. I begun with the swedish translation and naturally got hooked. A year after I read it in English for the first time. Ever since that I just loved the story and have read it repeatedly almost every year since then. I definitely like The Silmarillion as well, it being a kind of bibel of Middle-Earth.

Cirdan · 03-17-2002, 02:16 AM

This may be the dumbest reason yet. I started reading the Hobbit in 1975 (see avatar) after someone explained the references from the Led Zepplin songs. Read LotR immediately after and looked at the world with Middle Earth glasses on ever since.

The movie rekindled my interest. I re-read the trilogy prior to seeing the movie and enjoyed it more tha the first time. Moved on to the Silmarillion and now waiting for delivery of Vol. 1 of HoME.

03-06-2002, 12:12 AM	#21
FrodoFriend Halfwitted Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Eryn Vorn Posts: 1,659	The Hobbit was the first full-length book I read, at the age of 6 or 7. It made a profound impression. After that it was just inevitable - LotR, the Sil, Tolkien Reader, HoMe, and so on and on and on in a never-ending blissful journey to nirvana! __________________ Fingolfin lives! ... in my finger! The Crossroads of Arda - Warning. Halfwit content. Not appropriate for people with IQ of over 18. The Fellowship of the Message Board Nyáréonié - The Tale of Tears

03-06-2002, 08:58 AM	#23
Andúril The Original Corruptor Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 2,881	One day last year I saw an article in the paper about a movie. A REALLY EXPENSIVE movie. The article was about Elijah Wood as Frodo in LOTR. This article cast my mind back to my school days, when I used to do research in the library, and I would walk past a set of books with really interesting, yet fantastical covers. You guessed it : LOTR!! In those days I never read many books, and if I did, it was not going to be any fanstasy novel. But there I was reading the paper last year and suddenly I had a urge to read the books I had seen in the library so long ago. So I read LOTR, which started out slow, but ended in sudden acceleration as I had to get to the end (something like 600 pages in the last 5 days). Anyway, after reading all the appendices at the back, I had developed an insatiable urge for all things Tolkien. I was interested and curious about all the additional names mentioned in the LOTR, how Tolkien occasionaly gave us a glimpse of an incredibly massive underlying mythology, so I went online searching for information on characters like Sauron, Gandalf, etc. The amount of information I found was staggering - but I had to wonder, where did it all come from. After much investigation, I found out one of source was the Silmarillian, among others. Reference was also made to the Hobbit. So I undertook the mission to read these books. After this I was satisfied. I read LOTR again in October. Now I am just trying to get me hands on some Letters and HoMe... Last edited by Andúril : 03-06-2002 at 08:59 AM.

03-06-2002, 11:19 AM	#24
rainbow Enting Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: in my head Posts: 61	i hate to damped your j.r.r.tolkien spirits but i have to admit that i'm only on the edge of reading it do u advise reading the hobbit first? __________________ smile & be happy (frodo lives) BANANERISM RULES!!!!! the spotty dog chases its tail till all its spots fall off!

03-06-2002, 01:46 PM	#27
Spock An enigma in a conundrum Join Date: Oct 1999 Posts: 6,476	One day I opened my door and there stood a wizard. OK, so I saw "Frodo Lives" on the subway walls and was curious. __________________ Vizzini: "HE DIDN'T FALL?! INCONCEIVABLE!!" Inigo: "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

03-07-2002, 01:04 AM	#29
Eruviel Greenleaf Alcoholic Villain-Fancying Elf Pirate Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Lyonesse Posts: 4,547	This past fall, (2001) I the teacher of my film class decided to take the class to see LotR:FotR on opening day...Since I knew the books were such classics, and after having insisted that no one see Harry Potter until reading the books, I decided to read the books first, which I had refused to look at before because of lack of female characters. (don't ask. I was a silly child) So, I started, and soon was so hooked that I became quite obsessed, as anyone could see right now. I'm going to read the Silmarillion when I'm done with LotR (2nd time) and then The Hobbit, then whatever else I can get my hands on... BTW, Harry Potter no longer exists in my mind. Well, barely exists. __________________ Eruviel Greenleaf in a past life. "Whoever has come to understand the world has found only a corpse, and whoever has found a corpse is superior to the world." -The Gospel of Thomas SQUAWK!

