What do you remember about your first reading of the LOTR?

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

I'm applying the terms to the difference between the direct experience of literature and the use of critical methods to examine it. Northop Frye likens it to the difference between shivering and reading a thermometer; we can certainly do both, and each has its own validity.

 

[HALETH✒🗡]

I'm applying the terms to the difference between the direct experience of literature and the use of critical methods to examine it. Northop Frye likens it to the difference between shivering and reading a thermometer; we can certainly do both, and each has its own validity.

Yes, composition, means of artistic expression, syntactic constructions used, types of rhyming are objective criteria for text analysis.

 

[Olorgando]

Taste is subjective in general but there's an objective minimum of taste that allows to distinguish high-quality literature from low-quality books.

What passes for objectivity is when sufficiently large - possibly more often sufficiently influential - groups have reached a consensus; which is a group subjectivity. The consensus tends to be on a general level; if the group were to start discussing details, they would probably find that the consensus doesn't go as far as they thought - or as the (often small) influential part of a group would like the group to believe.

No question, I agree with the consensus reached on quite a few topics. I just find that the group of terms based on the word "objective" is possibly the most misused concept in all of human language. And those most often misusing it are the types that swiftly raise the Wolverine hackles on my neck.

 

[Olorgando]

I'm applying the terms to the difference between the direct experience of literature and the use of critical methods to examine it. Northop Frye likens it to the difference between shivering and reading a thermometer; we can certainly do both, and each has its own validity.

Fine. But do you use a thermometer using the Fahrenheit, the Celsius, or the Kelvin scale?

 

[Beytran70]

I did not read the books until after I had seen the movies, and the movies scared me a bit as a kid so I was expecting them to be scarier than they were. I also was surprised at how many things were different -- and drastically so! Still, there was enough familiarity and depth from the movies that I was not overwhelmed by the reading and blew through all three in just a week or two. I remember being happy to see the songs from the movie in their full versions!

 

[Persephone]

My turn...

I was in college when I was gifted the Hobbit and the Trilogy. The gifter was a Scottish man who I met in one of the side hustles I had to do to pay for my tuition (I had 2 - and I don't recommend it). Anyway, before that, I've never read an entire book - let alone a series. I was into Sci-Fi - Star Trek and Star Wars - I was also into superheroes and comic books. The only other book I've read before that was Red Dwarf, which is nowhere near in length or magnitude.

I was told to start with THE HOBBIT. At first, I figured it was a kind of mythology. I've never heard of Hobbits before and as I read their description - and how Bilbo acted all throughout the story - I realized, Oh my god, they are talking about Filipinos! (I am a Filipino, BTW). Short, loves food, on the hairy side of things, loves parties, goes to parties even if uninvited (what you gonna do?), basically treats everyone in the village as family, will mutter nonsensical - albeit sometimes hurtful - words when forced to do things they don't like, but will do them anyway, and is always READY TO HELP. This was further cemented when I read LOTR.

It took me a while to wrap my head around the old English style of writing, especially with the songs and poems. The Philippines is one of only 2 countries in Asia who use American English more than British English. My exposure and background to the language is American so it took a while for me to fully appreciate the way Tolkien wrote - but I was fascinated by the story. It read more Historical than Fictional - and as a writer myself, I find that difficult to achieve because it requires massive world building and deep character development that will overlap with other characters. I know his work was tainted by his religious beliefs as well as philosophies he acquired in life, but I never felt that he was inculcating anything so I took his work as purely entertainment.

It was while reading the Hobbit that I first had that experience of actually losing myself in the book. When they were running away from the spiders in Mirkwood, I found myself running with them and scared. I had to stop reading - it freaked me out. It happened again in LOTR, when they were under Moria.

 

[Bunny]

I was probably in junior high (not sure of the year). My mom wanted me to listen to my younger sister read, to improve her skills. In The Golden Treasury of Children's Literature, there is an exerpt from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Party. I liked it enough to buy the Ballantine paperback, then LOTR itself. Having my sister read to me stopped quickly, and I read all four books aloud to my sister, interrupted halfway through when my baby brother joined us and I had to start over. I bought a set for each of the three of us when I got my first job.

