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

After many months of journeying through middle-earth, I have been "there and back again" and have finally finished reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I've never made a bucket list, but if I did, I could probably cross one out now. Book reading somehow doesn't seem exciting enough to go on a bucket list though...hmm.

How can you begin to write a review about LOTR? So often during the read, I was overwhelmed by the grandeur of the world that Tolkien had created. It's immensity, how it has defined a genre, how much of a genius he had to be to create this.

That's not to say I thought the books were perfect. It was definitely too much at times to keep up with, the traveling seemed to go on forever, and sometimes the dialog was overwrought. These are easily forgivable in the grand scheme of the timeless story and characters Tolkien created. There is so much to learn from here. The internal battle between good and evil inside Gollum, the heart and bravery of Pippin and Merry, the valor of Aragorn, the loyalty of Sam.

It was, of course, impossible to read the book without having Elijah Wood and Sean Astin and the rest in my head. Kudos to Peter Jackson who I do think did a masterful job of making this into a movie. Reading it, I can see how impossible this feat was. Of course, it varies much from the books, but I can see why. Still, there are many great characters that are cut out that I was introduced to for the first time through the books. Namely, the wonderfully mysterious Tom Bombadil.

It is also sad in a way to come to the end. For many months, I read and observed in my mind how the characters have grown through the adventures. You feel like you're in it with them, feeling the weight of the task to destroy the ring. Truly this is a mark of great epic storytelling.

I feel like now I've joined an elite fraternity of those who have actually read through the whole trilogy...but still cooler than the fraternity who still LIVE in middle-earth and memorize hobbit-lore and learn the elvish language. I'll leave that to others.

If you've ever tried and failed to make it through, I'd challenge/recommend you to take it back up with new gusto. It's not always easy sailing through the pages, but it is definitely worth it.