The Hobbit: A Book of Change

Choosing a title for this particular challenge took no thought whatsoever. It sprang into my mind as quickly as love leaps into your heart. The Hobbit by JRR Tokien, the book that led me to Middle Earth.

I’ve been a voracious reader since a somewhat young age. I was an active, oudoorsy kid, but I also harbored a fondness for bookstores, quiet libraries and the treasures they held. Even the smell of those places was magical to me. I read everything that I could get my hands on. At home I dabbled in comics, Readers Digest, and even our encyclopedia set (who does that??). My parents had acquired the entire set of mail order Funk and Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, acquiring one volume per month. I didn’t read them front to back mind you, but I would find an interesting subject, read it, and from there I would follow the related entries for hours, thinking that I could make it through the entire set given enough time. I was simply in love with the written word. And where do you find words in some of the most spectacular arrangements. Novels, of course.

The Hobbit was my first front to back novel. I read it in one extended library sitting. I fell hopelessly in love with Bilbo, Gandalf, the elves and the dwarves. I wanted to visit the Shire, Rivendell and Dale. I fell in love with Middle Earth. After reading the Hobbit, I needed more. So I read it again. And this time I followed it with three more books. The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. I was now officailly a Tolkien addict. I have read hundreds of books since that first run-through of Tolkien’s world and every few years I take time to reread the trilogy, with The Hobbit as a prologue, just to make sure Middle Earth is still standing. I’m happy to report that it always is.

Following The Hobbit and LOTR, I then discovered the horror genre. Not such a strange follow up considering there are a multitude of horrifying places inhabited by terrifying creatures in Middle Earth. It is flush with them. Ghosts, witches and warlocks. Trolls and shapeshifters. The man eating spider, Shelob, in Mirkwood Forest. The goblin infested Misty Mountains. The abandoned Khazad Dum and the Balrog. The High Fells and the tombs of the Ringwraiths. Scary things in scary places. Horror in a fantasy world.

My love of reading persists to this day, and a hankering to write grew naturally from my love of books and words, which I think is natural. As well as my love of a good horror novel. And a good horror movie. When I write, a fantastical, supernatural thread inevitably makes it’s way into my stories. I blame Bilbo.