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

When I first read The Lord of the Rings, (I don't remember everything and I won't bore anyone with dates and meaningless timeframes,) What I remember most is that I changed. As I read it, I was not the same person anymore, and the same has happened for each Middle-Earth Book I have read since.

First of all, I read it in order. The Hobbit first, then the The Lord of the Rings, which I also read in order. The Hobbit to me was an excellent book, and I very much liked the literature and had a particular affection for the maps and poems. So when I read The Lord of the Rings, I adored it. I remember through LoTR, I just felt like a totally different person. I felt like I was different, and ever since that day, I have been a huge LoTR and Tolkien Fan. I am constantly rereading the books, and each time I do I get something more out of them. I have made tons of maps, dioramas, letters, and even more. Lord of the Rings became something that shaped who I was as a person, and to this day, I will never be the same again, nor do I want to be.

I also read the Silmarillion after The Lord of the Rings, and I read Unfinished Tales also. Each time these books have captivated me and changed who I was. I am constantly making up music to the songs and singing them(Glad I am not the only one!) and increasing my knowledge of Sindarin, Quenya, and Telerin. I can write in both Dwarvish runes and Elvish Tengwar Script, and can barely have a conversation without saying some reference to Tolkien and Middle-Earth.

Thank you for this post- and I love seeing how everyone else discovered Tolkien, Middle-Earth, and The Lord of the Rings!

 

[Míriel Amaniel]

increasing my knowledge of Sindarin, Quenya, and Telerin. I can write in both Dwarvish runes and Elvish Tengwar Script, and can barely have a conversation without saying some reference to Tolkien and Middle-Earth.

I would love to learn from you!

Actually, I already am, right?

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

'Tis true you are! Through little sentences hither and thither! 'Alas my knowledge is ne'er complete either, and I am ever learning as was ever my Quest in life, to learn, and to ne'er cease learning! For e'er is their knowledge to be gained!

 

[Lómelindë Lindórië]

And yet the deepest knowledge may come from what one harbours within themself, is it not?

Indeed, I am gladdened to learn from you! Nauva i nauva, such was the first that I came upon thanks to you!

 

[jdbliss]

I am embarrassed to say I do not remember a lot about the first time I read through the books. But what I do remember is.....I was listening to the Cheap Trick "Dream Police" album during the first time I read the books, so now it is indelibly ingrained in my head...every time I hear a song off that album, I see images from the books. I don't think that's a bad thing!

 

[frodolives7601]

I read it in high school, 1969. My best friend loaned me the books, but did not give any spoilers. I was devastated when Gandalf fell. I cried to my friend, who simply agreed, yeah that was bad. But then when Gandalf returned I was elated beyond belief, and kinda mad at my friend for not telling me! I get it, but to this day I prefer to have spoilers.... I will watch the spoiler reel BEFORE watching a film, because that episode with Gandalf was such a load of needless grief.

I read it the summer I was thirteen. I can still remember my dad handing me paperback versions of The Hobbit and LOTR, saying, "I think you'll like these." I had never read fantasy before but became completely captivated. And for me too, Will, the thing I remember most clearly is crying when Gandalf fell in Moria. He was my favorite LOTR character at the time, though Frodo is now.

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

I read it the summer I was thirteen. I can still remember my dad handing me paperback versions of The Hobbit and LOTR, saying, "I think you'll like these." I had never read fantasy before but became completely captivated. And for me too, Will, the thing I remember most clearly is crying when Gandalf fell in Moria. He was my favorite LOTR character at the time, though Frodo is now.

