EDMONTON—Everytime I say “I’ve never seen Big Trou­ble in Lit­tle China” I get an aston­ished gasp from my brother-in-law or from my friend the Space Cow­boy. I tell peo­ple I’ve never read Lord of the Rings* or The Hob­bit and they give me that side­ways look like a quizzi­cal dog, as if to say “How …