The Return of the King - J. R. R. Tolkien
The past three years I've re-read the Lord of the Rings books so that I can finish each book before the movie comes out. There was quite a bit I'd forgotten, but it's still easy to see why these books have become such a favorite, and why the movies inspire so much hype. Unfortunately, by this point when I read the books, all I can picture are the actors from the movie: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellan, Sean Astin, etc. Which isn't horrible, I suppose, since I really like the movie versions, but it's not quite the same as before.
It also was quite entertaining to come across passages that reminded me of the cheesy songs from the animated version of "Return of the King." For instance, "Fro-do ... of the Nine Fingers ... and the Ring of DOOOOOOMMMM."
Someday I'll maybe get around to reading all the appendices, like how to pronounce all the words, how the calendar works, and things like that. For now, though, I'll just stick with the story itself. Good stuff—if you haven't read it yet, what are you waiting for?
Fed to jonathan's brain | November 10, 2003