Oh I remember crying for Gandalf too... Had to be one of my absolute favorite characters since I read The Hobbit first and loved his character in that. It was the first time I had actually cried in a book, and it felt so odd. I remember that I would even cry after the fact, like in later chapters the moment something was mentioned of him. When he returned, it was a joyous occasion for me. I also like Frodo's character, but I must admit from LOTR, Legolas has to be high on the favorites list.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

I am embarrassed to say I do not remember a lot about the first time I read through the books. But what I do remember is.....I was listening to the Cheap Trick "Dream Police" album during the first time I read the books, so now it is indelibly ingrained in my head...every time I hear a song off that album, I see images from the books. I don't think that's a bad thing!

This reminds me: I'd stopped listening to pop music a couple of years before reading Tolkien, because I was tired of the junk on Top 40 radio-- which was all there was at the time, unless you lived in a large city.

A friend who shared my love for science fiction, and then Tolkien, lent me Satanic Majesties Request, saying I'd find fantasy and SF music. He was right, and like JD, I forever associated the album with Tolkien in my mind, perhaps this song especially:

Lying on my bed, immersed in Middle-earth, and then, the next morning, right back in the misery of high school. 😥

And in this one, I immediately pictured a hobbit chorus doing the "Ooh-la-las"! 😅

(And yes, Elhir -- of course they're singing about Galadriel!😄)

 

[Aldarion]

I am another case of "saw the movies first". So I remember that back after seeing the Fellowship, first thing I did was draw a map based on my memory and impressions from the movies, which I then updated over time. As you can see from my memory-based redrawing, it was... rather different from the books.

Thankfully, I read all three books almost immediately after watching Return of the King, so this misconception did not last for long. Suffice to say, however, map was the thing that impressed on me the most in the first reading of the books.

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

I am another case of "saw the movies first". So I remember that back after seeing the Fellowship, first thing I did was draw a map based on my memory and impressions from the movies, which I then updated over time. As you can see from my memory-based redrawing, it was... rather different from the books.

View attachment 14221

Thankfully, I read all three books almost immediately after watching Return of the King, so this misconception did not last for long. Suffice to say, however, map was the thing that impressed on me the most in the first reading of the books.

I love the maps. Mere days after I started reading I made a huge detailed map of Middle-Earth I remember. Had all the names of places and everything, and roads. It was very nice to have all the places at my fingertips, particularly because I read it from a library first. Later on, I bought the books myself and have read them MANY times since.

 

[Zusthratuk]

Back in 2002, I was 5 years old and I already became a LOTR fan (yet, I weren't aware of Tolkien at all); despite my age, I began to read the 70's Spanish edition of the Return of the King, they were my mother's book, she had read the books in her teenages.

Whatever, I remember that I didn't watch The Return of the King since it was 2002. I just couldn't read too much since it was quite difficult to me indeed. Shamelessly, I admit it since I was a child and I believe that no one has ever read Tolkien when they were that young despite what some people could say.

What I want to tell is that I remember reading some part when Pippin and Gandalf met Faramir, and for me, I imagined Faramir as a truly old man and the whole fellowship was there at the moment. As you may imagine, I just couldn't continue reading since I hadn't understand anything at all.

 

[Elbereth Vala Varda]

Back in 2002, I was 5 years old and I already became a LOTR fan (yet, I weren't aware of Tolkien at all); despite my age, I began to read the 70's Spanish edition of the Return of the King, they were my mother's book, she had read the books in her teenages.

Whatever, I remember that I didn't watch The Return of the King since it was 2002. I just couldn't read too much since it was quite difficult to me indeed. Shamelessly, I admit it since I was a child and I believe that no one has ever read Tolkien when they were that young despite what some people could say.

What I want to tell is that I remember reading some part when Pippin and Gandalf met Faramir, and for me, I imagined Faramir as a truly old man and the whole fellowship was there at the moment. As you may imagine, I just couldn't continue reading since I hadn't understand anything at all.

Congrats getting into it so young! I am sure it was difficult if you did not understand it however.

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

I began to read the 70's Spanish edition

I'm curious, Zusthratuk -- have you read the original English edition since then? And if so, how would you compare the two?

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