And I am delighted to see that new generations of readers have emerged ever since his books first appeared. They don't become "dated" as those that are "politically correct" at a certain historical moment in time often do. Me too. I've never read anything before or since that has pulled me so completely into another world. Nor have I re-read any other work as many times as I have LotR.
After I had finished reading LOTR for the first time, I started again right at the beginning. And this cycle repeated itself many times. It was the need for an alternative reality in which the choice between "good" and "bad" still existed. And that will never be outdated.
i second what Addie says. After repeated readings, LOTR still has the power to charm and pull me into its universe. I read it first at 13 and remember my feelings then. My adult (and markedly middle-aged) feelings are not exactly the same. I had more innocence and less experience of life in those days. I couldn't see the .....totality of the whole thing
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That was a heartfelt comment jan-u-win, and I agree with every word you said. I read LOTR for the first time in my early twenties, and after I had "lived a bit". I first read it in Dutch. And I still remember that I started at the beginning again right after I had come to the end. And not once but several times. Later on, when my English improved, the same thing happened with the English version. Eventually I had "read it to death". But, after an interval of years, I found I could read it again because I, myself, had changed as a person. That has now happened several times and I am grateful every time it happens. For me, the magic is still in the gravity of the tale. It deals with good and evil, with fate, with self-sacrifice, with "the soul
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Thanks for this. I'm going straight to amazon.com and order Shippey's book. The only Karen Blixen I've read is the book Out of Africa is based on. I'll have to check what else she wrote. I love Graham Greene and Lawrence Durrell.
LOVE your icon. My feelings, exactly. Bookshelf space also becomes limiting! Nevertheless, do you know Tom Shippey's "The road to Middle Earth" (2005)ISBN 0- 261-10275-3? It has a chapter on "Peter Jackson's film versions". Well worth reading for a fan of the films.
I have that book. Another you should read is Peter Jackson: A Film-maker's Journey by Brian Sibley. I had to buy it from amazon.co/uk because it wasn't available in the US when it was first published. It is now though, due in part, maybe, to a campaign I initiated with the US branch of Random House Publishers. I became quite friendly with Brian while I was encouraging Random House to make the book available here. It's a biography, but 80% of it is devoted to LOTR. I couldn't put the book down once I started it. It's fascinating.
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Sheesh!!
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What was WRONG with those people??
*hugs*
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Jeez!!
*hugs*
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