I bumped into
Tolkien as a child, perhaps 9 years old, living on a farm outside a small country town in rural Australia. There was no internet. There was no public transport. There were 2 TV stations and 2 radio stations and I was, perhaps understandably, an unrepentant bibliophile. I devoured
books because they offered a way to go somewhere else and look at life through someone else's eyes (fictional or otherwise).
I had access to 2 very small libraries. I had completely tapped out our public library to the point that the librarians would spot me as I came in and tell me that they had no new
titles in the collection (they'd then give me odd jobs to do which I loved because libraries and librarians are cool). That left me with my even smaller school library. It got new titles faster than our public library (funding - go figure) and by that age, I was looking for anything that was
thiiiicccckkkkkkk (I could then and still do now polish off your average sized novel in about 3 hours).
To my delight, I found a new resident on my school library shelves. It was all 3 of the LotR books in one title. I couldn't believe my luck at finding such a big title. Of course, being the seasoned bibliophile, I scanned the listing of other titles by the same author. Gold! I knew I was set for at least 2 weeks, possibly longer, with fresh content. I had no idea who Tolkien was. Much of the hoopla around the original publication was distinctly Northern Hemisphere. I tucked my chunky new reading material into my bag and the rest, as they say, is history.
I remember distinctly where I was when I first read the scene where
Gandalf faces off with that
Balrog. It was a sunny, warm day and I was reading on the trampoline in our back yard (neither my younger brothers nor our dog could get onto the trampoline so I was left in peace). My young heart broke and as I ran inside in tears, I wondered what the hell was going on. It was just a book but I was
into it. My mother patiently explained that these characters were fictional, which I knew, and suggested that perhaps I should put the book away if it upset me that much. Hell would sooner freeze over, of course.
Being in a very small rural town, pre-internet, no book clubs and certainly no geek culture to speak of, my Tolkien fandom was very personal. It was just me, digging about for other titles. After LotR, I read
The Hobbit. That was certainly the wrong way about and it wasn't until years later, when I understood the nature and structure of
novels, per se, that I grasped just how remarkable that novel is. Not to be discouraged, though, I hunted down a copy of the
Silmarillion and fell head over heels.
Of course, I grew up, went to university, got married, left town. Always kept my personal Tolkien library close though. Didn't venture into online Tolkien worlds until we were approaching the release of the first PJ movie. That, of course, is how my path crossed with
Halasían and a good many others. We'd never have met, much less married, without online Tolkien forums. It Halasían who suggested I might want to take a look at TTF, but I don't spend a great deal of time on online forums. The online debates are amusing, but not for long. I find them tiresome and have cast many Tolkien sites aside. I don't miss them and they don't miss me (if indeed they are still functioning).
The fact that I'm still here on TTF, and not on other Tolkien sites, speaks volumes. As does the fact that over 40 years later, I am still reading Tolkien and loving it. Tolkien is, in fact, the only author I re-read other than Shakespeare.