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 Xenia 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 Xenia M’s responses:

How were you introduced to Tolkien’s work?

I was a wannabe hippie at a very small high school in rural Ohio in the late 1960’s. There was a girl named Joyce who was further advanced in hippie-dom than I was so I looked to her for guidance. She was reading a book with a very psychedelic cover so naturally I had to get a copy. It was The Fellowship of the Ring. I don’t think Joyce ever finished the book; she mostly carried it around for effect. But I devoured it and saved my allowance money (some hippie!) for the next two volumes. I read them over and over.

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

I liked the travel sections the best when the Fellowship is traveling through woods, mountains, and Moria.

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

I used to hike a lot as a young person and imagine I was part of a Fellowship traveling through Middle-earth.

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

Yes, I have been affected by two things:

1. The Tolkien Professor’s podcasts, which led to participating live in the Tuesday and Wednesday night Mythgard classes, which led to enrolling in Signum University as a graduate student. The course work has caused me to take a more scholarly look at Tolkien’s writing. Happily, this has not been dry but actually has enhanced my enjoyment. I notice subtleties that I had previously overlooked.

2. The Peter Jackson movies, for better or for worse. Previously, I didn’t pay much attention to the battle scenes and JRRT didn’t elaborate on them too much either but the movies made the battles extremely, possibly overly, exciting. Also the monsters, such as the cave troll and the oliphants were very exciting in the movies. Also, when I read the books now I have an actor’s face for every character which I suppose is OK but not something I would have wished for.

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

Yes! Especially to people who are overly involved with politics, accounting, databases, etc. I suggest they start with The Lord of the Rings, then The Hobbit, and then The Silmarillion, in that order.

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 Patricia 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 Patricia Minger’s responses:

How were you introduced to Tolkien’s work?

I found The Hobbit in the school library when I was about ten years old. I immediately loved it, although I don’t remember that first reading very clearly. I was one of those kids who stayed up late reading by the light of the 15-watt bulb in the hall outside my room. (Which may explain why I needed glasses by the time I was twelve.) I devoured the whole thing in about two nights running.

I did not start reading The Lord of the Rings until I was about thirteen. I dimly recall my mother saying the book was ‘too old’ for me. She never read it, so I don’t know why she thought that. Once I did start, I read it continuously about three times. The descriptions of the places enthralled me, and the adventure of it all. The maps fascinated me. I would have followed Aragorn into battle. I took Sam to my heart. I wept when Frodo left the Grey Havens.  I loved fantasy of any kind, but without knowing it, I grokked that this was the ‘deep magic’ version of the genre. To this day when I start to re-read it, I eagerly anticipate it like a new experience.

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

My favorite part of Tolkien’s work shifts with time and experience, but I have always had a great appreciation for the landscapes he paints, particularly certain breathless, stunning moments. Certainly, the environment functions as a character, one that occasionally comes to life and speaks. It was no surprise to learn that Tolkien saw with the eye of an artist. Some of his paintings express elemental visions, and are as striking as his prose.

I think the strengths of the PJ films were the visuals, and Howard Shore’s exquisite score. There are those who take exception to some of the adaptation, but those two features outweighed any possible flaws of the script. Surprisingly, my imagination limited the magnitude of scenes like the Ride of the Rohirrim, or the Mines of Moria, and the movies fully fleshed these out for me without dislodging my own impressions. And the music: the music of the Ainur! A worthy sub-creation.

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

My fondest experience of Tolkien’s work has to be the bond it has created between my sister and me. When we were growing up, it was our job to wash the dishes after dinner. For many years we took turns reading aloud, one of us working while the other read. We went through many books in those years, but my favorite was The Lord of the Rings. It has led us on many adventures together, from Mythgard and Signum University, to the A Long Expected Party (ALEP) community based in Kentucky, to midnight premieres of the movies, to Oxford and the recent Bodleian Library exhibit.

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

Naturally my approach to Tolkien has changed over the years. In my original readings, where all I had was the story in front of me, I took it at face value. In more recent times I have absorbed the scholarship of people like Verlyn Flieger, Michael Drout, Tom Shippey, Corey Olsen, and so many more, and I have experienced more depth to my readings, more questions, more attention to details. His essays, his shorter works, and Christopher Tolkien’s extensive exploration found in The History of Middle Earth of course inform my understanding and curiosity. Getting my BA in English also gave me a better idea of context.

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

Would I recommend Tolkien’s work? Yes. With the caveat that his work is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea. The Lord of the Rings is magnificent. It rises above genre in the way that all truly great works of fiction do. But I will also admit that if someone asks me ‘Would I like it?’ I do not give a quick answer. I sort of feel a protectiveness about it. I don’t want someone to read it who will not like it, or who might even hate it. I usually qualify a recommendation with the caveat that while I found it a revelation of what literature could be, I do not expect that will be everyone’s experience.

For more thoughts from Patricia Minger, see her Facebook page!

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 Miles 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 Miles S‘s responses:

How were you introduced to Tolkien’s work?

I was first introduced to The Lord of the Rings when I was nine years old. I had been reading The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis and had enjoyed it immensely. My father had a Brilliantine paperback edition of The Fellowship of the Ring (with the wonderful Barbara Remington cover art) and gave it to me, telling me, “there is a very scary part where they make a journey underground and encounter a dreadful spirit of the underworld!” I was so intrigued that I began to read it almost immediately and was soon completely engrossed in the story. Of course, The Bridge of Khazad-dum had me enthralled and I was devastated when Gandalf the Grey fell into darkness.

