Well, I was in 6th grade when the first movie came out. I had previously tried to read The Hobbit, but fell asleep and thus decided I was not a huge fan. Well, I went to see FotR and was still not a big fan. Then, last year, I was watching all of the movies and was like 'OMG!! These are the best ever!' So then, I read The Hobbit and am now reading the LotR books. They are the best ever! So many years wasted that I could have spent reading!

_________________
<img src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/hanji/bbsig.jpg">

Well, my very first step must have been when I was trying to read the Hobbit as a little 2nd or 3rd grader. I got perhaps to chapter six then I thought it was too scary for me and I put in down.

Then I remember seeing clips from TTT at the Oscars a couple of years later and my mom rented FotR and TTT and I don't remember being all that crazy about it (probably because my attention span at that point was around 5 minutes ) but then a friend talked me into seeing RotK which had finally come out and after that I was hooked.

_________________

Well it all started in grade 4(I was 9 going on 10), before then if I had heard mentions of anything related to Tolkien or his works I obviously don't remember. Unbeknownst to me the FotR was about to come out in theatres. And so I suppose for the occasion my teacher (his class, I must say, was my favourite class in that school until grad) decided to watch the Hobbit. What was the Hobbit? I had no idea, but it seemed most of my peers did. I didn't really care. When he found out it was a cartoon he immediately took the film out - what brought me to the LotR would not resurface on my pupils for another 3 years. So instead he got some movie that has hobbit-like creatures (I can't remember the name of the film...anyone? This hobbitish-dude finds a baby, then he goes on some adventure...) It was alright, er, for the time ^^;; Well unfortunately the teacher read the Philosopher's Stone to us before I heard of the FotR and lo! I didn't care about it one bit-I was Potter obsessed! Three years pass and it's June, grade 7. My mood towards the LotR has softened, but I'm still unswerving. But would you know it? The teacher puts on a film for a bored class, what film? The Hobbit! We only got through half the movie and I was enthralled! Somehow the story permeated me. Past the child-friendly cartoon I saw a masterpiece. Well I had heard of Bilbo and Gandalf and Hobbits before (I had friends who were crazy over the movies), so I put two and two together-the FotR must come after this I thought. So it was summer and there I was standing in front of the FotR (still in the New Releases section of the video rental store). I hesitated. But excitement overoad stubborness and a few hours later I was drooling. I watched as much of it as I could (maybe 3 times) before having to return it. Well damn it I needed more! Lucky for me the TTT just came out, and I bought it. I don't know how many times I watched that before I ended up watching the RotK in theatres (I had bought the book before, but decided to read it until I was finished all three movies). I cried, both from joy and sadness. So after I read the RotK, then the TTT, then the FotR (strange order, I know, but the RotK was still fresh in my mind). Then the Hobbit. I began the Silmarillion, but put it down not to take it up again until a year after when I was in grade 9. By now I have all the LotR, the Hobbit, the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and both Book of Lost Tales, and can safely say that I'm more or less the Tolkien guru at my school I've read the LotR twice, the Hobbit thrice, the Sil four times (and the BolT once through). I just need the TTT extended, haven't even seen it And I have the animated Hobbit-great movie. I'm 15 (going on 16) now and I don't think the LotR shall ever leave me! I plan on re-reading it this summer (no, I haven't started yet! I've so many other books I want to read, and am!)

_________________


"Fight Tonight For Metal One And All".
http://www.arwen-undomiel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7521

My dad used to read the books to my brother and I when I was little. I hated them then (for unknown reasons to me now!). When I was 9, we rented the TTT movie and I loved it, then I saw Rotk in theatres and officially became a fan. I worked my way through the books after that.

Well, I first started hearing things about LotR when I was in about 4th or 5th grade. All through my life I have been an avid fantasy reader, and at that time I had already read The Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter. I then read The Hobbit in about 6th grade and absolutely loved it. However, I didn't see the movies until later on, and then only after that is when I actually read all of the books and became officially obsessed.

_________________
"Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home."

My dad read me just about everything when I was little, LotR and The Hobbit included. I grew up with the books, and they've become a really special part of my childhood. </sappy childhood memories>

_________________
<a href="http://freewebs.com/aryas-eyebrows/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g29/dgn_slayer/footer.jpg" border="0" alt="http://freewebs.com/aryas-eyebrows/"></a>
clicky --> <a href="http://freewebs.com/lamp-post/" target="_blank">Lamp Post Productions</a>

The Mysterious A-U Gentlewoman

I tried to read the lord of the rings and the hobbit all at the same time when i was nine. as you may have guessed, that didnt work at all. so about two years ago, i saw the first movie with my cousin and she was like 'this is a really great movie but i hate the book.' so i wanted to see for myself, and i picked up FotR and started reading. soon enough, i was completely addicited. oddly enough, i read the hobbit after FotR, so yeah. that was weird. but now i've read all of em, and its my fav trilogy EVER!!

