Tolkien swerve

I had just finished reading some Cthulhu stories and was wondering what to read next. In fact I was one chapter into a rereading of Casino Royale when a chance encounter at a second hand shop found me picking up a paperback omnibus edition of The Lord of the Rings.

"This time," I thought, "this time I'll crack it or just accept it's not for me." I should point out, I tried once to read it as a child, and gave up, it was too much for me. Tried again as a teenager, it didn't click for me and I gave up barely into 'Book One'. Tried a third time a few years ago and couldn't get past Bilbo's birthday party.

So.... I've skipped ahead. THIS time I've started just after the four hobbits leave the Shire and actually begin their quest.

And.... I am hooked.

That wonderful feeling is gripping me, where I finally feel in on the joke, or a secret. It's tempting to blog my progress through it but I suspect to those who already read it long long ago my initial observations will seem simple, even childlike. The weird sensation of actually being on a long journey is incredibly powerful. Strangely, Gandalf and Frodo and all the rest already feel like old friends - I guess forty years of them being in popular culture sets the scene for a good relationship. I am presently a chapter into 'Book Three', the first half of the second book (I'm too new to all this to be confused) and absolutely loving it. I almost want to ration it out but I'm far too greedy for that.

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