The Lord of The Rings by J.R.R Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien should be, if its not already, be considered a classic and a must read in high school. While it took me a very long time to read, I learned many lessons. Number one being do not take a beings size for granted. If you haven't read the books, or seen the movies, then I encourage you to do so. Honestly, I usually don't promote movies over the book version but in this case I feel that I have to. I was better prepared for the books having seen the movie first. 

First off, there were many places and many names that I felt better reading because I heard the pronunciation in the movie. That also made it easier to read and follow along with the characters as there is A LOT of names that didn't make it into the movie and I kinda glazed over. Secondly, there is A LOT of history mentioned in the book that give more sense to parts of the movie. Mainly why Gandalf hangs out with the Hobbits, and Treebeard's comments about Saruman being a friend. There are other things like Aragorn and his personal "exile" and relationship with the Elves, but its better to read it yourself than to hear it from another. Third is simple because the movies do justice to the books in my opinion. I was able to follow the action and the emotions because I had seen it. The director didn't take a creative approach to the books, he kept true to Tolkien's vision.

However, I can also use the above mentions as items I found against the books. There is a lot of history mentioned. History that could itself be its own book, hence the Appendices at the end. This felt very overwhelming to me. Tolkien wrote these mentions in as if the reader should already know them either by osmosis or reading the Appendices first. Clearly I can neither do nor did either. Second, the names are very confusing as they use so many and at different times for one person or one place. For example, Aragorn son of Arathorn, Isildur's heir was also Strider, and Elessar, and a whole host of others. It was very, very confusing. Third, the movies do the book justice but they also lay a misrepresentation. They give the idea that the efforts happened in a few weeks maybe even a month. However, the books take to years, and then there is the ending. Which I will warn is a bit different from the movies. That made me sad as I wish the endings had stayed the same.

Overall I give the whole collection a 4 out of 5 stars. Again I simply reiterate, unless you read the Appendices first, then the actual novels I strongly recommend you watch the movies first. And take to heart all the lessons taught by Gandalf and the Fellowship of the Ring.