The very first book of science fiction or fantasy that I ever read was The Hobbit. I was immediately hooked. It definitely is a great story. But, I think it was also the freedom of reading a story that wasn’t assigned to me in school. I read The Hobbit because I wanted to read The Hobbit. The choice was on me… and I chose wisely. But soon after that, as you can probably imagine, I wanted to read everything like The Hobbit. So, I read The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King. And then, I had the grand stroke of luck to have just finished The Return of the King when The Silmarillion was published in 1977. I grabbed a copy immediately. I remember running home to read it.
Everything that I had read in the fantasy genre was exhilarating. I could hardly wait! Wham! Like a wall, I ran into the denseness of The Silmarillion. I was crushed. The Silmarillion was nothing like my beloved Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit. How could this be?
I carried on with my reading. I loved Star Trek. At the time, there were no movies. No additional series. Just Kirk and Spock and Star Trek. So, I grabbed a book by one of the masters of science fiction, Isaac Asimov. I don’t remember what book it was. But, I remember why I bought it. One, it was by Isaac Asimov, and one of my teachers had told me that he was the master of science fiction. Two, it was cheap. I grew up poor, and finding a cheap hard cover book was a gift. I think it was $0.50, and I got it at a garage sale. Third, it was a collection of Isaac Asimov’s stories. I was sold.
God it was horrid. Isaac Asimov was a great writer. He wrote more than just science fiction. He wrote popular science as well. This book was one of those. I was crushed. Not that I didn’t enjoy reading about science. I did. And, I eventually got through the book. But, I wanted stories. This wasn’t that. Again, I persisted.
Now, I am writing this nearly 50 years after reading The Hobbit for the first time. I have read, abandoned, re-read, re-visited, and re-abandoned more stories than I care to consider. And over that time and that reading diversity, I have learned to just read what I like. I don’t judge others for what they like. I don’t judge myself for not liking what others like. I don’t beat myself up for not reading the greats while spending time reading lesser works. I just read and I enjoy. That’s it! Simple! Like what you like. Read what you read! Enjoy it!
But know this, your tastes will change. I love the Silmarillion now, because I can understand it. I’m not Tolkien authority, and I don’t speak any of the languages. But, I am fascinated with the story components that it holds. Likewise, there are stories that I loved (and I didn’t mention in this blog post by title or author), and I can no longer read them. I find them badly dated, or juvenile, or… anything but likeable. And! I am OK with this.
And shocker of shockers, I now listen to a lot of my books. I still read every day. Even when my Kindle doesn’t give me credit for it, I am reading every day! But, I am also listening every day. When I am driving, I am listening to great stories in a new way. I like audiobooks. I won’t judge you for not liking audiobooks, and I won’t care if you judge me for liking audiobooks. I simply like what I like and I am OK with that. Go read something. Go listen to something. Go watch something. Go play some kind of game. Go experience some segment, or multiple segments, of this huge world of science fiction, fantasy, and strange horror. You’ll thank me for it.