I’ve been meaning to read this book for a long time, but when it came to it last year I decided that with my challenge to read 100 books in a year, something as long as this wouldn’t be wise. Although to be honest, if family problems hadn’t stopped me from reading, I would have been finished in about 4 days.

I absolutely loved the book, the world that Tolkien creates is so vividly real that I was completely absorbed by it, even more so than the film, which I have seen many times. I decided to forget about the film while I was reading so I went in with no preconceptions, which I was very glad about. Entire chunks of the book were missed out from the film, like the enchanting Tom Bombadil, who I absolutely adored.

I’ve tried to read this book a couple of times in the past but never got more than 40 pages in, but I have absolutely no idea what my problem was, maybe I had my head stuck too far up the chick-lit branch that it never stood a chance.

Writing a review of this book is really hard, I don’t think I could do justice to the sheer delight of the shire, the enchantment of Rivendell, or the creeping feeling of terror every time I read the Black Riders. So so so much more magical than seeing it on screen, even if the characters in my head do look exactly like Elijah Wood, Orlando Bloom, Viggo Mortensen and co. Besides, I’m pretty sure we all know the plot of the book without me writing it her.

A big part of me wishes that I’d had the opportunity to read the books before I saw the film, but given that I was about 12 when the first film was released and still reading books akin to ‘Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging’, I’m not sure I would have appreciated Tolkien’s masterpiece.

Really really looking forward to starting The Two Towers now!