Album Star

I was a teenager when I first discovered Tolkein. I was visiting my grandmother and stayed for a short time in my aunt’s old room. There were several intriguing paperbacks on her shelves. I picked up her copy of The Hobbit and opened it. Inside were two maps; one with a trail leading through the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood, and another showing the Lonely Mountain and the Desolation of Smaug. I was instantly hooked. There is nothing like a hand-drawn map for drawing a reader in; before you know it you imagine yourself walking along the paths that your finger traces on the page. I’ve read many, many books since then. Most of them I’ve borrowed from friends or libraries, or bought as paperbacks and just as quickly given away. A precious few were worth investing in hard-bound copies. These are the books in whose pages I can lose myself. And of these, The Hobbit is still king.