How did you begin to like LotR??

[Curufin]

I introduced my parents to it. Read all of the second book of The Two Towers to my mom on a roadtrip home from Florida once.

My uncle, however, had been a fan since publication.

[Coffeehouse]

Originally Posted by Curufin

Greetings, Coffeehouse!

Can't say I agree with you about the movies, but each to their own, I suppose. Have you read the Silmarillion as well? That was the book that got me loving Tolkien...

Greetings I stumbled upon this forum a few hours ago and now I'm cheerfully reading posts here and there

I tried having a go at the Silmarillion when I was 11-12 but it was only half-hearted. I actually still have that copy but can't say I've read it front to back

[Mari]

Originally Posted by Curufin

I introduced my parents to it. Read all of the second book of The Two Towers to my mom on a roadtrip home from Florida once.

My uncle, however, had been a fan since publication.

That will never work for me. My parents aren't into "weird unreal stories with elves and whatmore flying around". I did get my sister to read the Hobbit though and I know she liked it, but she now says that she can't remember reading it. (How can you NOT remember reading the Hobbit?!?)
But I'm not giving up. She WILL read LotR!

Welcome Coffeehouse! I'm glad you stumbled here. The Moot is a great place to stumble upon

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Welcome coffeehouse. Check over in the general forum, when you have a chance.

[Kennashi]

I, of course, found Tolkien through the movies as many others...yes it is shameful. Don't look at me! I'm ugly...

But seriously though, I guess I got interested in seeing FOTR because I FREAKING LOVED EXCALIBUR (the film from 1981)! And after seeing that godly film, I became obsessed with anything that involved swords, sorcery, etc. And when I stumbled upon LOTR, I had finally found something that had simply satisfied my hunger for all things magical (although Excalibur will always hold a dear place in my heart).

[Curufin]

Nothing wrong with finding LotR through the movies. I did, after all. Have you read the book, though?

[Kennashi]

Would I be here if I had not? Of course!

[Curufin]

Good to hear it.

Have you read...all...the books? (including The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, Children of Húrin and the Histories of Middle Earth? )

Sorry, I'm a bit of a book freak.

[Willow Oran]

I first read The Hobbit through Return of the King when I was twelve and liked them, but didn't really connect with them. Then when the movies came out I decided to re-read the books... Tano might possibly have forbidden me to see the movies until I had, but I don't really remember and if she did, she was probably kidding. Anyway, re-read the trilogy and plodded through the Sil - mostly reading them under the desk in science class. Ents and Mendelian genetics don't mix, by the way.
I didn't so much become a fan as get hooked into researching as an antidote to all the little wtf moments triggered by coming across recycled names while trying to read the Sil and listen to the teacher at the same time and especially when I got to the Fall of Gondolin. I ended up reading through the key volumes in HoME for the sole purpose of figuring out just how many Glorfindels there actually were and now I'm officially obsessed.

[katya]

Don't you guys kind of think that it's been long enough since the movies came out that it doesn't really matter anymore? If someone's been a fan since way back then they can't not be a "real" fan, as far as I'm concerned. As long as they've actually read at least LotR, anyway.

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

Originally Posted by katya

Don't you guys kind of think that it's been long enough since the movies came out that it doesn't really matter anymore? If someone's been a fan since way back then they can't not be a "real" fan, as far as I'm concerned. As long as they've actually read at least LotR, anyway.

Depends on what "it" in your question refers to. What doesn't really matter anymore? It also depends on what you're talking about being a fan of.

There are LotR fans, who could be people who have only seen the films and read the one/three/six books.

But a Tolkien fan, I think, (and this is obviously JMO) should have read LotR, Silm, and TH and likes them. Also it doesn't matter whether he/she has seen the films or not, or whether he/she likes or dislikes them.

I think it is too easy to say someone's a fan or not a fan. But without defining exactly what we're talking about, the same person could be both.

[Curufin]

Personally, I don't think there's an objective definition for 'fan.'

It should be something that is self-defined - if someone says they're a fan, they are. Of course, I would have problems with someone calling themselves a 'fan' if they've never read a single word Tolkien wrote down and have only seen the movies, but other than that, hey, whatever freaks their peaches.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by Curufin

Good to hear it.

Have you read...all...the books? (including The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, Children of Húrin and the Histories of Middle Earth? )

Sorry, I'm a bit of a book freak.

