Midwest Chick's Place

5 responses to “The Professor!”

1. 

   Rich

   January 3, 2026 at 2:00 pm

   I was a reader as a kid but Tolkien’s works supercharged me. He was is and always will be my favorite author…. Next to the Word written by God of course.
   I struggled with the LOTR movies when they 1st came out because I had read the novels something like 15 times, the Hobbit 10 or so and the Silmarillion 10 or so, so I was picking the movie apart as I watched it in the theatre, but by #2 and 3 I was able to put that aside and just enjoy the entertainment.
   I found the Hobbit series kinda goofy and overblown but enjoyable non the less. My 2c worth.
   Happy New Year Chick

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2. 

   steves6

   January 3, 2026 at 4:14 pm

   Mary Ann! Oops, wrong Professor. 😉

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3. 

   wheels

   January 3, 2026 at 6:42 pm

   Around twenty-five years ago, my late girlfriend took me to visit her family for the first time. When we arrived at her sister’s house, I was directed to go into the basement and keep her brother-in-law occupied while she caught up with her sister, because “you and Stuart have a lot in common.” The unstated context was “and neither of us care about that stuff.”

   The first thing I noticed as I reached the bottom of the stairs was a small painting on the far wall, which made me say, “That’s the cover art for ‘Smith of Wooten Major and Farmer Giles of Ham, isn’t it?”

   It was indeed the original cover art painting, and my instant recognition of it was the start of a great friendship; I just visited them again a couple of months ago. Stuart had (and has) a lot of wonderful things in his collection, but he sold or traded that painting years ago.

   My only semi-notable Tolkien memorabilia is my copy of Lord of the Rings, which is the boxed 1974 Houghton-Mifflin 1st printing “collector’s edition.” I bought it new, and don’t remember how many times I’ve read it, but it’s past time to read it again. There is a small rip in the edge of the spine that I should have properly taken care of sometime, but it’s otherwise in good shape.

   Some years ago, I found the box from the first boxed paperback collection released in the US in a thrift store. It did not have any of the paperbacks in it, unfortunately, and I couldn’t find them anywhere in the store. Perhaps I should have bought the box, but I didn’t.

   I will be using a very nice 27-year-old single malt for the toast.

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4. 

   C.R.C.

   January 4, 2026 at 1:26 am

   J.R.R. Tolkien was a favorite of mine , I first read some of LOTR in 6th grade , one chapter in the Reading class textbook ,was “Riddles in the Dark ” where Bilbo made the acquaintance of Gollum in the Hobbit. After that I was hooked , it took me a week or two but I found out what the books were and got a set. Those kept me occupied for a while . I need to revisit them ,thank you for the reminder.

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5. 

   Midwest Chick

   January 4, 2026 at 7:10 am

   Rich–It’s amazing how Tolkien will stay with you! Happy New Year to you too!

   steves–Ha!

   wheels–Excellent story about finding common ground! I have the paperback boxed set from that time. My folks got it for me. Excellent choice for the toast!

   CRC–There are a couple of authors that I revisit and Tolkien is one of them.

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