Today is Tolkien Reading Day and the theme of Tolkien Reading Day 2018 is Home and Hearth: the many ways of being a Hobbit.

I first fell in love with Tolkien’s work when a classmate in the 10th grade sold me his paperback trilogy of “Lord of the Rings” for $5 so he would have some beer money. I devoured those three books in about 10 days and bought “The Hobbit” at a newsstand near my high school shortly after that.

Several years later I bought the hardback version of The Silmarillion, but I could never get past the first few pages. I tried again a few years after that with the same result. I wish I could have made my way through this book because I loved his way with words and languages, but I count myself sadly incapable of rising to the intellect needed to understand and enjoy that work.

Here’s a little bit I wrote about Tolkien on his birthday a few years back.

I never read any of Tolkien’s other works; I did, however, read Harvard Lampoon’s “Bored of the Rings” parody and I have re-read “Lord of the Rings” several times over the years since I first read it in the 10th grade, and loved it every time, so I hope that counts for something, lol.

And why is it celebrated on THIS day? Well, you’ll have to read the link to find out.

Happy Tolkien Reading Day 2018!