Originally Posted by katya

Don't you guys kind of think that it's been long enough since the movies came out that it doesn't really matter anymore? If someone's been a fan since way back then they can't not be a "real" fan, as far as I'm concerned. As long as they've actually read at least LotR, anyway.

Originally Posted by The Dread Pirate Roberts

Depends on what "it" in your question refers to. What doesn't really matter anymore? It also depends on what you're talking about being a fan of.

There are LotR fans, who could be people who have only seen the films and read the one/three/six books.

But a Tolkien fan, I think, (and this is obviously JMO) should have read LotR, Silm, and TH and likes them. Also it doesn't matter whether he/she has seen the films or not, or whether he/she likes or dislikes them.

I think it is too easy to say someone's a fan or not a fan. But without defining exactly what we're talking about, the same person could be both.

I selected these three quotes because the phenomenon of "fandom' seems to me a strange one, particularly in this context.

This thread, for example, asks "How did you begin to like LotR" and is in a book forum. One might, therefore, say, "Any conversation that refers to beginings outside the books is not germane." I think we'd lose a lot of information that way, however, not to mention bonhomie.

I agree with DPR in that defining 'fan' is essential to where one winds up. But I'm not sure that people who believe LotR was 'channeled' to JRRT are actually expressing admiration for his talents...any more than people are complimenting a coffee pot's work when they rave about a cup of coffee. If he is not the agent of his own work, then credit is properly due to Illuvatar, I suppose.

But really, I don't know what purpose is served in dividing the sheep from the goats, on this one. Dismissing people usually winds up being negative, and impacts communities negatively. That's my experience of it, anyway.

[The Dread Pirate Roberts]

Not to drift too far off topic, but are there really people who believe LotR was literally channeled to The Professor? I realize Tolkien claimed something like that later in life but are there people who believe him?

Authors often feel like their characters take on a life of their own and make decisions and do things almost of their own volition, but literal channeling of a higher power? I'd question the mental state...or the ego...of the author making the claim.

[Curufin]

Nope.

But I have felt before that my creative process has been taken out of my hands and become something better (and bigger) than I thought I was capable of doing. That could be what he was talking about.

And my post quoted by sis was not supposed to be challenging anyone's fandom - I just push people to read all the books, because I like them.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

You don't think the impact of those questions (including your post before) is to intimidate people who have NOT read all the books you ask about?

I'm not saying your intention was that, but I'm sure that sort of thing has that effect, particularly on younger posters...of whom we see many. Same thing for moderating strategies that shut down or combine new threads. People don't like to spend their free time doing something "wrong."

And oh yes, DPR, there are a number of people who feel that any suggestion JRRT actually wrote a story, rather than taking dictation is heretical.

[Curufin]

You don't think the impact of those questions (including your post before) is to intimidate people who have NOT read all the books you ask about?

I should hope not, and if it does that's their problem, not mine. I don't see what's wrong about asking people if they've read a book. I never would have found 'The Silmarillion' or any of the others if someone hadn't suggested them to me.

[sisterandcousinandaunt]

Originally Posted by Curufin

if it does that's their problem, not mine.

Okiedokie, then.

[Curufin]

I honestly don't see what the problem is here. I'm not judging anyone. Did you even read my other post?

Personally, I don't think there's an objective definition for 'fan.'

It should be something that is self-defined - if someone says they're a fan, they are. Of course, I would have problems with someone calling themselves a 'fan' if they've never read a single word Tolkien wrote down and have only seen the movies, but other than that, hey, whatever freaks their peaches.

I'm not judging whether anyone is a 'fan' or not, or trying to put myself on a higher pedestal than anyone else. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not that kind of a person. All I did was ask them if they'd read some books - I didn't give them a 20-questions-quiz on HoME that determined their eligibility to some secret 'True Tolkien Fans' society.

[Mari]

Originally Posted by Curufin

I don't see what's wrong about asking people if they've read a book.

There's nothing wrong with that.
However, and now I'm not trying to point a finger at you or anyone else, sometimes I get the feeling that I'm "not allowed" to like Tolkien because I haven't read all of his books and am thus quite ignorant of some of the background.

It is the reason I haven't ventured into the upper sections of the board much. And indeed it is my problem and I will read the Sil someday. When I can make time >_<

Just keep in mind that we are not not reading the rest of the books because we like to irk you