I was in high school in the late 1970’s and during the oil embargo, my school district voted not to build a much-needed school building and instead had the middle school and high school students use the same space in “split shifts”. The building was the high school from 7:00 am to noon and the middle school from 12:30 pm to 6:00 pm.
From the 7th through 12th grades, this was my school schedule. The school days were obviously shorter and we did not have a “home room” or a study period at all. Lunches were at odd times and very short. I have no idea how they managed all the after-school activities because I was not involved in any of them. I generally would go to the library during “lunch” as the cafeteria was just a place to get bullied.
A few friends and I would hang out in the library during lunch period and play chess, hang man, or read, but mostly act like the silly geeky teens that we were.
By high school, I had finally stepped outside the horse/dog book genre and was exploring a few “classics” and I had also discovered science fiction and fantasy. One day, I picked up “The Hobbit” by J.R.R. Tolkien and brought it home to read.
Because of the oil embargo during the 1970’s, fossil fuels were very expensive. Therefore, my stepfather installed a wood burning stove in the living room at one end of the house and a wood burning kitchen stove/oven in the kitchen at the other end of the house. We heated the house almost exclusively with these two wood stoves.
The kitchen wood range was a huge thing built in the 1940’s, I think. It was made of cast iron and the outside was enameled white. The firebox was on one side, the oven in the middle and a water tank to heat water on the other side.
This was where I hung out all winter – in the cozy warm kitchen. I must have picked up “The Hobbit” in the winter because I stood by that kitchen woodstove for hours and read it cover to cover. I brought the book back to the library and checked out the “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
My mom had strung circles of apple slices over the woodstove to dry that winter. The fragrance was heavenly as I continued to stand by the stove and read almost constantly. I had plenty of time; school got out at noon! My mom would move me and feed the fire; she’d move me back. She’d move me to trade dried apples for newly sliced ones, and move me back. I think I read all four books in about two weeks standing by the kitchen woodstove. Mom said she was never so happy to see me finish a book and move away from the stove!
I’ve read J.R.R. Tolkien’s series many times over the years, and to me, Middle Earth always smells like the sweet spicy aroma of drying apples.
What great memories! I enjoyed reading them. I only read the Hobbit, but I have enjoyed the movies.
Thanks Elspeth! I enjoyed the movies as well. I always wondered if it was easy to follow the movies if you haven’t read the books? It seems there was so much background I was filling in in my head as I watched.
These images are fantastic– I can really picture you standing there, engrossed in your reading, and your mom shifting you back and forth! She said she liked it when you finished a book, but I would bet money that she loved having you so close. I too started reading Tolkien in high school. I loved the Hobbit, and I think I read the whole series. But unlike you, I’ve only gone back to re-read the Hobbit, not all of them. I can’t shake my first impression that was the books were kind of scary! I’m such a wimp. But one quote has always stuck with me, I think it’s either from the Hobbit, or the first book after: “…shadows point East…” to signify it’s getting late and we must head out. I thought that quote was both poetic and accurate! Thank you for sharing your memories, Dear Bookery Place!!
Thank you Lori! That is a great quote! I will remember that when I’m trying to get my husband to move along. 😉 The books do have scary things in them. I think the overall good vs evil and the adventure of it all won me over. Plus the added fun elements like the Hobbits, Tom Bombadil, Ents, The Eagles and such made it so engaging to me. I also loved the world making Tolkien did, it was unlike anything I had ever read in scope and detail. Years later I discovered he had written other books about Middle Earth including “The Silmarillion” and “The Tolkien Reader”.