Next up on the list is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. I’m not going to give any kind of synopsis on these, because you’ve either read them yourself, or seen the blockbuster films (from almost 20 years ago! Can you believe it has been that long?!), or you have absolutely no interest. So I’ll take this moment to talk about how these books changed my life.
I’ve always been a reader. My parents instilled the importance of reading into me at an early age. My brother and I watched a fair amount of TV growing up, probably as much as any normal kid of the 80’s, but I always read at night. I usually carried a book around with me in grade school and junior high, to read when I had a break, and didn’t care what the other kids thought about it. I “graduated” to adult books fairly early in life, mostly because the books at my “age appropriate level” (I don’t think it was called that back then) were below my actual reading level. In fact, I remember getting asked by my 4th grade teacher if I should really be reading Stephen King, and not having an answer because it seemed normal to be reading anything I could get my hands on. Admittedly looking back, I know I read things I wasn’t ready for, but as a fairly innocent young mind, most of the stuff was over my head anyway. I was reading for the stories.
Also in 4th grade, I read The Hobbit, and then in 5th, The Lord of the Rings. Before this time, I was reading mostly fiction, and especially epics and/or mystery/spy thriller novels. Things like the aforementioned King, Ken Follett, Tom Clancy, Agatha Christie, etc. Sort of all over the map. But The Lord of the Rings opened my eyes to a whole new genre. Whereas books I’d read previous to this were very much grounded in the world we live in (even outlandish ones like Carrie or Pet Sematary still took place on our Earth), now I saw a wholly created new world to explore. I was all in. I remember reading The Lord of the Rings twice through, back-to-back, and then jumping in to other sci-fi/fantasy worlds like the Wheel of Time, the Death Gate Cycle, Shannara, Dragonlance, and the list goes on. I read at a frenetic pace for years, devouring anything I could find. It really wasn’t until I was out of college that I started reading less science fiction and more “straight ahead” fiction again, but to this day, nothing excites me more than when an author creates a world from scratch, and opens the reader up to new, unthought of possibilities.
All this reading really shaped who I am as an adult. The drive to consume as many stories as I can has lead me to watch as many movies as I do, and still, of course, to read as much as possible. I still own the original set of The Lord of the Rings trilogy my parents bought for me in 5th grade (very much aged but lovingly cared for all these years), and while it has probably been surpassed by King’s Dark Tower series as my all-time favorite “epic,” it still holds a special place in my heart. I’m in the beginning of re-reading it now, my fifth or sixth time through. I last read them when the movies were coming out, so it has been quite awhile. I’m looking forward to going on Frodo’s epic journey again. As Tolkien says in the book, “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
Jons Movie Takes 
I didn't read The Lord of the Rings until much later (seminary), and have only read it once, but I think I want to read it to my kids soon. I read The Hobbit to them last year, and I think Emily will be mature enough for the LotR trilogy soon. They're all bigger readers than I was at their age.An an aside, did you know Tolkien was a major influence in leading C.S. Lewis to faith in Jesus? They were both part of a reading group called The Inklings, in which they read each others' unfinished works. I've been reading some of their influences a lot lately, such as George MadDonald and G.K. Chesterton. Good stuff.
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I did not know that, in fact, I know little about Tolkien as a person, including his faith. I know that Lewis was very devout, did not know that about Tolkien.If the kids like the books and want to see the movies, I can get them to you. The LotR movies are good, the Hobbit movies not so much… Since they've all ready Harry Potter, they should be fine with LotR. Honestly the last couple Potter books are way scarier than anything in Tolkien.
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We have the LotR trilogy. Some of my favorite movies. I haven't seen the Hobbit movies. Heard they spent way too much time on aspects of the story that just didn't keep the plot moving forward. I'll probably eventually watch them, but they're not high on my list.Emily hasn't read the whole HP series just yet…just the first two. We'll probably let her read most of the rest of them in about a year. But I agree, the last couple are pretty scary. She hid her eyes from watching most of them.
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