Caudimordax wrote:

The beautiful thing about coming into one's Tolkien-ness is that you become aware that his influence is everywhere. Every other work of fantasy seems to owe the man inspiration, or else makes a conscious effort to deviate from him. I'm rambling now, but to this day I feel intensely grateful that such a storyteller existed, and I have ready access to the breadth of his work.

Totally this! Welcome and thanks for sharing your story. ?

rrodriguezgarcia wrote:

My first approach to Tolkien was the animated movie that I saw when I was about 5 years old.
When I was 8 years old, they bought me the first book of fantastic literature, it was by Guy Gavriel Kay and when I was about 9 years old, I had my first Hobbit book in my hands.
From then on, almost all of my gifts from my childhood and youth were books by Tolkien and other authors of fantastic literature.
Now that I have children, I am trying to instill in them the pleasure of reading Tolkien and since Spanish editions are rather scarce, I have started to buy English editions, of the books not published in Spanish.

Welcome! Always great to hear when fans talk about introducing Tolkien to the next generation. ?

It is the least you can do for your children, teach them the good that they can find in life. In my case they both like Tolkien, although they like Forgotten Realms and Warhammer more

rrodriguezgarcia wrote:

It is the least you can do for your children, teach them the good that they can find in life. In my case they both like Tolkien, although they like Forgotten Realms and Warhammer more

Tolkien has aged the best of all my childhood interests. I suspect I'll continue to find new ways to appreciate it as time goes on. Your kids probably will, too. Nothing wrong with FR or WH though.

The truth is that they will appreciate it more over time, although they love it too. And as for Warhammer and Forgotten Kingdoms, I don't care either, because it is a taste that I also share and that I have also transmitted to them.

Caudimordax wrote:

rrodriguezgarcia wrote:

It is the least you can do for your children, teach them the good that they can find in life. In my case they both like Tolkien, although they like Forgotten Realms and Warhammer more

Tolkien has aged the best of all my childhood interests. I suspect I'll continue to find new ways to appreciate it as time goes on. Your kids probably will, too. Nothing wrong with FR or WH though.

My appreciation of Tolkien has never lessened and when I suspect I have learned all I can from The Lord of the Rings for instance, I head into my next reading and find that I have changed, and so has the texts. 30 years later and I still find such joy in reading Tolkien that by now I doubt it will ever diminish. I liken it to my daily walk which consists of the same walk every day, which sounds boring but I do it because each day I notice something new, a shadow, the changing colour, the sound and animals and through the seasons I notice all the subtle changes. Tolkien is much like that.

In middle school, in York, PA, I had an enemy, named Tom. For whatever reason (if there was a reason I have no recollection of it), we disliked each other intensely. (I'll come back to Tom in a bit.) Over Christmas one year, when I was 11, we were assigned the homework of reading a Newberry Award winner, any one we liked. I did volunteer work in the library at the time, and noticed a shiny Newberry Award on a book on top of the return cart: The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. I read this book over Christmas (the perfect time, and for me at the perfect age). LOVED it. (Still do.)

Fast forward a bit. Somehow, Tom and I discovered that we were both huge fans of this book. We became fast friends as a result, used to greet each other as Old One, spread our fingers wide to stop time, drew the Signs of the Light incessantly, the whole shebang.

Then, when I was twelve (very nearly thirteen) my family had to move to Richmond, VA. I was pretty devastated at having to leave all my friends behind, but as a going-away gift Tom gave me a paperback boxed set of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by this guy I'd barely heard of and never read. The rest is history.

P.S. Tom and I realized years later that his great Aunt was the next-door neighbor of my father in Harrisburg, PA! I knew her only as the woman who gave us Greek cookies and treats at Christmas! And Tom and I then had a reunion there. Small world.