Rating: 
Summary: READ THE BOOK FIRST, THEN SEE THE MOVIE
Review: After viewing The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, I have discovered the advantages of reading a book before viewing it. First of all, no movie can surpass the description of scenery, characters, and events such as a book can. Writers of such extraordinary books such as The Lord of the Rings have the skill in writing to describe events and form a different description in everyone's head. With a book, you have the opportunity to see it as the writer, and in your own imagination. Also, with all movies, the screenplay is altered in small ways to provide cinematic pleasures rather than keeping the true control of the story. In this case, J.R.R. Tolkien creates his story with an entire world along with it. The movie helps describe certain aspects of a community, but in a book, the reader can oversee the events of an entire land. All in all, This is a phenomenal book, as well as a movie. If I could give a single bit of advice to anyone involveing them would be to read the book first. One other Thing, I just saw that my favorite book of 2000 is going to be back in print! Check out "TOURIST IN THE YUCATAN" awsome thriller/adventure/mystery.
Rating:
Summary: Astounding piece of work!
Review: This is a simply amazing book that holds on to you and the deeper you get into it, the harder it gets to put it down. Tolkien is awesome in depicting a plethora of characters in such a vivid way.
I had to read this book because I missed on so many characters in the movie. Its so hard to show such a grand piece of work in a couple of movies. Now, after I have got such an insight into this amazing world of middle earth, I can't stop myself from watching the movie again!
Go dip yourself in this pleasure trip and ride along with these amazing characters.
Rating: 
Summary: just have to know if you're ready
Review: [...]P>There is a lot of detail in Tolkien's work and it may seem lengthy at times, but the detail creates a certain atmosphere that you need to locate yourself in while you read; Tolkien wrote this book when he was creating an incredibly rich mythology of a sort; he, in a way, assumes you to be "vaguely familiar" with his mythic world, as you've always been "vaguely familiar" with history.
Besides the physical detail, there is a considerable amount of emotional, worldly kind of detail and universal themes that are not easily seen (partly because of the style of writing). And that's usually the kind of detail that brings tears to the eyes of so many of us, turning same pages over again and again, looking for more. It's wisdom that Tolkien wished to communicate to us, or perhaps, (I'm having my doubts) it has written itself down without him intending. In any case, there is a lot to see throughout the story and throughout the entire mythology
So, many of the themes are global themes that cannot be noticed after one read. Read the books, get familiar with the world, and you will start seeing points from the perspective of "knowing the world," within which Tolkien himself wrote. The "bored people" are the ones who, frankly, did not "see" or refused to see, because they underestimated the work from the beginning. This is not another fantasy hooker, if to some that's disappointing. If you do not connect the concepts, you'll just be bored because you'll be blind towards all the things that are uniquely fascinating in this particular work.
[...] I'd give the book all the stars in the world for what they've given me, but I give four because I guess it's just not that apprehensible. [...]
Rating:
Summary: Resonating Classic - *And* Readable
Review: I call "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy a classic, not merely because of its popularity or staying power. It is my *own* classic because it's one of the few books that I have read many times and plan to read many more.
It also resonates. Mythology touches deeply in our emotional and spiritual self. Lord of the Rings has that power. Having read it, I find myself enlightened to the ideas and conflicts of the modern world, and my *own* internal passions, conflicts, and ideas.
Lord of the Rings is not only about good versus evil. It's also about the desire for power and a caution *against* power. It's about sadness, loss, the irreversible passage of time, and the nature of humanity. In that way I think it will come to stand on a par with the great Greek and Norse myths that permeate our culture.
I notice among other reviews that some have difficulty sticking with the book. I found this too, at first. It's worth sticking around. Every time I read it, I start out slow and end up reading the last book straight through to the final page. So be patient!
I too mourn the passing of time; there once was an age when everything seemed to be Tolkienian. The first job I had, all the servers were named after Tolkien characters! Perhaps there is a new generation ready to discover Middle-Earth.
Rating:
Summary: Toughin' out Tolkien
Review: Yeah, I also started the Fellowship of the Ring a couple years ago. I must say Rivendell bored me to tears--so i quit reading and have only recently completed the series. It's a lot easier (since the movie came out last Dec) to penetrate his writing, because you can simply envisualize the characters and somehow struggle through the most tedious of moments.
by the way, that "inkling" thing was corny...i think everyone knows that he was part of the Inklings, yadda, yadda... :) by the way...for anyone interested....there's always
Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series which I would highly recommend
Rating:
Summary: fascinating story, a little difficult to read
Review: I love the story. But I found it a little difficult to read the book because of his style of writing.
Rating: 
Summary: To boring to finish
Review: I started the triolgy in 1970. About half way through "Fellowship of the Rings" I was bored but I kept reading it becuse so many of my friends had recommended the books. I started "Two Towers" thinking 'this has to get better' but it never did. I threw out the set without ever finishing "Two Towers". I know I'm the minority opinion here but I have the feeling I'm part of a larger minority than these reviews would indicate.
Rating:
Summary: Essential for a number of reasons.
Review: My dad swears he read these books to me as a child. Although I have no recollection of this, the stories have always been there in my consciousnes, without explanation. Obviously, they made their mark. Now with the Super-Sized Lord of the Rings Fever at full tilt, I decided to read them all by myself.
I have to say that the Fellowship of the Ring starts very slowly. Almost painfully so. If you saw the movie, then the 10 minutes or so of scenes from the Shire in the film correspond to about 150 pages of the book. When things do pick up, it becomes very interesting. You won't come across this level of vividness in many current novels. You may get to feeling like you know middle earth more intimately than you know your own neighborhood. It's a bit of a commitment, but it pays off.
The Two Towers is more action packed and scary than the Fellowship, and is probably the best of the bunch. It is full of intrigue and wild characters who really pull you in deeply. You will feel more emotions reading this one than the other two combined. It's basically the climax of the series.
The Return of the King is surprisingly short and unceremonious considering all the buildup in the Two Towers. It's actually sort of a letdown, as it climaxes to soon and peeters out at the end.
I don't want to ruin any plot points for anyone who doesn't know the plot already, but I will say that the movies most likely won't be able to cover as much ground with as much depth as the books do. What else is new? It's just that you're talking about some really involved books when three 3 1/2 hour movies feel incomplete by comparison.
I definitely recommend the Lord of the Rings to anyone who loves a good story.
Rating:
Summary: classic literature
Review: I hadn't read these books since high school, 20+ years ago, and they're much better the second time around. Do yourself a favor and read 'em all over again, you won't be sorry you did.
Rating:
Summary: Mistery and secret do you like!!!!!
Review: This books brings up many children! Sometimes adults too. Middle Earth is amausing land and trawel across of this Earth is trawel inside us. Tolkien created own history, languages, myths and creatures. This book is the best for gift for yuong people who like mistery, trawels and secret
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