Tolkien Reading Day 2018: Home and Hearth: the many ways of being a Hobbit

Sheldonian Theatre and entrance to Museum of the History of Science, Oxford
Sheldonian Theatre and entrance to Museum of the History of Science, Oxford

Every year on March 25th Tolkien Reading Day is being celebrated the world over. The date of the 25th of March was chosen as the date on which the Ring was destroyed, completing Frodo’s quest and vanquishing Sauron.

As the chairman of the Tolkien Society, Shaun Gunner, said in a blog post with the TS’ website you could read the following books:

  • The Hobbit, with most of the book being applicable to this theme;
  • The Lord of the Rings, particularly the beginning and the ending of the book;
  • Bilbo’s Last Song, Bilbo’s song as he leaves Middle-earth at the end of the Third Age;
  • The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, particularly, “Bombadil Goes Boating”; and
  • The Road Goes Ever On, which includes Bilbo’s poem, and others, set to music.

Visit the full blog post here.

Middle-earth love in any shape or form

However, Tolkien Reading Day is generally a wonderful opportunity to grab a book by the Professor or his son or a book on his life and works and immerse yourself in Middle-earth. The most important hashtag for this day certainly is #ReadMoreTolkien and I hope you’ll enjoy reading these amazing stories as much as millions of other people will!

If you want to have a look at what other people are doing to celebrate the Downfall of Sauron please visit Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #TolkienReadingDay. Many societies, smials and individual Tolkien fans will be sharing how they have come to appreciate Tolkien and what they are doing today to further interest in the life and works of Professor J.R.R. Tolkien – enjoy!

Marcel R. Bülles

Marcel R. Bülles is the author of thetolkienist.com, a specialist blog centering on worldwide Tolkien fandom, geekdom and research. He works as a freelance translator, journalist and writer and is the founder of the German Tolkien Society as well as a co-founder to RingCon, Europe's formerly biggest fantasy film convention. You can find him in cafés all over the world sipping an espresso blogging, writing, reading. At one point he was married to an extremely lovely French lady by the nickname of Sauron. Yes, that Sauron. He is also active with the International Tolkien Fellowship on Facebook and the Tolkien Folk on Instagram.