This is one in a series of posts where the content is provided by a guest who has graciously answered five questions about their experience as a Tolkien reader. I am very humbled that anyone volunteers to spend time in this busy world to answer questions for my blog, and so I give my sincerest thanks to Ina the other participants for this.

To see the idea behind this project, check out this page

I want to thank Donato Giancola for allowing me to use his stunning portrait of J.R.R Tolkien as the featured image for this project. If you would like to purchase a print of this painting, they are available on his website!

If you would like to contribute your own experience, you can do so by using the form on the contact page, or by emailing me directly.

Now, on to Ina’s responses:

How were you introduced to Tolkien’s work?

I was introduced by my German/philosophy teacher at the German grammar school I was attending at the time. I was 17.
He gave me the three-volume German edition of The Lord of the Rings, published by Klett-Cotta. When I handed it back to him, he asked me if I had liked it, and I told him I hadn’t.
I also didn’t understand what the hype was all about. At the time, I didn’t understand why I hadn’t liked it.
Several years later, my English had improved, so I decided to read the original version (since I had been lucky enough to find an affordable one-volume edition with the appendices; English books used to be very expensive in Germany before the advent of Amazon).
I devoured the book within a few days and loved it!
I also realised why I hadn’t liked the German translation:

a) All the songs and poems were translated with rhyme and meter, which is commendable; however, the meaning/content went out the window, so I hadn’t understood the backstory of the ring and the history of Middle-Earth.

b) The prose of the German translation is by no means on a par with Tolkien’s use of language. Also, the translator had changed a number of the names to what he probably thought was easier for German readers. I only found it confusing.
I‘ve read it several times since then and love it more each time.

2. What is your favorite part of Tolkien’s work?

My favourite work by Tolkien is still The Lord oft he Rings, although I have also read The Hobbit and The Silmarillion.

3. What is your fondest experience of Tolkien’s work?

My fondest experiences are:

a) Reading such a magical, beautiful book in the original language.

b) Watching The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (the extended version). One thing I like about the films in particular is that the female characters are portrayed more strongly – and as stronger.

4. Has the way you approach Tolkien’s work changed over time?

Well, I’m 50 now and have a somewhat more mature approach (I hope). As a young adult, I read novels mostly for entertainment. Then I went to university to study English and learned much about literature, so I came to appreciate it more. Nowadays, I also want to know about the author’s and the story’s backgrounds.

5. Would you ever recommend Tolkien’s work? Why/Why not?

I definitely recommend Tolkien’s work to others – if at all possible, in English. The Lord of the Rings is a milestone of unprecedented genius. You can read it on many levels, starting from reading it simply for pleasure all the way to writing your thesis on it. It’s a marvel of world-building, which makes the reader see something new every time they read it. For me, it’s the best book of the 20th century.

This is one in a series of posts where the content is provided by a guest who has graciously answered five questions about their experience as a Tolkien reader. I am very humbled that anyone volunteers to spend time in this busy world to answer questions for my blog, and so I give my sincerest thanks to Beth and the other participants for this.

To see the idea behind this project, check out this page

I want to thank Donato Giancola for allowing me to use his stunning portrait of J.R.R Tolkien as the featured image for this project. If you would like to purchase a print of this painting, they are available on his website!

If you would like to contribute your own experience, you can do so by using the form on the contact page, or by emailing me directly.

Now, on to Beth H’s responses:

How were you introduced to Tolkien’s work?

I was first introduced to Tolkien’s work in late junior high or freshman year of high school when my sister brought home a library copy of The Hobbit. I may be remembering this wrong—what year of my life it happened. It had to have been before freshman year of high school. Then I think the Rankin Bass cartoon of The Hobbit was shown on TV and I liked it, so I read the book, and liked the parts about yearning for cupboard comforts the best, the Gollum scene second best, and the troll scene next best.

What is your favorite part of Tolkien’s work?

