Today, after years and years, I returned to reread the Lord of the Rings. I have now only read the first chapter, but I almost feel like both laughing and crying.
I first read the trilogy as a 12-14 year-old, can't remember exactly when. Then later in a second time (with merely skimming some parts) in high school. After that, haven't read it, though I started a couple of times but never went through with it.
So now, today, I felt the time had come, opened the first book. As I said, I've only read the first chapter so far, but: for one, I feel like returning to a long-lost friend, like finding again a comfortable corner in an old, cosy room, a place of which I did, in fact, have memory. I feel like I reconnected with something long-forgotten and something well-missed and loved. Second: I had forgotten how clever and genuinely funny Tolkien's writing is. I'm sure the tone changes once events set on the darker paths, but still, I didn't remember how playful, even, at least the beginning of the book is. And how wonderfully the writing in general flows. Like a Prancing Pony of sorts, in text form. Third: returning to the small to massive events of the story, the characters, the world in general, hits different now, as a thirty-something. I can't wait to dive deeper into this masterpiece, with, it feels, new eyes and heart. I almost feel like I'm reading the book for the first time, while simultaneously knowing the plot. Somehow this makes it even better.
I have read the Hobbit, obviously, but no other Tolkien's works (aside LOTR). I habe recently acquired Silmarillion and Fall of Gondoling, and I already can't wait to read those!
Habe you had similar experiences with Tolkien or other writers or works? Or, perhaps, experiences entirely different when you returned to a literary work years later? What about concerning LOTR specifically?
by MyRightHook