Some of my friends are made from paper and contain a magical ingredient. I’m pretty sure I couldn’t name all of them but many hold a special place or memory.
One of the things I wanted to make sure I did this year was revisit some of those old friends. A few are numbers in my list of 50 posts, so I’ll also get to talk about them as and when I get to those numbers.
One in particular I’m keen to get to is J.R.R Tolkein’s The Hobbit. I reckon I was around 9 or 10 when I first read this book.
At our school we had a library where we could ‘check-out’ books and take them home to read. We were only allowed one book at a time as the library was relatively small, but one summer over the long six week holiday I managed to check out The Hobbit, and because of the holiday I had it for the full six weeks.
I used to stay in bed in the mornings and read. Sometimes a few pages and sometimes a chapter. I’d savoured it, and it was like it is for many people, my gateway drug to the world of Middle Earth, The Lord of the Rings and all the associated tales and stories.
It didn’t make me a big reader of fantasy but I do have a small collection of Tolkein books. Strangely though I haven’t reread The Hobbit for what feels like a long time. I have a battered old paperback copy but to treat myself for my birthday I bought a copy as close to the that original ‘school’ version as I could find. It’s quite a beautiful thing with colour plate and black and white illustrations drawn by Tolkein and hardbound with a paper dust jacket.
I’m also waiting for the warmer summer days and my plan is to try and read it the same way if I can, or at least on a few occasions. I might have to forego the staying in bed reading as I’m not sure the dogs will let me get away with that but perhaps sitting in the garden after a dog walk with a coffee for an hour before I start my working day?
I’m guessing that all sounds quite elaborate, but I think there is something to rekindling the memories of reading the book that is more than just the words on the page. If you think for a moment about a favourite book, I’m pretty sure you’d be able to tell me a story about what was happening in your life at the time you were reading it. I know I can do this for quite a few of my favourites, and I think that perhaps your subconscious captures this as much as anything else.
Perhaps if you too have a similar story about a book that you loved you’d like to share it in the comments? I’d be interested to read about the books that have touched you and the backstory that goes with them.
Thanks for reading.
My dad read “The Hobbit” and all of the Lord of the Rings to me when I was pretty young, so they always have a special place in my heart! I was trying to think about other books from when I was a child. I think all of Beverly Cleary‘s books were super impactful to me. I still have an old copy of “The Wind in the Willows” and “Charlotte’s Web”. I had a book of the month club and I got the entire series of Nancy Drew books, which I only recently sold at a garage sale. So many books from that time I know there’s so many and leaving out.