Classic Remarks is a meme hosted by Krysta and Brianna at Pages Unbound. Each week, they pose a question about classic works of literature in order for readers to engage in a continuing conversation about elements of classic literature, the literary ‘canon’, and the timelessness of story. If you’re interested in participating, you can find the schedule here.
So it’s 1993. I’m in sixth grade, and my friend N sits across from me in Mrs. C’s homeroom class. In addition to having been friends since third grade, N and I are geeks. We both love Star Wars and the tie-in books that are starting to come out. I’m staying up late to watch Star Trek: Deep Space Nine with my dad, while N is reading comic books. During those free minutes before school started, we happily jabber about whatever it is we’ve been watching or reading lately.
Then one day, N starts going on and on and on about this book he’s reading. It has elves and goblins, and there’s this dragon, and oh yeah, there’s also this creepy guy in a cave, and it’s the best thing ever, and N’s already read it twice.
Sixth-grade me thinks this sounds like the best thing ever, too, and asks what it is.
N’s answer changed my life.
You see, 1993 is pre-internet in every home. My family wouldn’t get home internet service for another two years– and we were early adopters in my little hometown. This was also pre-Amazon, pre-Google, and really, pre-being-able-to-find-anything-online. Sure, you had “search” engines like Altavista, but it was difficult at best to find what you were looking for. It’s what led me to read some dodgy X-Files fanfic that was most definitely NOT appropriate for a fourteen-year-old.
So what did the lack of internet availability mean for an eleven-year-old geek like me, who was far away from a source of geek culture twenty years before geek culture was the epitome of pop culture? Well, I don’t mean I got made fun of at school, if you were wondering. It just meant that finding quality fantasy was really hard to do. I basically read the entirety of my public library’s SFF section by the time I graduated from high school, and that was mostly Mercedes Lackey and cheap mass-market paperbacks with such titles as Dancer from Atlantis. Sure, I got a grounding in 1970s and 80s fantasy with Terry Brooks and David Eddings novels, but it’s difficult to say that The Sword of Shannara or The Belgariad are actually good.
Which is why that day in sixth-grade was especially important for my nascent geek self, because the book N recommended that day was J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic children’s tale, The Hobbit.
I went to the school library as soon as I could after N told me the book’s name and found a copy of The Hobbit. I don’t remember how quickly I read it, but I was hooked forever. The next time I was at the school library, I grabbed the only other Tolkien book that was available: The Return of the King. Sure, I was initially confused by what was going on, but it just goes to show how good the story of The Lord of the Rings is if a confused eleven-year-old will keep reading the story in the reverse order, and then go on to read the story (in the right order) another twenty or thirty times over the ensuing twenty-seven years.
Finding the works of J.R.R. Tolkien deepened my appreciation of history, literature, and great writing. It gave me examples of friendship and heroism, and the belief that no matter how hopeless things seem, you have to keep fighting anyway.
So thank you, N, for recommending The Hobbit to me all those years ago. You’ve probably forgotten all about that day, but I haven’t.
Traveling in Books 
I love this story so much! It shows what an impact a little thing can have! I’m sure N had no idea that a lifelong love of Tolkien was begun that day!
Thanks! I’m sure he had no idea what came of his suggestion, either. I’m so glad he suggested The Hobbit, though. It was the perfect time in my life to get it.
It’s always fascinating how such a small and simple recommendation so long ago can affect you throughout your life. I’ve been trying to think back on how I first came upon Tolkien, and even how I started reading fantasy, but I don’t clearly remember it all. I think my first “real” fantasy book may have been The Elfstones of Shannara, which I loved. I read The Sword after that, though I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as Elfstones. And it was around that time, either just before or after The Sword that I believe I first read The Hobbit and then The Lord of the Rings. But I’m not certain of the order of any of this. I think it’s awesome how you remember so many of the details.
I think my first “real” fantasy novel that wasn’t a fairy tale my dad read to me was Susan Cooper’s The Grey King, which is one of the later books in her Dark is Rising sequence. It’s a great book, but it didn’t capture my imagination the way that The Lord of the Rings did.
I generally have a weirdly good memory for certain things, and a crappy memory for other things (do I remember where N and I sat in Mrs. C’s homeroom class? Yes. And I remember how our desks were set up and who sat next to us. Did I remember to buy the windshield wiper fluid I need while I was on my way home? Nope). It makes it easy to reminisce about things, but it sometimes annoys my friends that I remember all the weird little details.
My dad first handed me Fellowship just before the movie came out and said, “Here. Read this. I want to go see the movie in theaters, but you should study first.” He’d already introduced me to Harry Potter & DragonLance at that point, so his recommendations were literal gold to me, and I ended up reading the entire trilogy before we went to see the movie. I can still remember absolutely sobbing over Gandalf falling in Moria, and my dad leaning over to say, “Just wait until the second book!” My poor little heart knew that Gandalf came back, but it was still wretched to see him go through that pain. Years later, I’ve read more Tolkien books than he has, but our love of it is one of the things that ties us so closely together.
That’s so great that you can share a love of Tolkien with your dad like that! My parents bought me the books, but neither of them love fantasy the way I do.
You just nailed my elementary school reading experience. I swear, life before the internet was soooo hard to find good fantasy literature. It just wasn’t cool! (I still own over 100 Star Wars tie-in novels. My favorite is the Thrawn trilogy and the Rouge Squadron books. I am not afraid of my geekdom)
I read The Hobbit for the first time in ’94, so I wasn’t far behind you. 🙂 Perfect book for that age. Thanks, N, for literally changing Kim’s life forever! XD
Holy buckets! That’s a lot of Star Wars novels! I only ever owned part of the Rogue Squadron books and a few of the others. I relied on the library for the rest of them, but it was a small town library with a small budget, so they didn’t have a huge selection– especially with a weirdo genre.
*lol* I’m super thankful to N, too!
It’s definitely too many Star Wars novels. I would do chores to earn spending money and then I’d spend 100% of my money on Star Wars novels. My parents were just glad it wasn’t something worse! XD
*lol* I’m pretty sure my parents’ were glad I spent all my money on books instead of other things, too. At least they knew what I was up to all the time!
Amen. My mother used to joke that “Sending Jackie to her room” was a useless punishment. I’d just go up there and read, happy as a clam. XD