My favorite part of Tolkien’s work is The Lord of the Rings—and my favorite part of that is the hobbitry. Really the mixture of country bumpkins yearning for adventure, loving the comfortable life, but wanting to see more interesting things. It was the story of my life growing up in a small farm town before the Internet, feeling that there must be SO MUCH MORE out there. At first read through the Black Rider scare and intrigue hooked me so that I could not put the book down, and I fell in love with Glorfindel—as small a part as that was. He seemed to me to most clearly evoke what was beautiful—promisingly possible about elves. Makes you want to learn more about what life in his world would be like—but we never really get it, do we? We are always left wanting more.

What is your fondest experience of Tolkien’s work?

When I first read the LOTR I was all about the Englishness of it and cared the most about the hobbit story lines. I studied in England for a year in college and I blame the LOTR for planting a romantic idea in my head about what England would be. This was before I read The Wind in the Willows. Same kind of love, though. Love of nature and simple pleasures and yearning for adventure.

My experience changed most after finally being able to digest The Silmarillion—ONLY possible with the help of Corey Olsen and The Silmarillion Seminar podcasts. It was like being given the LOTR all over again, and this time the parts that I had previously found to be tedious (long descriptions of landscapes and chapters having to do with Gondor and Rohan) became the more interesting parts.

Has the way you approach Tolkien’s work changed over time?

Post Silmarillion Tolkien has become an extension of my spiritual life—in the sense that it provides another “in” to a sense of gratitude for beauty, the importance of sorrow and pity. As a writer I am always amazed by Tolkien’s skill. He is much loved but underrated, and many who try to copy him suggest that they miss most of what is great in his writing. By that I mean that the charm has less to do with the variety of creatures/sentient beings. Writing a story that has dragons and elves does not give you Tolkien, so the value lies elsewhere.

Would you ever recommend Tolkien’s work? Why/Why not?

I always try to get people to read Tolkien and try to keep Little Free Libraries near me always stocked, hoping to give that experience to another person. The first biggest value is in an appreciation of beauty in a biblical sense—“…and God saw that it was good,” and so do we.

This is one in a series of posts where the content is provided by a guest who has graciously answered five questions about their experience as a Tolkien reader. I am very humbled that anyone volunteers to spend time in this busy world to answer questions for my blog, and so I give my sincerest thanks to Dom and the other participants for this.

To see the idea behind this project, check out this page

I want to thank Donato Giancola for allowing me to use his stunning portrait of J.R.R Tolkien as the featured image for this project. If you would like to purchase a print of this painting, they are available on his website!

If you would like to contribute your own experience, you can do so by using the form on the contact page, or by emailing me directly.

Now, on to Dom N’s responses:

1. How were you introduced to Tolkien’s work?

My dad gave me The Hobbit to read when I was in junior high. I remember we were going to visit my mom, who lived in another state. I started reading before we left and was so engrossed I couldn’t wait for us to arrive at my mom’s house so I could rush out of the car and continue reading. I continued to devour The Lord of the Rings (the old Ballentine editions). I devoured the books. I even told my family one night that I was skipping dinner so I could keep reading.

2. What is your favorite part of Tolkien’s work?

The richness of the text. His writing has so many layers. There’s so much to discover upon rereading the books.

3. What is your fondest experience of Tolkien’s work?

Two experiences. First, the first time I read the books (see above). I was hooked! Second, I presented a paper about politics in Lord of the Rings at Mythmoot and Mythcon. The paper was well received and I received very positive feedback from several scholars, including Prof. Corey Olsen. I won the Alexei Kondratiev Award for the paper and it was published in Mythlore (2014). So I am now a published Tolkien scholar!

4. Has the way you approach Tolkien’s work changed over time?

Definitely. As noted in the answers above, I went from reading the books as a young pre-teen on my mom’s couch to publishing an academic paper on Tolkien’s works. I loved the books as a kid for the epic action/adventure and vivid world-building. As I got older, I’ve grown to appreciate the themes and the writing style and the stories that influenced Tolkien.

