Proving once again that...

I am such a nerd! Honestly, I don't know how else to describe myself. I am a full-fledged nerd, bookworm and hopeless romantic. Earlier this week I spent time re-organizing my bookshelves because I was bothered by the fact that I had books stacked on top of each other. I have spent countless hours on Pinterest looking at book lists, book art and various libraries and reading nooks. I have spent too much time watching the clock at work counting down the minutes til I could go home and get back to my book. I have spent too much time quoting The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien while watching the movie and gotten too upset with how different the movie is from the book. Seriously. I'm ridiculous. Such a bookworm. Such a nerd. 

What can I say? I love my books. I love the adventures I get to go on. I love the characters I get to know. I love the trials and triumphs that I get to experience through my imagination. And those things happen whether I read fiction or non-fiction. Fantasy or classical. Children or adult (and no I don't mean the nasty, sexual adult kind!). It doesn't matter what I read... I still love those things no matter what the book. And I wouldn't want it any other way. 

Right now, I am reading the Lord of the Rings Trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. I finished The Two Towers this morning and will be starting the Return of the King sometime this evening. It's the last of the Trilogy and will complete my fifth or sixth re-read of Tolkien's books (including The Hobbit) since I was 12 years old. 

I have loved The Lord of the Rings Trilogy since the first time I read the book after my dad took me to see the first movie (Fellowship of the Ring) as a thank-you for helping with childcare at his Bible study. I watched the movie and then asked if I was old enough to read the books. He said I could try. Not only did I try, I read all of them in a very short amount of time. Let me just say both of my parents were pretty surprised, but hey, I couldn't help it... I loved every bit of it. I still do. It's a Trilogy that I re-read almost every year (while I was in college I didn't do that... I didn't have time to read and when I did have time, I didn't have much desire to read). This year I have split up my re-reading of it. I read Fellowship in July and now have finished Two Towers. I decided to go ahead and read Return right away since the year is almost over and I have nothing else I really want to read at this moment.

I have come to love the world of Middle Earth more and more every time I read the Trilogy. Every time I re-read the books I find some new details that I had never noticed before. Or I realize just how connected some of the stories are to other sections of the books or even to The Hobbit. With this re-read, I have found that my favorite characters have changed. They used to be Elrond, Galadriel and Gandalf. But now I really love the characters of Aragorn, Eomer and Faramir. I have come to admire and love the character that each of them had as rulers, leaders, men of valor. They were strong men who fought for what they knew to be good and right. They were men who were willing to fight for those they loved (the Hobbits, Arwen, Eowyn, Denethor, Gondor, Rohan, etc.) even though it seemed hopeless. I also loved them because they were men who had faults but still fought hard to be good men. I think the reasons those characters stood out to me so much is the fact that not many men are like that today. Not many men will own up to their faults and strive to be better. Not many men will fight, no matter what, to save or protect the people they love most. And that is so incredibly sad. I am a romantic. I do hold to the stories of chivalry and valor and courage. I do hope to one day raise my sons (if I have sons) to be that type of man. The world needs men like that. No more of the men who don't take responsibility for their actions. No more of the men who don't see anything worth fighting for. I want to see the world filled with men like Aragorn, Eomer and Faramir who had courage, valor, faith, chivalry and honor.

And yes, I know that this post especially proves yet again that I am a nerd. A bookworm. A hopeless romantic. But oh well. I accept it. This is who I have always been and will always be.