The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Where do I begin, this is truly one of the great epic tales of the 20th century.  If you are a fan of the movies you should give this book a try, I understand that Tolkien's writing is not for everybody but if you can make it through his trilogy then you will have a much deeper understanding of the world & characters he has created.  One of the biggest differences between the book & the movie is the overall sense of time, the events in the book span decades.  One of the great things about The Lord of the Rings trilogy is that it has songs spread throughout the story which Tolkien has taken the time to flesh out completely for the readers enjoyment.  These are mostly skipped over in the movies.  One of Tolkien's most unique & baffling characters plays a rather important role in this first part of the The Lord of the Rings, Tom Bombadil.  This is a character that has no basis in the land of Middle Earth but at the same time embodies all of its aspects.  If it was not for Tom Bombadil the Hobbits wouldn't even have made it to Bree.  This first book ends slightly before the final events of the first movie.  To say more would only spoil the surprises that await new readers of this classic.  I feel that just with this first book Tolkien is writing this for himself or his children & the idea that anybody else will read it was just an afterthought.