# Tolkien Fans: Did you first read LOTR as a youth or as an adult? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 4, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-fans-did-you-first-read-lotr-as-a-youth-or-as-an-adult/394571 "2007-03-04T20:05:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-fans-did-you-first-read-lotr-as-a-youth-or-as-an-adult/394571/61 "2007-03-07T00:06:23Z")
[QUOTE=Kilvert’s Pagan] As a freshman in college. I had never heard of it at my crappy high school… [/QUOTE] … but he then passed it on to me (when I was in the 7th grade) , so by the time I was a freshman in high school I had read LoTR _and_ the Silmarillion. ---
**Author:** ![Sleel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Sleel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleel)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-fans-did-you-first-read-lotr-as-a-youth-or-as-an-adult/394571/62 "2007-03-07T02:13:09Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] And you were right, too. [/QUOTE] Yep, though I didn’t _know_ that I was right until a few years ago. Never was a Tolkein scholar when I was younger, but the buzz about the movies made me curious about stuff that wasn’t in the books (which I’d re-read a few times by then). That’s when I found internet sites and discussions that talked about his themes, the backstory that never made it in, letters, and the like. I had a few, “Ha! I thought so,” moments related to that. It’s always nice to know that your instincts are right. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-fans-did-you-first-read-lotr-as-a-youth-or-as-an-adult/394571/63 "2007-03-07T02:30:01Z")
Thank you Mr. Bradbury, my sixth-grade teacher!!! He read us a chapter a day of The Hobbit. From there I read the LOTR on my own. It was not the first fantasy I’d ever read, but the first “deep” work. It’s Mr. Bradbury who also like sci-fi, and encouraged us to read it. He even had us write a short story. This was in 1966-7, (also the first year ST\_TOS was shown.) If it wouldn’t have been for Mr. Bradbury I may not have developed my love of books. I can never thank him enough. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-fans-did-you-first-read-lotr-as-a-youth-or-as-an-adult/394571/64 "2007-03-07T03:04:41Z")
I was 22 when I started. Then I got to the 3,000 pages of Tom Bombadil and and it ruined it for me. Several years later, when the last movie was in the theater, I revisited, skipping the 4,800 pages of Bombadil (I swear it was only 3,000 pages before) and enjoyed it immensly. ---
**Author:** ![Gorgon\_Heap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f475e1/32.png) [@Gorgon\_Heap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorgon_Heap)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2007, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-fans-did-you-first-read-lotr-as-a-youth-or-as-an-adult/394571/65 "2007-03-07T03:06:32Z")
Ah, I did actually read The Hobbit several years before that and found it enjoyable for children’s writing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tolkien-fans-did-you-first-read-lotr-as-a-youth-or-as-an-adult/394571.md?page=3)