April 18, 2002

The Lord of the Rings
Christian R.

I have read many books, classics and non-classics, that I have enjoyed very much and remembered a long time.

But I must say that The Hobbit (not to be underestimated) and The Lord of the Rings are by far the best books I've ever read. They've got absolutely everything, the whole world Tolkien has created is a place that I love to visit and I've already (I'm only seventeen) read the books three times.

I'm wondering, I dont know so much about this, about what *big* prizes Tolkien has won for his epic adventures? For thousands of thousands (150 million sold books, at least) people he has meant very much, and I don't really know if anything worth his epic adventures has been given to honor him.

I think "ordinary" people should have the right to praise books that they love, and not just books the "experts" approve of. Praise in the meaning of giving a prize like the Nobel prize.

One thing I really like about Tolkiens stories, is that you DON'T get to know everything!
Look at this forum here, there are wild discussions of everything, about little hints that Tolkien wrote about Bombadil and so on.
You can discuss nearly everything in his books, and I'm positive that nobody in the whole world has the exact same opinion about everything in lotr as anybody else.

I for myself love Gandalf, he is my all-time favourite fantasy character. I believe that part of why I like him so much is that he is much of a mystery.

When you go to bed, and feel miserable (happens to everyone) it's nice to read and imagine lying under the roof of Tom Bombadil or sitting under a tree in fair lothlorien...