Awww man, I really want to agree, but I find Tolkien's style of writing really dull. I had to tap out at Book 5 because I couldn't take any more. I love a good world build, but maaaaaan, he will spend three pages on the flavour of some random mushroom and then gloss over a battle in a number of lines. I really struggled, but I felt the films brought the story to life, aside from a few creaky narrative choices (like seven endings) - I prefer books over films nearly every time, LOTR is my one big exception. I think it's just a disconnect between the sort of pacing I want in a book and the sort of writing done by an academic linguist. :o)