My precious

For most of my life, I've been a fan of Lord of the Rings, by J. R. R. Tolkien and the entire world he created.

It started when I was nine years old and read his book, The Hobbit, the first novel I ever read. I went on to read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and have read a few others since. I have re-read them all a few times now and, over the years, have found I've perceived them differently each time; a product of getting older and thinking differently rather than the words changing. It's been a really great experience, my understanding and perception changes, and I look forward to it occurring again.

I just began reading the first book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy once again, the last time was in 2003, and I'm interested to see what perceptions I glean from it this time. Interestingly, I'd seen a couple of the movies the last time I read the books and it certainly filled in some visual blanks for me although it also imprinted those movie-images over my own imagination which I'm not sure if I liked. Nonetheless, I've seen the movies several times since and when reading the books again will probably see a mix of those images and my own imagination combined; it is what it is.

Pictured, is my Lord of the Rings Ring, it's called The One Ring in the trilogy, but everyone knows that right?

I was given this ring many years ago. It's made out of 9 carat gold and is one of the few items I call a keepsake. I don't wear it as I don't wear jewellery much at all, but I have on occasions...*No, I didn't become invisible like Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, but part of me wishes I did. Nothing happened when I put the ring on at all actually, no Nazgûl chased me down and neither did Sauron, Dark Lord and Lord of Barad-dûr, appear to me in any way at all...that's probably a good thing I guess.

I guess it had become a physical symbol of all those hours reading the stories woven by Tolkien, all those places his words took me. It was like every one of those moments come together when I put that ring on and yeah, that felt nice considering how much I love the books.

As I said, I don't wear the ring much at all, it sits in one of my safes and knowing it's there is comforting. I'm not sure if its power will eventually turn me into Gollum someday but, if it does, I'll own it and accept the change. I even have my Hive account@gollumkp user name for when the transformation happens. But until I turn, I'll just be a bloke who's life was indelibly touched by the words of J. R. R. Tolkien.

Have you ever read a book that has meant a great deal to you, something that seeped inside and stayed there? Feel free to tell me about it in the comments below.