What a delight. Reading this series has been a long time coming: I have a memory of starting Fellowship in middle school and being bored to death by the seemingly endless descriptions of forests within it. Reading it again now I can’t begin to figure out what spot felt too descriptive for my childhood brain. Tolkein’s prose is like a warm cabin on a snowy day, and I love getting to compare the story of the book to the story I know from the movies. In many ways the book is better because it has the room to be broader and more lore-filled, but the movie certainly improved upon the story by giving voice and power to women, who are essentially entirely lacking from the book. I look forward already to the next one!