5. Would you ever recommend Tolkien’s work? Why/Why not?

Of course. With that said, I would also say that Tolkien’s writing is not for everyone. Tolkien set out to create a fantasy story in the style of a medieval epic. He succeeded wildly, but I realize that’s not what all readers want or expect from epic fantasy. Some readers have complained about the book because Tolkien spends so much time with the Hobbits walking and walking and walking. I obviously love the books, but they’re probably not for the casual reader.

If you want to hear more from Dom, check out his great SFF blog: https://domnardireviews.wordpress.com or follow him on twitter: @Nardiviews

This is one in a series of posts where the content is provided by a guest who has graciously answered five questions about their experience as a Tolkien reader. I am very humbled that anyone volunteers to spend time in this busy world to answer questions for my blog, and so I give my sincerest thanks to Nico the other participants for this.

To see the idea behind this project, check out this page

I want to thank Donato Giancola for allowing me to use his stunning portrait of J.R.R Tolkien as the featured image for this project. If you would like to purchase print of this painting, they are available on his website!

If you would like to contribute your own experience, you can do so by using the form on the contact page, or by emailing me directly.

Now, on to Nico Berger’s responses:

How were you introduced to Tolkien’s work?

When I was freshly 15 and the second Lord of the Rings film had just been released, my father was in the living room rewatching the first one. I had seen previews for it but I misinterpreted it as a scary film, and I avoided those like the plague! But I was curious. It looked so beautiful, the elves in their glowing gowns and the characters looked medieval and magical. I loved that kind of thing, usually. I watched a few scenes, understanding nearly nothing, my dad giving a vague explanation since he hadn’t read the books, and when it was over I put the Blockbuster VHS back in. I watched it maybe 4 times in two days. I had so many questions – what is the Ring, how exactly does it have power, and most importantly, what happens next?

I looked into it, and the internet told me to read The Hobbit and then The Lord of the Rings. I found The Hobbit on my bookshelf at home and slogged through it, not really feeling compelled by the story, and then bought the trilogy. We left for Christmas vacation then, and bored in the Bahamas with my family (I’m not a beach person), I devoured the three books in 4 days. When I finished The Return of the King, it was already dark and I was supposed to be asleep. I didn’t know how it all ended. Needless to say, it’s so deeply heartbreaking and beautiful I hugged the book tightly and cried myself to sleep. When I got back home, I went to see The Two Towers, and got all the Tolkien books I could get my hands on. It’s been 15 years and I still reread and rewatch it all regularly.

2. What is your favorite part of Tolkien’s work?

So many things come to mind; small things that together are powerful. The depth of the languages Tolkien created (funny enough I am a Norwegian speaker via my mother, so I was able to grasp some of the Elvish structure already), the deep (and sometimes even boring!) history of this world, and the occasional sad endings or unfinished stories make for such a realistic world. It was exactly what I needed as a teenager to escape. It felt as real and full as this world.

3. What is your fondest experience of Tolkien’s work?

Kind of corny but that night I mentioned before: the story was so exquisitely sad, I felt as if I’d been stabbed. I was only 15, this felt like my first real heartbreak. All I could think was Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf – I don’t want you to die. You made it through! I don’t want you to die. As soon as I’d read “‘Well, I’m back,’ he said.,” I hugged the book and sobbed. I’ve been a voracious reader since I was little, but no book had ever affected me like that. So it’s painful, my fondest experience, but by far the most potent book experience I’ll ever have.

4. Has the way you approach Tolkien’s work changed over time?

Yes! I’m 30 now, a linguist of all things, and I’ve studied Elvish and the Dwarvish runes quite a bit. I am essentially constantly in the middle of rereading the 17 Tolkien books I have on my shelf, which I either read intensely or passively between the other novels that come my way. I consider watching the films a nearly ritualistic experience, where I have to be in just the right mood and have done all the preparations before (freshly rereading the book on which the film is based). I spend more time now learning about Tolkien and his other nonfiction writings, whereas when I was a child the appeal was less academic and more about the sensation that it was all real. It’s gone from escapism to appreciation for me.