03-06-2002, 07:57 PM	#28
Thrain Enting Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Right now I am currently living in Rivendell Posts: 52	Hey, I'm new here. Well I first heard the Hobbit from my dad when I was like 5 I read the book myself when I was 6 then again at 8 and again at 12. Around the fourth grade I read the Lord of the Rings. I had so much fun even though it took me like 5 months. I am now collecting any books by tolkien, about tolkien, or about his books. I have got roughly 25 now.

03-07-2002, 05:34 PM	#31
Ërendil Elven Warrior Join Date: Mar 2002 Posts: 389	When i was in Y6 (three years ago)I had read all of my books at the time and was bored so my dad incourged my to read The Lord Of The Rings. He had an old copy and half of the pages were starting to fall out and i got bored with it. But about a year after i got a new set and i couldn't believe how i thought that the books were boring! There, that is my very boring story of how i first read a tolkien book! __________________ "You're one of the Abaharaki, oh I had forgotten. Look at me, I am completly drenched! I do hate the rain, it makes me so depressed..." "Hehehehe, moeru moeru!" "That's it, set it all on fire; we're gonna smoke out Escaflowne!" "Oh, I hit the wrong target... never mind that creature was useless to us anyway. Our orders were to get the girl? So he isn't our concern, we don't need him!" ^_^ Isn't Dilandau just fantastic? You just have to love the insane, murderous pyro :-D

03-07-2002, 08:37 PM	#32
Alethes Enting Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: urban Oklahoma Posts: 73	When I was about 7, I made a deal with my dad that I would read The Hobbit if he would read the first 3 Baby-Sitters Club books (they're short and easy to read). He read his books immediately, but The Hobbit was really boring, and I didn't want to read it. My mom told me to try reading a chapter a day; shortly after that, I read my one chapter and decided I would read "just one more chapter" that day. I kept reading just one more chapter until I finished the book. A year or two later, my dad told me about LOTR and suggested I read it, so I did, and really liked it. __________________ He who loves a pure heart and whose speech is gracious will have the king for his friend. -Proverbs 22:11

03-08-2002, 05:24 AM	#33
athelas Enting Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: The Twilight Meres Posts: 87	Whew... im back. These past few weeks have been terribly busy ones. Thank God for term breaks. Anyway, I picked up LotR when I saw a friend reading it. At that time I was desperately waiting for the fifth HP book and needed something to keep my mind off it. I bought a copy of FotR at a 2nd hand bookstore and soon I was hooked, and continued on to finish the whole thing. Soon after, I bought the Hobbit and the Silmarillion. I finished the Hobbit in 2 days, then started on the Sil., which im still reading. ( just finished the huge chapter on Turin and Nienor) __________________ Farewell sweet earth and nortern sky, for ever blest,since here did lie and here with lissom limbs did run beneath the Moon, beneath the Sun, Lùthien Tinùviel more fair than mortal tongue can tell. Though all to ruin fell the world and were dissolved and backward hurled unmade into old abyss, yet were its making good, for this-- the dusk, the dawn, the earth, the sea-- that Lùthien for a time should be. "I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things, Sam."-Frodo FRODO LIVES!!! (erm...Sam does too, right?)

03-08-2002, 12:22 PM	#34
*Earniel* The Chocoholic Sea Elf Administrator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: N?n in Eilph (Belgium) Posts: 14,363	My first contact with Tolkien was not through any of his books but through the Bestairy (don't know if I translated that coreectly, I have the dutch print) of David Day. I must have been around 10 years old. It stood on a shelf in my parents bedroom. One day I picked it up, sat (well at first) on their bed and started reading. Since I read none of the books it all was very confusing and I remember thinking of elves as fairies (and fairy-sized dunno where I got that from) Th'is funny how much I remember of that day. I remember how the sun shone through the windows as I lay dreaming of faraway lands where the elves went. It was only about 5 years later that I started reading the Hobbit. I ran out of books that time and my mum said I should read the Hobbit. Being hooked ever since.