What is your favorite part of Tolkien’s work?

It really is difficult for me to define what I feel is my favorite part of Tolkien’s work. I was absolutely enthralled with Middle-earth after my first (of many) readings of The Lord of the Rings, and that was not diminished by subsequent, multiple readings of The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. If anything I would have to say that perhaps those three works are my favorites of the Tolkien catalogue. I have not been quite as big a fan of most of his posthumously published material (with the exception of The Silmarillion of course which he was working on prior to his death) because I am not sure whether Professor Tolkien would have wanted this material published.

What is your fondest experience of Tolkien’s work?

One of my fondest experiences associated with Tolkien’s work is perhaps my first reading of The Silmarillion when I was 16 years of age. I had pre-ordered my copy from the local bookstore and taken the bus to pick it up the day it arrived. At first I found the narrative odd and disjointed, but being a lover of Tolkien and possessing the dogged determination that comes with young adulthood, I soldiered on and very quickly fell under the spell of the incredibly vast and complex universe that Professor Tolkien wove around me.  I found the history of the Elves to be incredibly noble and tragic, and the story of Feanor, the Silmarils and the flight of the Noldor to Middle Earth reminded me of the legends and myths I had read in books on ancient Greek/Roman and Norse mythology. I keenly remember reading of the Dagor Bragollach and the madness of Fingolfin; of his riding forth alone to Angband to challenge Morgoth to single combat. When I read the line “and Morgoth came” the hairs rose on the back of my neck and a shock of fearful anticipation coursed through me like an electric current. There have been very few times, before or since when the written word has been able to elicit that kind of a response in me.

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

Of course my approach to Tolkien’s work has changed over time. After multiple readings of his work, and vastly more experience gained through reading the works of other authors, my appreciation of Tolkien has been modified and placed in the context of a greater appreciation of literature in general.

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

As for recommending Tolkien, I have been doing so ever since I first experienced his work. I think part of the genius of Tolkien’s work is that it is approachable by readers of any calibre. One only has to look at the popularity of the very simplistic, commercial movie versions of his work to see how it can appeal across a large demographic.

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 Wesley 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 Wesley Schantz’s responses:

How were you introduced to Tolkien’s work?

As a kid, I read an illustrated Hobbit with pictures from the Rankin-Bass movie. I think it was my dad’s. I would read and look at the pictures about equally. Then in middle school I read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings in plain paperback editions at least a couple of times through, before the Peter Jackson movies came out.

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

The sense of an individual crafting something which also aspires to be universal, a mythic whole, and that we’re being invited to imaginatively participate in the endeavor.

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

Reading The Hobbit for the first time at summer camp, when Bilbo comes to Gollum’s lake, to the spiders in Mirkwood, to Smaug, and finally makes it back home again.

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

Listening to The Tolkien Professor courses on The Silmarillion, Leaf by Niggle, Smith, etc. and studying Tolkien’s scholarly work, starting with the two big essays and his translations, I’ve become interested in his cultural impact, beyond just his stories.

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

I highly recommend it. A great way for new readers to encounter him is in the company of Narnia, Harry Potter, and A Wrinkle in Time, through Signum Academy’s summer camps!

For more from Wesley Schantz, check out his blog!

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 Abner 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 Abner de Souza’s responses:

How were you introduced to Tolkien’s work?

Though familiar with Tolkien’s name, being a C.S Lewis’s reader, it was all because of the LOTR movies. Which I just came to watch in the year of the second part of The Hobbit trilogy , for, until then I only had seen the scene of the Hobbits in Fangorn, which in my memories were totally different. Well, though it was a bad quality, illegal copy, it was enough to take me out of my world and so I became, or, more accurately, I found out I was thirsty for that fantastic beauty I found in Middle-earth. So, by the time of the third part of The Hobbit, I’d already read the four books and considered myself his biggest fan, and abandoned, because I had no idea by the time, that The Silmarilion existed.

What is your favorite part of Tolkien’s work?

If you asked a book, I would say with no doubt The Silmarilion. Because of it’s majestic beauty, incomparable. But, the “part” of his work I can’t say. Maybe the linguistic, that, like the gift of the elves, it was his magic of writing, of making men have dreams of that intangible fairness. Like only the words he created could give you the description of what it means without spoil.

What is your fondest experience of Tolkien’s work?

That is something I discovered suddenly. Walking to school, back in those days I was reading The Lord of The Rings, I caught myself gazing upon the trees. In a moment I just knew that I was changed forever by a book I was reading. I can still see the tree, the street I was in, like I’m right in front of it. This moment is in my mind and heart. Unremovable.

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

Never. Since I read The Lord of The Rings, to read a new work, to watch or to listen to an interview or record he made, or anything related to him, it’s like a ceremony for me. I have the highest respect for all of his legacy and so I care about not giving it the recognition of it’s worth. By now, I’ve read or listened to a lot by Tolkien and about Tolkien, though I have this way that might seem strange. I do not consume the work of someone I like and that has already passed in the same way I do for the work of the living. So I go slow, as slow as I can. It’s reasonable actually. For I fear the day I will know all that there is to be known. But for Tolkien, being who he is, it’s different. I always make sure to have something new to pass Christmas day or my birthday.

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

If I would? What can a man do in the name of love if not share all that is good?

If you want more of Abner’s thoughts on Tolkien and other topics, you can find him on Twitter!