Just one of the best fantasy books of all time!

Which book have you read more than any other?

My goodness! That is like asking me who is my favorite child!

I will admit, when I was a lad, I was really obsessed with J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. The set was a Christmas gift from my parents – a paperback set that included The Hobbit and came in its own slipcase. I guess they thought a four volume set would keep me busy for awhile. 😉

By my senior year of high school, the books had become so dog-earred from reading, they were falling apart. Many moves and transitions after high school, they were lost to the wind. I still miss them.

I must admit, I loved the books so much that when the movies came out, I refused to watch them. I already knew the characters, and what everything should look like, and how everyone would act. The movie would ruin it. Isn’t that what people say about every movie? The book is always better. Peter Jackson was treading on hallowed ground!

I finally did see them almost two decades after they were released. Enough time had passed for me to soften my views. I will admit, they didn’t disappoint me as much as I thought they would. I really enjoyed them, actually.   Honestly, Lothlórien, was exactly as I expected it 🙂

As for The Hobbit movie… I won’t get into that 😉

Image from a seller on eBay. I have no affiliation,  but its the only image I could find of this set. This is the exact version I owned, released in 1981. Click here to see the eBay listing.

Comments

6 responses to “Just one of the best fantasy books of all time!”

  1. Todd R Avatar

    That’s the same set I own and reread every few years!

    1. Brigid G Avatar

      That is awesome. I would love to have my old set back! Hold on to it! If you have the Silver Anniversary edition with the original slipcase, its worth $100-$250 depending on the condition!

  2. Girish Mani Avatar

    Same here, I have “The Lord of the Rings Omnibus” edition and when I had purchased it, it was already old and dog eared.
    I used to read very carefully flipping each page. I didn’t read not once but so many times. Some pages are faded, some are torn from the cover. But I cherish it always.
    As for the movies, it’s good and it doesn’t follow the books completely. I wish it had. Didn’t get to see Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, it’s just sad. Well, I just have to imagine them from the art work found on the internet. (They showed Tom in the new series “The Rings of Power”, so I’m happy for now).

    1. Brigid G Avatar

      Nice! I could have sworn Tom Bombadil was in the movie. I remember a character that lived in the woods and I think he had a bird nest in his hair. 😂 Maybe that was a different character. In any case, yes, he is a great character- the only person that the ring had no effect on. An origins story about him would be awesome.

      1. Girish Mani Avatar

        Yes indeed,… And the bird’s nest character is Radaghast the Brown… We can see more of him in the Hobbit trilogy movies…

      2. Brigid G Avatar

        LOL! That’s right! I appreciate the memory jog. 😅

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