Rani's Favorite Books! (part 2)

Hi everyone, and welcome back to Too Many Books to Count! It’s the Fourth of July, the wonderful Independence Day, but I’m still back to share with you, one of my favorite things. If you were around on Tuesday, then you’ll know I was having a hard time coming up with a series for this month, and thought we’d do something a little more fun. Every week, we’re taking a theme and talking about two of my favorite things within that category. And this week is books!

Just for the record, I have tattoos inspired by all of my favorite books. My left arm is literary, and I love it.

Rani’s Favorite Books: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings

I told you on Tuesday, I bet some of you could guess what book I’d be talking about today. And again, it’s not just one book. Technically, it’s six. But even more technically, it’s far more than that. To the point that I’m not even really sure, how many books it is. All the same, I love it, and it’s inspired me to great depths since the first time I read it.

Unlike many of my fantasy-loving friends, I didn’t know who Tolkien was, when I was growing up. I didn’t know about CS Lewis either, but that’s neither here nor there. I didn’t know about The Lord of the Rings, I didn’t know about this amazing epic story that would one day inspire me to delve into writing for myself.

And yes, I do credit The Lord of the Rings, in the question of why I started writing in the first place.

I discovered The Lord of the Rings shortly after Fellowship came out on DVD. One of my brother’s friends made a bet that we couldn’t figure out Legolas’ name (as it’s only said twice, in the entire movie). He knew we didn’t know anything about LOTR, so he thought it’d be a solid bet.

It wasn’t. I won. And I was hooked.

I don’t remember how many times we watched that movie, when we borrowed it from that friend. So. Many. Times. And then promptly bought the DVD for ourselves. And the extended edition. And the main trilogy of books, so we could finally read along.

And after reading Fellowship, I started writing my very first novel. I never finished that novel. In fact, I lost it. It was on a computer, somewhere, and that computer was taken apart. But that was still my first novel, it was still inspired by LOTR, and I still love the thought of writing a novel in that genre, in that vein.

Which is why I’m currently working on my very first high fantasy novel, right now. ;-)

In any case, LOTR meant a lot to me, as a writer. It was the first really long book I read, the first big series that hooked me from the first time I picked it up. It was my first, the book in which I took the plunge into fantasy fiction, and for that, I’ll always consider it one of my favorites.

See you all right back here, next week! Have a wonderful and safe Independence Day!

[love]

{Rani Divine}