I read these books for the first time a long time ago, back when I was still in grade school.

Reading The Fellowship again has brought back nostalgia and also allowed me to glean pieces of Tolkien's brilliance I never caught before.

I'm not a huge fantasy fan, but one cannot help but be astonished by the world-building in these books. The languages, the cultures, the adventures are so compelling and beautifully written. My biggest struggle in getting through this book (and it took me forever to finish reading) was the dense language, the slow plot, and the lack of emotion-driven character development.