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I started over the weekend, but only just now finished. I think it was the upcoming movie release that made me do it. I went back to Middle Earth. I wanted to read it again before I saw someone elses version as a movie.
The Lord of the Rings was the first long book I read (well, it's three books, but they are essentially one.) Certainly the first I was completely absorbed in, and the one with the most lasting effect. I'm not sure what year it was, but I remember finishing the last book on the bed where I slept at my grandparents house on Cape Cod. It was a summer afternoon and I could hear everyone sitting in the backyard, down below my window, under a huge old willow tree. I can feel it clear as I sit here. I loved that book. It was the first time I was ever sad upon finishing one, although not the last. I was much puzzled by this result, as I had been desperate to reach the end of the tale. I was quite young, and some of it I didn't understand, but it gave me so much. Hints of a direction when no hints had ever come before.
I haven't read it since. I think I tried once but found it rather tedious, although I can't now remember when that was or why it didn't work out. This time I read with ease and had to force myself to stop when other things needed to be done. I only read the first book, although I plan to read the next two as well. But I wanted to get through The Fellowship of the Ring before the movie comes out. I'll take my time with the rest as other obligations permit.
"What?" cried Gimli, startled out of his silence. "A corslet of Moria-silver? That was a kingly gift!"