For years and years, I used to look at my parent's bookshelf and see the one-volume copy of The Lord of the Rings. I wondered what it was about, but the very cover of it made me think of (strangely enough) black riders on black horses. I never thought to try and read it though, I was young and it seemed very daunting to me. But, my dad used to read to my brother and I 'The Hobbit' I can vaguely remember him beginning it, 'In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit...' and it made me smile.
I read 'The Hobbit' myself when I was older, I thought it was great and Bilbo was definately my favourite character, though the elves fascinated me. I'd just finished reading it, when suddenly I looked to the bookshelf and there it was 'The Lord of the Rings'. I picked it off the shelf and began to read. Two weeks later I was finished reading it, eager for more. From there on, my 'obsession' (as some people like to call it) with Tolkien has not ceased. I've read 'The Silmarrilion' and understood every word of it (which my teachers at school find very disconserting, since they don't understand it themselves) and I have read 'Unfinished Tales' and am beginning to read The History of Middle-earth. I've also read 'The Lord of the Rings' a few times.
That is it, I doubt whether Tolkien's works will ever leave me now, and I expect that one day when I'm older I shall read them again and they will still seem fresh to me.
