Brinniel, your experience is eerily similar to mine! I never read it because I hate books with made-up names and lands and monsters. But a co-worker talked me into reading it before I saw the movie. I bought the Hobbit and LOTR and promptly got sick and had to stay home for a week. Well, I couldn't put the darn things down. I read almost non-stop. When I got to the end of LOTR, I was so sad I just cried. What a tremendous cast of characters, great sweep of action, superb descriptions, lucid plot, and marvelous humanity! It is now my favorite book of all time. I can't believe that 20 years ago, as an English major at university, I would have thought I wouldn't like it.
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