One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.
From Sauron’s fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spread far and wide. Sauron gathered all the Great Rings to him, but always he searched for the One Ring that would complete his dominion.
When Bilbo reached his eleventy-first birthday he disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom.
The Lord of the Rings tells of the great quest undertaken by Frodo and the Fellowship of the Ring: Gandalf the Wizard; the hobbits Merry, Pippin, and Sam; Gimli the Dwarf; Legolas the Elf; Boromir of Gondor; and a tall, mysterious stranger called Strider.
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973), beloved throughout the world as the creator of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, was a professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, a fellow of Pembroke College, and a fellow of Merton College until his retirement in 1959. His chief interest was the linguistic aspects of the early English written tradition, but while he studied classic works of the past, he was creating a set of his own.
*Each book (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King) will count as ONE book for the purpose of the Winter Reading Challenge!
Gracepoint Church Library 
This book tells the epic journey of a little Hobbit who carries a very heavy burden that few could truly understand. Through many dangers and uncertainties, he travels through strange and unfamiliar lands with his trusty old friends and new ones along the way. I love this story because it’s so imaginative and entertaining, and because of the higher themes that emerge such as faithfulness, hope, love and friendship. It’s no question that Tolkien had his intentions about Frodo and the Ring to remind us of the Burden Jesus had to bear to the cross. It’s the greatest story ever, re-told in the realm of Middle-Earth. If you read this book, you’ll laugh, cry and hold your breath all the way to the end.
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Which one in the trilogy did you read? Or did you read the whole thing!
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Hi Emily, I’m in the middle of it! Hoping to finish soon…This is my 2nd time reading it
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I finished ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ a month ago and I loved it! The book is so much better than the movie I would say since it has more details and richer stories. For instance, I didn’t know that Bilbo was in the first book! I was very touched by Mary and Pippin when they decided to follow Frodo and left Shire despite Frodo’s effort to be discreet about his departure. I was impressed when Tom Bombadil could see Frodo even after Frodo put his ring on his finger. I bet there is a whole a lot more stories about Tom Bombadil. I definitely recommend this book!!!!!
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Well, as soon as I finished reading ‘The Fellowship of the Ring,’ I couldn’t help but immediately start the second book, ‘The Two Towers.’ I finished it before ATR. When the first book ends with Frodo’s flight from Boromir like that, how can you not start the second book?
I was really touched/impressed by the time when Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli met Eomer. That was when Aragorn began to reclaim his kingly identity for himself, but that was not why I liked this meeting. I loved how both Eomer’s party (Riders of Rohan) and Aragorn’s party talked back and forth to discern whether the other party was for them or against them. When Aragorn’s self-control, decency, and wisdom finally won Eomer’s trust, I was just getting too excited…! This second book, I must say, is filled with this kind of moments when the scattered members in the fellowship of the ring, try to find trustworthy allies and friends in the midst of this distrustful and disheartening time. The virtues of trust, loyalty, discernment of what’s true and not, what’s evil and not, courage, and again friendship are all packed in this book.
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I read the first book, The Fellowship of the Ring. The fellowship among the nine characters to me was a brilliant way of embodying metaphorically the fellowship among Christian laborers as their mission causes them to embark on a journey with no shortage of perils. While they are harassed by orcs and other servants of the Enemy, they must grapple with the dangers that threaten to pull the fellowship apart from the inside. It was a hefty read but J.R.R. Tolkien is a lyrical master of words and this series is sure to be a feast for anyone who appreciates pure eloquence
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