During The Classics Club Readathon a few weekends ago, I started reading The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings. I have watched the films on numerous occasions and have had this book on my shelf/in the wardrobe of books for months. I originally attempted to read this book when the first film came out. I was about 13/14 and reached roughly page 100 and I gave up (shocker!) The language was too dense for me and not what I anticipated. A few summers ago I picked up a copy of The Hobbit at a Vintage Fair and one hot summer’s day I sat on the sun lounger and barely moved until I finished it later that evening. I absolutely loved it and became entranced with the world of Middle Earth. After such a positive reading experience I was determined to give The Lord of the Rings Trilogy another chance.
You probably have to have been living under a rock not to have at least some awareness of Tolkien’s work and the storyline, but just in case I will give you a very brief summary. Frodo Baggins lives peacefully in The Shire until he is given a ring by his uncle, Bilbo. This ring is no ordinary ring, it is inscribed with the following:
‘One Ring to rule them all, One ring to find them; One ring to bring them all
and in the darkness bind them’.
And so begins the biggest adventure of Frodo’s life; a journey that takes him to meet elves, dwarves and men; to the depths of Moria and to Elven lands; along great rivers and through dark and magical forests.
As I have mentioned I have seen the film adaptations of The Lord of the Rings several times and I watched the trilogy recently. Luckily for me this enhanced my reading of the novel and I am pleased to say that not only did I get to the end oft he novel this time, but I actually really enjoyed it. I found it easy to visualise the different descriptions and environments and this in turn made the novel an easier read and also an enjoyable one. Although I knew the outcome of the novel, there were still many sections within it that surprised me, such as the character of Tom Bombadil. I fully understand that film makers cannot include everything within the film, so it is lovely to read the novel and experience the bits that didn’t quite make the cut.
Tom Bombadil
I think it would be difficult to choose a favourite character from the novel; I liked Tom Bombadil for his cheerfulness and of course Gandalf is an infamous character synonymous with the mere mention of LOTR.
Overall, reading The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings was an enjoyable experience and I am very glad I picked it up again and also that I picked it up when I was a bit older and fully able to appreciate the mastery of Tolkien’s writing. For me it is not quite as engaging or easy to read as The Hobbit and I still think I prefer The Hobbit overall as it is a book I can imagine recommending to children, teenagers and adults alike, whereas I think you have to be a voracious reader to fully appreciate The Lord of the Rings.
I read this book for both The Classics Club and as a reserve for my TBR Pile 2014.
LindyLit 
I love this book too and I am nearly finishing The Two Towers at the moment! I have been very disciplined (or just lived a very sheltered life?) and had not seen the LOTR films! I loved the adaptation of the first book and another factor making me read The Two Towers as fast as I can is to get to see the second film!
That is very disciplined; I think I’m off the age where the films came out when I was in my early teens and were so well promoted that it would have been silly to miss them at the cinema. Hopefully you finish it soon so you can finally see the second film. I think it might be a while until I pick up the next book, especially as I just switched on my kindle for the first time in months and saw how many books I have downloaded…oops!
I rather missed Tom Bombadil but you’re totally right the film makers couldn’t possibly have fitted it all in! My favourite character has to be Samwise Gamgee but that is from reading the whole trilogy. I hope you enjoy the rest of the books.