Author: JRR Tolkien
First Read: 6 or 7 years old.
I can’t
remember when I first read the Hobbit. I
do know when I first read LOTR. It was
when I went with my mom to the eye doctor.
She started reading it to me, and when she couldn’t continue because of
the eye drops, I started reading it on my own.
About four years later, I received my own illustrated copy of the Hobbit
(with Hague illustrations, so he is my first LOTR artist), and then a few years
after that, I brought my own copies of Fellowship, Towers, and King. When the movies came out, I caved and brought
hardcover editions of the trilogy.
Additionally, it is one of the few books where I own multiple versions –
not only physical books, but kindle version, audio cassette versions, and
Audible files.
And
that’s not counting the movies, including the storybook record from the cartoon movie.
But let’s
not count those because I will keep bitching about the lack of a thrush.
I have
read the books so many times, that I got a little po’ed when I reviewed the
kindle version of LOTR and somebody thought it was the first time I read the
books.
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| Rankin/Bass Hobbit. It had a Thrush Mr Jackson. (source Pinterest) |
When I
first read the books, I found everything before the Council of Elrond boring
and after the first two times I read the story, skipped it for a bit. I liked the bit at the Ford, but the Council
of Elrond was where it was at because it had Elves. I loved Elves because they had bows like
Robin Hood. Flynn’s Robin Hood was the
first movie I saw, the Pyle version of Robin Hood was one of the first books I
owned. Bard was my favorite character in
the Hobbit because he had a bow. You see
how it goes. I also couldn’t figure out
why Arwen married Strider because she didn’t do anything but sew.
Look, I
was very young.
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| "As the Thrush Knocks" by Ted Nasmith (Pintest) |
While I
agree with Pratchett -that if you think LOTR is the greatest book every, you
haven’t read it enough, I love this book.
It isn’t perfect, but it holds up well.
And yes, there are parts that don’t quite fit – Tom Bombadil for
instance, but their friendship and bonds that run though the novel are the joy
of the novel.
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| Tom by the Brothers Hildebrandt. C'mon tell me he belongs, I dare you (Pinterst) |
As I
got older, I grew to love the Arwen story at the same time I got angry with how
it set such a standard of elven maiden giving up immortality to marry a human
man, something in reverse that you tend not to see too often. I realized that there are aspects of the Prof
in many characters, perhaps mostly in Eowyn when she complains of being left to
burn in the hall when men have more use for it.
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| Eowyn (pinterst) |
What
the Prof did was not only give Britain a saga, a story that Milton wished to
do. He didn’t just simply set the
standard for world building or create a template that writers like Terry Brooks
would “borrow” (or steal) for years to come.
It’s
humanity. Really.
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| John and Edith Tolkien (Pinterest) |
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