5. Would you ever recommend Tolkien’s work? Why/Why not?

To anyone and everyone. I really do believe reading is so very important, and exercising one’s imagination, and Tolkien’s work is challenging. It’s not written as accessibly as Harry Potter. I could write that fanfiction all day, it’s easy – but Tolkien writes like a learned scribe from a time long since past and it’s nearly impossible to mimic. Reading his writing style takes conscious thought to understand sentences you’d never hear in ordinary life, such as “Thy account has wrought in me much joy, for I am fain to learn of her fate.” Ok, I just made that up, but you know what I mean! Aside from the cognitive benefits of reading Tolkien, it’s just such a treasure trove. For example I also love Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy – but that’s it. It’s just those 3.5 books. There’s not a lot more to dig into this world, whereas with Tolkien there is a near-endless supply of drafts, stories, and history to explore. Disclaimer: rumor has it Pullman is writing again, so hopefully I’ll be wrong soon. Also if someone could fall in love with these characters as deeply as I did, it’s worth it. Everyone deserves that feeling of magic.

This is one in a series of posts where the content is provided by a guest who has graciously answered five questions about their experience as a Tolkien reader. I am very humbled that anyone volunteers to spend time in this busy world to answer questions for my blog, and so I give my sincerest thanks to Liam and the other participants for this.

To see the idea behind this project, check out this page

I want to thank Donato Giancola for allowing me to use his stunning portrait of J.R.R Tolkien as the featured image for this project. If you would like to purchase a print of this painting, they are available on his website!

If you would like to contribute your own experience, you can do so by using the form on the contact page, or by emailing me directly.

Now, on to Liam Chung’s responses:

How were you introduced to Tolkien’s work?

My mom religiously buys out library sales, and owns copies of almost every classic work of literature, from The Name of the Rose to The Great Gatsby. Naturally, she owned an absolutely ANCIENT copy of LOTR, and as a kid I was so enticed by the art and style of the books that I read The Hobbit at around 9. I didn’t get around to the rest of the books until I was about 13, but when I got there I fell in love with them, and after I finished reading them on my mom’s edition, I went out and bought my own leather bound copy.

2. What is your favorite part of Tolkien’s work?

Easy. When Samwise fights Shelob to protect Frodo at the end of The Two Towers. I still remember reading it for the first time, and being blown away. I especially remember glancing at the table of contents and seeing the name of the chapter, “The Choices of Master Samwise,” and being incredibly excited to get there, because (at the time) Samwise was my favorite character.

3. What is your fondest experience of Tolkien’s work?

I finished The Return of the King sitting outside in my backyard, and felt a powerful sense of peace after finishing that epilogue-esque ending with Sam returning home to his family. Nothing special, but an incredibly meaningful moment in my life.

4. Has the way you approach Tolkien’s work changed over time?

Yes. My view of the characters and their struggles has been put in context just by being able to sit with them for a couple years, and I’m sure it will continue. The most notable change was after I read The Silmarillion, and a lot of the prologue in Fellowship of the Ring was put into context. It completely changed how I viewed the entire adventure, because it made it more like these tiny figures marching through a world that’s much older and much more jaded than they are.

5. Would you ever recommend Tolkien’s work? Why/Why not?

Absolutely. I recognize it’s not for everyone, and the vast majority of people I recommend it to say “it’s so boring! I couldn’t finish it!” and at this point, I just sigh and move on. But it means a lot to me when I can actually talk someone into reading them and enjoying them. I remember I had this English teacher in high school who, upon finding out the LOTR was my favorite work of literature, proceeded to just absolutely trash them, saying how they’re a lazy children’s book where nothing happens. I’m not sure I’ve ever been more angry in my whole life, but I survived. I hope that one day she changes her mind.