March 25th is Tolkien Reading Day (and incidentally, the day on which the Dark Lord Sauron was defeated, according to the lore of Middle Earth). It’s an annual celebration of the beloved British fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien and his incredible body of works, most notably The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
To celebrate Tolkien Reading Day, Booktopia’s head of content (and noted Middle Earth enthusiast) Mark Harding is on the blog to share about his experience growing up with a love of these books. Read on!
J. R .R. Tolkien
J. R .R Tolkien first landed on my radar in the early ‘90s, when I was in primary school. My family were about to go on a big trip, driving around the Northern Territory and rural Queensland for 6 weeks in a campervan, and my mum suggested that I take a book to read as part of the journey. She came home one day with a copy of The Hobbit–the one with the wonderful John Howe cover art. I happily accepted the gift and couldn’t wait to get started.
My first experience of Middle Earth was therefore linked with a journey into the unknown of my own, experiencing landscapes and places that seemed distant and strange, in parallel with Bilbo and his gang of Dwarves.
Once that journey was done, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy of The Fellowship of the Ring. I remember reserving a copy at our local library and checking in every week for what felt like forever, waiting for my copy to come in. It finally did, around Christmas time, and I’d only had it for a few weeks when my awesome mum once again came through and got me my own copy of each volume of The Lord of the Rings for Christmas (again with the amazing John Howe cover art).
The Hobbit, with John Howe’s cover art.
It took several attempts to make it through, but I finally managed to read the entire trilogy when I was in high school. As a confused queer kid dealing with depression and bullying, all I wanted was an escape and Middle Earth gave me that (as did space opera, but that’s another story). The idea that an ordinary person could do extraordinary things, against the standards of the society in which they lived, was very appealing to me. Tolkien’s immersive world provided a refuge for me in dark times, and was something that bound together the small group of nerds I made friends with. In fact, I think Tolkien was a strong signifier of safety in high school – if someone knew about ents, they were going to be OK.
A lot has been written about these books and the many stories of Middle Earth, so I won’t try to rehash that here or try to add my own analysis of the text. But to me, this was one of the first times I realised how important and transcendent stories could be. They made me feel things I hadn’t felt before, made me see parallels between the world I was reading about and the one I lived in, and made me think more deeply about good and evil than pretty much any other book had. I think it awoke my deep passion for books and reading. Not only did I love the stories, but I loved them as objects. I still own my old copies from the ‘90s, and can’t foresee a future where I’d part with them.
Obviously, the next part of this story is Peter Jackson’s epic Lord of the Rings movies.While they weren’t perfect adaptations of the books, they still managed to capture the spirit and message of the story and brought Middle Earth to life in ways that helped keep my Tolkien obsession alive much longer that perhaps it otherwise would have.
(The less said about The Hobbit movies the better though. Eep.)
I highly doubt my experience of reading Tolkien is unique, and I look forward to the time when my own children are ready to read them. Already, my 6 year old daughter has noticed the dragon on the front cover of The Hobbit and wants to know the story of Smaug (I also have a Smaug tattoo so she’s definitely growing up in a dragon-friendly household). Today, on Tolkien Reading Day, I’m going to take some time out to head back to Middle Earth for a visit.
Sound off in the comments below if you’re doing the same!
The Lord of the Rings
Hardcover Boxed Set
Four-volume boxed-set edition of The Lord of the Rings in hardback, featuring Tolkien's original unused dust-jacket designs, together with fourth hardback volume, The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion.
Since it was first published in 1954, The Lord of the Rings has been a book people have treasured. Steeped in unrivaled magic and other worldliness, its sweeping fantasy has touched the hearts of young and old alike, with one hundred and fifty million copies...
Just announced: Alchemised by SenLinYu, author of Manacled 
REVIEW: Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer 
Love the romance in Baldur’s Gate 3? Check out our book recommendations!
Comments
No comments