Lord of the Rings Taught Me How to Read & Write

“I’m a writer. I believe I am… or at least I tell people that. But growing up, I hated English.

I was never studious so I didn’t jive with school. Never got good grades. Didn’t care. Was okay at Maths cause Chinese blood. Lol. I was pretty much that aimless teenager who didn’t excel in anything.

Until one day, a film called, The Lord of the Rings, was released.

The Internet and ‘hype’ weren’t a thing back then, but somehow it felt like the world was talking about this trilogy of films (wtv that meant) and it was being released every Christmas for 3 years. What is this about? Another Star Wars but with elves and orcs?

Almost 20 years later today, I still remember so powerfully, vividly, telling myself at the end of the Fellowship of the Rings, ‘If that came from a book, fuck me, I’m going to start reading books.’

The day after, for the first time in my life, I bought and read a book of my choice — a sci-fi fantasy series called, Animorphs. I huddled under the sheets in a corner of my room till my eyelids couldn’t hold for nights!

Book after book, page after page, I discovered lifetime friends, ancient foes, alien worlds, learned about political movements, social prejudices, and everything else good and bad about life. I’ve been reading…