Context:

Referenced multiple times throughout the conversation. First mentioned when discussing a dog named 'Strider' (a character from the book). Speaker 1 discusses his high school teacher Bob Heaton who taught a class called 'Modern Mythology' where students only read Lord of the Rings. The characters Tom Bombadil and the Fellowship are also referenced. Speaker 2 mentions that he and his circle of friends in Alaska were all Tolkien fans.