Journeys through Middle Earth {Pt. 1}

So excited to begin what I hope will be a revelatory series--both to write and to read.  Here's my intro, originally written 9.11.12.

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So this morning I finished a biography on Tolkien (hopefully just my first), and I am amazed.

I've been meaning to mention this for a while, but there seemed so much to say... so I think this may turn into a series of sorts.

But let me back up and explain a little...

Earlier this summer, I decided re-reading The Hobbit in light of the [HIGHLY ANTICIPATED!!!] trilogy that starts this Christmas (only 93 days =).  I had read it as a child, gosh, probably around age 9 or 10?  So I remembered very little - pretty much 13 dwarves, Bilbo Baggins, Gollum, riddles, ring, dragon.  It proved a very rich re-reading experience because I felt surprised by everything after he found the ring.  There is SO much more I want to say about the hobbit... but like I said, another post =)

My friends and I have decided that I have obsessive disorder--not obsessive "compulsive" disorder--just obsessive.  As my sister reminded me this weekend, I'm an "all on/all off" kind of gal... and if I'm "all off" its usually due to decided detestation or total ignorance.  And so after finishing The Hobbit (actually reading the last chapters aloud to my brother on our last road-trip... *sniff), I said, "Well, that was lovely.  But no need to throw myself (again) into Tolkien fever."  I read the trilogy at about 11 (before seeing the films) and had attempted re-reading since then, only to fade out in Book III of the Two Towers. I was pretty set, I have other things to read (and to do) and 1,500 pages of Middle-Earth just might distract from that, so The Hobbit was enough.  Ha. Ha.

So, imagine my surprise when The Fellowship of the Ring showed up in my bag the next day on my bus ride!  Now, I'm nearly done with Fellowship (more posts to come), warming up to the idea of attempting The Silmarillion, reading (multiple?) biographies on Tolkien, dreaming of how wonderful it would be to know Elvish, borrowing my brother-in-law's atlas of Middle-Earth, listening to the soundtracks non-stop, and really wishing he has a single, great-grandson around somewhere.  And crying.  Lots of Tolkien = lots of crying.  Between his personal life, the heroicism of hobbits, and my own "journey"--there has been several tears shed on the bus.

Ok... I've decided this will have to be the introductory post.  Thoughts have been bubbling inside me too long and I hope to share many of them here.  But for now, I just needed to explain the plight and the joy of being a nerd.