Rain and shine, we always hold these memories close to our hearts. Timely, and a beautiful post, ScanMan. Happy Holidays, my friend. Excellent post. R

Wow, what a tribute! The best explanation I've ever read of the books' massive appeal.

Rated for literary passion.

I too have an addictive personality and often look for "healthy" addictions like fantasy novels to keep me busy. Oh, and you must have considered that Mr. super slow reader might have taken extra long just to fuck with you. You gave him too much power letting him know how badly you wanted that book.

I'm glad you made through those days, with the help of The Hobbit and LOTR. I didn't get into reading them till late, in between the first Fellowship of the Ring movie and the next one, The Two Towers. Being visually inspired, one of my favorite scenes is Gandalf the Grey striking his staff down on that slim stone bridge, facing the Balroc and declaring, "You shall not pass!" On days I need a little extra power to face whatever, I think of that.

Thanks T. For anyone who wants to see the first, and only trailer, the secretive Peter Jackson has released, here it is. I cannot get it to transfer, I know not why! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/8969575/Tolkien-fans-get-first-glimpse-of-The-Hobbit-film.html
Alan, thank you. That really means a lot.
bb, I thought of that, but he was one of the ones with the bayonets, and I didn't want to push him to hard, hah!
ccdarling, I love that scene too. Peter Jackson did a tremendous job on these movies, and The Hobbit will be out soon, I hear.

I too have read and re-read the triology and The Hobbit. Just saw the trailer for the new movie of the latter, which is due out next December. It looks good. You can see it here: http://tinyurl.com/7t6twej

Two things -- you make a good case for an all-volunteer military and I agree about Tolkien....When Gandalf talks to -- I think Frodo -- about not killing Gollum, that even the evil that was Gollum had a role to play, it stuck with me. You just never know the role any of us will play in the grand scheme of things -- and of course Led Zeppelin is the greatest rock and roll band, ever, ever.

My daughter says the best present I ever gave her was the complete set of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings including the Hobbit.

One of my terrible secrets as an avid reader is that I have never read Tolkien. No, not a one even though it has been recommended to me over and over by people whose literary taste I respect. What did you think of The Simarillion? It brought some of my men friends to tears.

PS Loved listening to The Ballad of Evermore again. Thanks.

I have never read them or seen the movies and I don't know why. Nancy Drew saved my life.. She was all I had.. Like you.
HUGGGGGGGGGGGGG

It is so wonderful when the books we choose to lose ourselves in are nice an thick. Excellent post.
rated with love

I enjoyed this. This is what I come to OS for. Tales of real life -- the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Boaner, why is everything 3D now, and it's taking another year trying to get it clearer. I thought the first one's where great. Why the change? Hollywood, geez!
Marty, it carried over into my life, and I did things differently. It changed be nto be a better person and yes, Zep Rocks!
Sarch, I have boauth them again and again, after moving, or "loaning" them and never getting them back. Thanks!
Miguela Holt y Roybal, I think you would like them, but some don't, it's all a matter of taste. The Simarillion did not seem to move alone as smoothly as the other. I think it was because it was meant to go alone with the others, but Tolkien died and his son wrote some of it. Thanks my friend!
Linda, as John Lennon said, "Whatever Get's You Through the Night, is Alright", hah~~
RP, thank you. I know that you have read them a few times. Your poems help people escape from the real world, and take you to far off places.

I finally get a fucking Editors Pick, and they SPELL IT WRONG. Emily, why do you hate me, hah~~~~

Those were the days! I was studying languages, Tolkien was a Medieval scholar, had written books on such classics as The Pearl, and Sir Gwain and the Green Knight. I learned that he wrote these books for his son during WWII, if I remember correctly. They still resonate!

And...Congratulations on the Editors Pick!!!

Actually Scanner it’s the guys who are always ripped and in trouble with the law that usually carry the front line to victory. That's why we have a draft. Tolkiens a bit to far out for even me, by the way he was also a product of the front line, but I applaud his effort and anyone who reads it. Two thumbs up for Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, you should read the Hammer of the Gods, “the sky is filled with good and bad that mortals never know”.

