So I'm in one of those book slumps again. I have yet to write a book review for all of April, so that's a bit embarrassing. But I'm getting back on track: I am finishing "First to Fight" this week and simultaneously starting another really intriguing book, as well as continuing to trudge through Nancy Pearcey's "Total Truth." I suppose I should just stick to one book and finish it all the way through but I just keep finding awesome new books I want to read.
I finished this epic saga probably 3 weeks ago. I'll try to write about what I remember.
First of all, just like the movie, Tolkien seemed like this fantasy just shouldn't die. As I neared the ring being thrown into the fires of Mt. Doom (spoiler, but who doesn't know?), I was only half-way through the book. Yeah. Half-way. The rest of the book contains the "exciting" (quotes for sarcasm) return of the hobbits to Hobbiton, where they find it under command of some men who have drastically changed the infrastructure. After all of that (which, I believe, constitutes the longest chapter in the book with over 50 pages), Frodo meets back up with Bilbo and they take off on a boat into the sunset. What I'm trying to say is that perhaps that ending was a bit on the long side. I was pretty much checked out by the time the ring was thrown into Mt. Doom. All of the information post that was mildly interesting but it was a longer decrescendo when it is prefaced with the excitement of essentially the forces of good vs. evil battling for Middle Earth.
Not that I'm complaining. I mean, it is, even today, one of the most brilliant pieces of fiction literature of the 20th century.
Most striking, as I have said before, I can't wait to share this story with children of my own someday. Many times as I read through it I saw myself lying on a small child's bed, reading aloud page after page to my kids. That will be an exciting day, and I hope they will love reading as much as I have come to love it.
Obviously a brilliant book, and an exhilarating finish to the epic trilogy of the Lord of the Rings.
