My answers to the Bubbly's quest

I would have been an entirely hopeless hobbit as I managed to get lost as usual. I just have no sense of direction whatsoever. So I found the sign, see left, and if I remember Mr Underhill met Strider at the pub. I don't remember the name of the landlord though, I've always been to scared of the ringwraiths to pay attention.

Lord of the Rings (LOTR) is a book that is part of my childhood, too. I think I read the entire series in a week when I was 12. For whatever 'flaws' the books have, they still manage to speak to people across the generations and throughout their lives. As a child, these were magic tales that I could share with my dad. Something, like Dr Who, that was a collective thing like old fashioned storytelling.

As adults you see different things, I can see that the books are written about the death of the old world at the end of WWI, when the old social structures were destroyed and the upper classes lost their dominance. They also deal with the interim period between the wars, and the rebuilding of new social structures, the shift of power to new hands, and eventually the final battles against evil. Then as the old Elvish and wizard ways slip away, the world is given to men and women to take care of. The future might be uncertain, but at least it is and end to the death and destruction. Good has triumphed over evil.

The books are also about companionship and the personal qualities that strong personal relationships feature. Apparently, Tolkein was one of 4 friends before the First World War, they were inseparable. They were all sent to fight in the trenches and only Tolkein came back. The books are also about them.

Very sad, moving, thought-provoking books, and like all good books ones that you learn from.
Personally, I'm grateful to Tolkein for his books, he gave not only England a mythology that we have lost, but the world.

Annie