I'm not surprised you'd be so enamoured by Tolkien. It takes one to such a far away, different state of mind to settle down with a great book. Doesn't matter if you read it before, good friends keep on returning. Excellent post. So deserving of an EP.

Happy Holidays, my friend.

R♥

Wonderful post, and congrats on the EP! Very well-deserved. R.

Same thing happened to me with the Rings. I tried to read it in college (late 60's) when it had cult status on campus, but just couldn't get into it. Then 10 years later when I was a trapped housewife with twins, I escaped to MiddleEarth, seeking... deliverance, I suppose...I could always get through Book One and half of Book Two, then the darkness would become too much for me. The same thing happened with Phillip Pullman's series (The Golden Compass, the Subtle Knife and the Amber Spyglass), and to a lesser degree even with Harry Potter.

This is simply great. Well told. I can FEEL your passion. I also resisted these books for years until my husband just insisted I read them. I fell in love with them, too. I'm glad that led you in that new, wonderful direction.
Congrats on the EP!!!!! Woo hoo!

Congratulations on the EP Scanner!

(maybe Tink should change his avatar too)

Funny...my daughter payed homage to The Hobbit on her FB wall today with a video that I couldn't view. Need to update my Flash Player or something. Great and timely post.

I think this is why you are so good at fiction, Scanner. I have never gotten very involved with fantasy; I guess that makes me a bit unimaginable or something. I did, however, enjoy the movie Lord of the Rings. This was great!

Lezlie

Interesting you mention these. Yesterday I told a friend I was thinking about picking them up for the first time. I just finished my second reading of His Dark Materials series, and I need another genius fantasy writer to keep me occupied. Maybe I'll order them from Amazon now.

Congrats on the EP. @Maureen just mentioned the His Dark Materials trilogy - I think you'd enjoy that set as well.

huh! rarely do you imagine going from boozing, drugs and sex to fantasy literature - usually the trajectory goes the other way! Rated.

Excellent post Scan. Really. / r

Congrats on the EP.

I must confess I've never read Tolkien, never wanted to - until now. Sounds like you had a religious experience, Scanman. I could use me some of that.

I can see the old and young you morphed onto a couch reading this series - such a gift authors give us. The gift to imagine again.

Happy Holidays my friend.

I havent read them yet, but I'm loving books more and more, even cancelled cable. Maybe I'll start these books this winter break!

I liked The Silmarillion, too, the mythological background of Middle Earth. Or maybe I just like the idea of a myth within a myth. But I hope Peter Jackson doesn't take it on. Somehow I find his renderings ponderous.

Rated

Great post. We should all be so lucky as to have found books we can disappear into. Especially again and again.

"disappear into the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie ..."
absolutely, scanner.

thanks for the tune.

I left Germany in '75 after 3 years on a Military Base where I loved volunteering at the Consignment Shop with Comic Books being read by G.I's & Generals - so I can relate to the addiction I saw. Congrats on the E.P. R

Neat explanation of how a book can just creep up on you. I read them around the same time and just zoomed through them.

Im so proud of your reading and writing. It is fun!

Great story. Rated for open-heartedness.

Great remembrance, Scans! I remember that time frame, and how "cult status" the books were on campus. They were magical and lyrical to me as well, but I have never seen any of the movies. Big ole' Congrats on the EP -- well deserved, my friend! Merry Christmas to you. R.

"The guy was a slow reader, and that kills me. I sat outside his door, on the barracks floor, dying for something to drink, some dope or even some more Hobbit. Every 30 minutes or so, I would bang on his door and yell, "Asshole, you through yet, damn?" We never got along after that, by the way."

The Power Of Literature To Change Lives.

The road goes ever on and on...

I devoured LOTR in high school and it changed my life too. On a long road trip, I played the audible books for my kids and they revere the stories as well...

Thank God it got you through.

And an EP as well! Merry Christmas, you old Ent you!

Scanner, I wish you could stand before every one of my classes, filled with students who do less and less non-instrumental reading, and tell this story. It is root-and-branch stirring.

Great post, Scanner. And I loved what Jerry said. Congrats on the EP!!

