The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954-1955)
Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
Helm’sDeepGate2 (Photo credit: StevePoulsen)
One-sentence summary: The One Ring, the ring that will enable the Dark Lord to rule all of Middle-Earth, has fallen into the hands of a hobbit, and so Frodo Baggins must set out on a quest–with his three best hobbit friends, a wizard, an elf, a dwarf and a ranger–to journey across the land and destroy the ring once and for all.
My rating: 
When read: I read this in college.
Why read: It was an assignment for a class.
Impressions: The Lord of the Rings is a classic for a reason. The trilogy of The Fellowship of the Rings, The Two Towers and The Return of the King basically established the fantasy genre and set the bar for mythical creatures, fantasy worlds, epic battles and quests to save the world that every fantasy has been trying to live up to ever since. But these books are long and dense. There is a lot of filler in between the good bits. The Hobbit may be a kid’s book, but it’s infinitely more readable. However, I have to give the books the highest rating because they have been so influential and because the story is such an archetypal story of the human experience (even if this one contains wizards, orcs, elves and hobbits, it is still one of the best retellings of the hero’s journey). I’m glad that a college course finally forced me to sit down and read them, and I’m glad that Peter Jackson made those incredible movies so I don’t have to sit down and read them again.
Current status: I have a beautiful, illustrated boxed set in my permanent library. Will I reread? Maybe, if my son decides to read them and I want to play along.
Fun facts:
- The Lord of the Rings is the second best-selling novel ever written.
- Tolkien coined the word mythopoeia, a work of fiction in a which the writer creates a complete fictional mythology.
If you liked this book, you might also like:
- The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
- The Once and Future King by T.H. White
- Dune by Frank Herbert