_________________
<img src="http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e249/hollyshort123/ausiggyfira.jpg">

My first step to LOTR was reading the Hobbits,I love it! so I went to search other books about.resently ,I begin to read HoMe, they`re very long!as I am a Chinese.and these books has not been translated into Chinese...... very difficult to read! but I still love these.

_________________
if the constellations appeared only once in thousands years ,imagine what an exciting event it would be.but they`re up there every night ,we barely give them a look.

My first step was when i saw fotr...didn't really grow up on it, i grew up on Narnia

_________________
<a href="http://www.arwen-undomiel.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20020" target="_blank"><img src="http://i43.tinypic.com/2ias6qf.jpg" border="0" alt="COME AND REQUEST SOME PHOTOS, OR JUST BROWSE"></a>
<a href="http://tinypic.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i40.tinypic.com/2a7bz81.jpg" border="0"></a>

My first step into LOTR was the movies but then it a step into the silmarillion

_________________

What brought me to LotR..... well, my sister's friends were watching them at a conference, but my sis wasn't allowed to watch them yet, so she wanted to see it, so she read the books, watched them, started reading the books outloud, made me like it. I read the books last year for the first time and saw the movie this summer.

_________________
<center>
Receiving So Much More.

PM me with prayer requests
www.therebelution.com
</center>

My first Tolkien experience was when I read The Hobbit when I was about 13 years old (5 years from now). I absolutely loved it, and wanted to start reading Lord of the Rings too, but it took me forever to pick it up and get startet (it's huge, lol). The thing that finally made me start reading it, was when I heard they were gonna make LOTR movies. I hate seing movies without reading the books first, and I wanted to finish the book before I saw the trailers, actors, posters and everything from the movies. I wanted to be able to decide how the characters and landscape and cities looked myself, without being influenced by the movies.

I guess it took me about 2-3 pages before I was hooked

_________________
Lótielin Narvinyë - My homepage.

I watched the movies first, then I read LotR. I regret it now, that I hadn't ever heard of LotR before the movies came. Now, I like the book better than the movies 1) because the books have the exact original words and thoughts of Tolkien 2)the book and the movies differ in quite many ways 3)the book tells the complete version of LotR (eg. it has Tom Bombadil..) but I absolutely LOVE the movies too, and I can't help myself from watching them over and over again

_________________


I revisited AU on Jan 14th after an almost 10-year break! The nostalgia..!

Well, for me, it was reading The Hobbit about six years ago (when I was nine). After that, I didn't really do much about LotR....I picked up FotR once without reading it and read for a few minutes because I was waiting for someone. I didn't really pay attention, though. Then, the movies came out. I watched the first a couple times in the theater, and then a month or two later, on my birthday, I got the books, and I had finished all three of them three days later. After that, I watched the other movies (I've seen them all 50+ times each, now), and read the books a lot more times (I'm on my 24th now). Then my Dad gave me The Silmarillion, so I read that, and then I read The Unfinished Tales, so now I have all those, and I love them and am currently reading them again. Oh, and I've read bits of The War of the Ring and The Book of Lost Tales 2, and all of The book of Lost Tales 2.

_________________

My parents were LotR fans since college, so growing up I occasionally heard things about it. The first time I remember was when I was seven, and my mom was reading it to my older sister. My sister told my brother and I about it, and all I understood was that there were little people with a ring going to a dark place.

A year or two later, I read the Hobbit. I don't remember what I thought at the time. I grew up on the Hobbit movie, and always liked that, but I don't think I liked the book much at first.

A few years later the movies came out. There was a special on it on TV, and our whole family watched it. I was so confused! My older siblings were watching and saying "oh, there's Frodo!" "look, Strider!" and so on, but I was lost!

Then I started seeing commercials, and my parents bought a LotR calendar. The commercial also confused me. A real quote from me: "are Strider and Aragorn twins? They look alike."

My parents went to see FotR a few months after it came out, and said I had to read the books if I wanted to see it. I was sad I had to read this huge book before seeing the movie, but started slogging through it. I was totally entranced. It was like love at first word. Ever since then, I've been totally obsessed.

_________________
<center>-In Christ alone my hope is found, He is my light, my strength, my song-

^JF is awesome

There will come a time with no more tears
and love will not break your heart but dismiss your fears</center>

Nice story. I think it would be nice if my family would like LotR as well. I'm the only one who's read it, my mom and sis watched it with me, my dad knows nothing about it.. my mom liked it, but she's not that interested to read the book though. My sister hates it nowadays.. don't know why

_________________


I revisited AU on Jan 14th after an almost 10-year break! The nostalgia..!