03-09-2002, 03:35 AM	#35
galadriel88 Halfwitted Queen of Lothlorien Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Far off in a dream Posts: 1,166	I heard about LOTR from my best friend. She and I were both really into Harry potter, and that turned us on to fantasy stuff. Well anyway, I saw her reading The Hobbit at the beginning of the schol year (this year), asked her if it was good, and got an affirmative reply. She then told me about LOTR. So for my birthday, in September, I asked for The Hobbit & LOTR. By this time my friend was reading TTT. So, I started reading, and now I am 5 chapters away from being done with TTT. I plan to finish today. Funny, just last year I saw The Hobbit on my teachers bookshelf, read the back cover, and thought, "What in the world is THAT?!" __________________ The beuatiful mind/The beautiful heart/Doesn't deserve the pain/How can I stop the rain? -How Can I Stop the Rain? by Kessid, my new favorite band +Every good thing that comes into my life is only a reflection of the greatest gift of all; the offering of yourself, dear Son of God+ Always remember, you're uniqe, just like everybody else! "The one constant through all the years has been the Trombone. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. Its been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again, but the Trombone has marked the time. This field, this section, this band is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and could be again. Oh, people will come . . . people will most definitely come."

03-09-2002, 09:24 AM	#36
Thrain Enting Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Right now I am currently living in Rivendell Posts: 52	Well I was always involved with Fantasy because my dad played fantasy computer games used to sell Fantasy and he always loved Fantasy books. My dad ever since the age of three would sit up and read me the Narnia series and then we read the Hobbit. Fantasy was always part of my life and it just led into Tolkien. __________________ Never mettle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and taste good ketchup.

03-09-2002, 01:12 PM	#37
Kwijibo Elven Warrior Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Lothlorien (actually Wales, but let's not talk about that) Posts: 117	Well, my Mum read the Hobbit to me when I was about 6 and I was getting really annoyed coz I could only really remember 3 parts: where William, Bert and Tom were arguing over how to cook the Dwarves; When Bagginsss ssstole the preciousss and had a game of riddleses with Gollum; and when Bilbo (invisible) had a conversation with Smaug. Then, last July, we were in WHSmith in Cardiff and we saw the box set of the Lord of the Rings for just £10!!! I'd heard of it and wanted to read it, but Mum said I had to read the Hobbit again first, but she bought it neway. I re-read the Hobbit and began the Lord of the Rings in early September, I wanted to finish before the movie but not rush at the same time - I finished on the day the movie came out! Then I got the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales for Christmas. I started the Silmarillion but couldn't concentrate, so now I'm reading the Lord of the Rings again an I'm using the 'You Know You Like Tolkien Too Much' thread as a suggestion list! BTW, this my entire life story - only to those who dare to join the Entmoot have permission to read it! So there ! __________________ 'So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All you can decide is what to do with the time that is given to you,' - Gandalf the Grey 'I left my body to science, but I'm afraid they've turned it down' - In memory of Graham Chapman 'Rubin sits like Buddah in a 10 foot cell, An innocent man in a living hell,' - From 'Hurricane' by Bob Dylan, the only innocent Hurricane protest song, written stressing the innocence of Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, a black, middle-weight boxer imprisoned for 19 for a triple murder which he did not commit.

03-09-2002, 10:33 PM	#38
Liviaine Elven Warrior Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Ithilien Posts: 203	My dad has always loved LotR, and when he said a movie would be released in a few months, I began reading FotR.

03-16-2002, 12:15 PM	#39
Grey_Wolf Elf Lord Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mirkwood, well actually I live in North-west Scania, Sweden Posts: 9,481	The first time I read LOTR I was 12 years old. I begun with the swedish translation and naturally got hooked. A year after I read it in English for the first time. Ever since that I just loved the story and have read it repeatedly almost every year since then. I definitely like The Silmarillion as well, it being a kind of bibel of Middle-Earth.

03-17-2002, 02:16 AM	#40
Cirdan Elf Lord of the Grey Havens Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: somewhere else Posts: 2,381	This may be the dumbest reason yet. I started reading the Hobbit in 1975 (see avatar) after someone explained the references from the Led Zepplin songs. Read LotR immediately after and looked at the world with Middle Earth glasses on ever since. The movie rekindled my interest. I re-read the trilogy prior to seeing the movie and enjoyed it more tha the first time. Moved on to the Silmarillion and now waiting for delivery of Vol. 1 of HoME. __________________ There exists a limit to the force even ther most powerful may apply without destroying themselves. Judging this limit is the true artistry of government. Misuse of power is the fatal sin. The law cannot be a tool of vengance, never a hostage, nor a fortification against the martyrs it has created. You cannot threaten any individual and escape the consequences. -Muad'dib on Law The Stilgar Commentary

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