When a book changes how you think.
I have read several books that I think are trying to make you change the way you think. Siddhartha springs to mind. And while that was a hugely influential book for me, I was already thinking and feeling the way it wanted me to. It was more life-affirming than life-altering.
For me, the most impactful experience I have had with a book was The Lord of the Rings. I count the trilogy as one book.
It might seem cliched but it really did change my life. And the best thing about it is I don’t think it did so in the way Tolkien intended.
On face value I have little in common with John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. He was a soldier, fighting in the Somme (amongst others), a professor of English (this is a closer fit) and a linguist. He lived in a different time and place from this millennial woman who has marched against wars and works in marketing.
But the story he told found me, on a wet and windy January evening when I went to see Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring at the cinema. I was going with my sister and father, who both had read the books, and my friend who, like me, had no idea what was about to happen.
I left the cinema in awe. Unsure what to do with myself before the second film came out. The answer came easily. Read the books. So I did. In the middle of my English undergraduate degree I put down my copy of Oliver Twist which I was supposed to be reading and dived head first into The Shire. I didn’t want to leave. Those opening pages depicting life in Hobbiton are still a comfort to me now.
I read the whole lot in 9 months (including The Hobbit and The Silmarillion) and that was it, I was hooked. I won’t tell you how many times I watched the films it is 20 years later and they have not grown old yet.
I think the crux of it for me is that Tolkien tells a human story of love and friendship. Where other people are more important than possessions. Power corrupts but friendships saves. Tolkien’s limitless faith in human goodness shines through in our hobbits, our Kings and our companions. And he punished those who stray, take power that isn’t yours and you will fail. Not even Frodo gets away with it. He has a strong will but he is corrupted by the ring and fails to destroy it. He lives with the pain of his journey for the rest of his life.
So, how did these books change the way I think. Well, they showed me what was important. Community, nature and the company of others is worth more than jewellery or crowns. And whenever I feel this idea slipping I imagine being in the Green Dragon, sipping a pint with the old Gaffer and talking about absolutely nothing important. The hobbit way of life is simply, the best way to live.
Charlotte Wood is a feminist and writer of the macabre and sinister. She reads horror, fantasy, classic literature and historical fiction (with a preference for history from a woman’s perspective).