~R~

I often wonder if JRR could see today what he wrought, what he might think of it all ;). Coinkidinkly I was watching a neat little hour long jewel about this very subject just last night.. for those interested you'll find it residing here :

http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/beyond_the_movie_lord_of_the_rings_return_of_the_king

It's free, you don't have to sign up or in, just sit back and enjoy :).

Rated for merry season and good coming year to the Scan household :).

Ah the Hobbit! Yes, that book got me through tough times too!

Them books are grabbers man.
Well done scans

Congratulations for the well deserved EP scanner. And for a great piece on the power of books and reading.

I was 12 in a small town in Texas south of Fort Worth when I read the Riddles in the Dark chapter in my class reading book, so I went to the Christian college library and found the book. I sat down and had read half the book over several hours before I looked up and realized I was not in the magical land of Mith-Garth on an adventure to find gold and fight a dragon. I have since read all four books at least 20 times.

I have noticed that the plots of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, and Star Wars are exactly alike:

A young male with a magic talisman, aided by a wise elder male with a long beard, defeats a fascist, arrogant middle-aged male control-freak with anger issues.

Never read a great writer that wasn't also a great reader.

A hippie friend of mine turned me on to the books, only we sat on his couch passing doobies and eating KrispieKream donuts for the rest of that summer.

Congrat on EP!

Congrats on the Editor's Pick - or is their more than one editor? In which case it would be Editors' Pick.

I never got into Tolkien at all. I got into Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer, The Hardy Boys, John Carter of Mars (Edgar Rice Burroughs), and tons of comic books.

As I grew I got into Asimov, Bradbury, Judith Merrill, Robert Heinlein, etc. To this day I am an avid reader of SciFi - but not of Fantasy Fiction. It just doesn't turn my crank, y'know?

Best in the New Year Scan Man!!
.

Yoiks!

" .....is their more than one........" should be ".......is there more than one....."
.

my son's first word was "Bilbo". Excellent post and story. Reading is magic.

i'm not sure why, but i'm tickled to be the 50th one to give this a "thumbs up". Feels significant somehow...

Blessings...
sharon

Sharon, it does feel good for Charlie Chaplin to be #50. Thank you for stopping by. I bet you kid is one cool cat!

I appreciate the honesty that you write with, and your love of reading. When I was young, my uncle bob would give me a WHOLE CARDBOARD BOX of comics when I went to see his family. Comics rule.

Comics rule! Thanks for writing about those days.

Thanks for your honesty and your love of reading. Comics rule!

Thanks for your honesty and your love of reading. Comics rule!

Sorry I am the rainman of os comments this morning!

Oh my those days sound like really fond memories and I too read the series in the seventies. It certainly did change my life too and I am so glad for you. being that successful n life back then must have been fun. Cheers and more...

Ten years before your account; I was in college in Ohio and "Someone started passing around the Hobbit, a weird little book that I thought was rather stupid at the time, and put down many times." (Sorry about pasteing). In our dorms often "crazy-ass people walking the halls, with bayonet knifes wanting to kill someone." Chicks really loved Tolkien too.

Right before my ex informed me that he wanted a divorce and then moved in with his mistress 2000 miles away from the kids and I, he turned me on to the LOTR movies. I bought the books, and they saved my fucking sanity during those dark times. I've come a long way--things are so different now--and the comfort I take now from the books or the movies is not as intense. In a strange, perhaps dysfunctional way, I miss that feeling of desperation I had during my divorce which made possible such a deep emotional connection to LOTR. During that time, I was actually transported into the story so much further because I was so very much needed and wanted to be somewhere or someone else. I miss that part of it. I'll forever be grateful to Tolkien for documenting--through these books--what magic can be accomplished when one mixes their own hard-scrabble beginnings with an insanely clever and creative literary mind.

Your fellow addicts are still tuning in, four months later! Thanks for the story, Scanner. I enjoyed it.

Like J.R.R.'s world, our world is full of adventure, nobility, and lusty characters. We simply need to seek them out to enjoy their fruits. Thank you for the story. Enjoyed it.