A Foray Into Fantasy discussion

How did you come into Tolkien's world? Did you read the books first, did you see the first adaptations to film through cartoon, or was your interest piqued by the new line cinema/peter jackson films? Discuss it here!

I grew up in the SF Bay Area. My great uncle was a professor at Berkeley.

How could I avoid it?

Read it the first time, once I finally convinced my mother to allow me to have a copy (she's . . . indescribable, her explanation for so many denials has always been, "I don't like it, it's no good/bad/dangerous/ad nauseum) I devoured them, a book a night. I think I was eleven.

Geez, so long ago. Peter Jackson wasn't even on the radar back then. I don't think the animated feature had even come out by the time I read The Hobbit.... I'm not going to remember for certain. I don't recall really ever having not known about that book in particular.

I read everything I could get my nose into when I was a kid--and still do if I'm honest. I'm sure it must have been a librarian or a teacher who stuck The Hobbit in my face when I was 10 or so. There were Summer reading programs at the local library that I was very much into. It was probably one of those.

The rest came along in a trickle. TLotR series at about 14. Maybe a little younger. I remember struggling with it. The Silmarillion at 17 or so....

I read the first book in 10th grade because each semester we had to read a certain amount of pages. Loved it, but since I was still a Die-hard Twilight fan I took a Tolkien hiatus. In college, long after Twilight had run its course with me, I decided to finish. Absolutely gobbled the second and third book up. Then I watched the movies one after another.