Week 11: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien

This book matches up really well with the movie (which I am going to watch after I write this blog)!  I like how the two different stories are not mixed together, but rather Tolkien had one of the books be only about Frodo and Sam while the other book is the story of all the other members of the Fellowship.  It makes it easy to read and follow along with.  In the movies I have always preferred the story of the battles over the trials of Frodo.   However, reading the book I really enjoyed reading about the journey of the two hobbits.  Maybe it is because you get to learn more about the characters of Frodo and Sam while reading.  The book explains the thought process between the decisions the characters make and how it effects the adventure they are in. All of the hobbits in the series are really amazing fictional characters.  Tolkien has taken all that is simple and wonderful in the world and bestowed it on the hobbits.  Then placed them in a frightening world that they must overcome in some extraordinary unknown ways.

The books are extremely long and often tedious with regards to imagery.  Tolkien goes to great depths of making the reader know exactly what the landscape looks like.  Sometimes so much so that you wonder how many pages of imagery there is going to be before something happens to the plot line. My other complaint is that there are many pages of songs and rhymes.  I do not mind reading these prose, but often I find them to be long and unneeded to the plot of the story.  Yet, the books are so splendidly written that you cannot help but feel transported to Middle Earth.

 I really like reading these books after watching the movie.  Obviously there are occurrences in the books that were left out, but Peter Jackson did fabulous at really capturing the story. But be wary the books are wonderful in their own right and completely different from the movies!!!