I got these books Easter Sunday, April 19, 1981. They changed my view on what good books could be. Most of you have seen the movies. Go read the books that inspired them. My first choice in the literary draft is JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring, the Two Towers and the Return of the King.
from Wiki:
The Lord of the Rings is an
epic high fantasy novel written by the English
philologist J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel
The Hobbit (1937), but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in stages between 1937 and 1949, much of it during World War II.
[1] Although intended as a single-volume work, it was originally published in three volumes in 1954 and 1955, due to post-war paper shortages, and it is in this three-volume form that it is popularly known. It has since been reprinted numerous times and
translated into many different languages,
[2] becoming one of the most popular and influential works in 20th-century literature.
The title of the book refers to the story's main antagonist, the
Dark Lord Sauron, who had in an earlier age created the
One Ring that rules the other
Rings of Power, as the ultimate weapon in his campaign to conquer and rule all of
Middle-earth. From quiet beginnings in the
Shire, a hobbit land not unlike the English countryside, the story ranges across Middle-earth following the course of the
War of the Ring through the eyes of its characters, most notably the hobbits,
Frodo Baggins,
Samwise Gamgee (Sam),
Meriadoc Brandybuck (Merry) and
Peregrin Took (Pippin). The lands of Middle-earth are populated by
Men (humans) and other
humanoid races (
Hobbits,
Elves,
Dwarves, and
Orcs), as well as many other creatures, both real and fantastic (
Ents,
Wargs,
Balrogs,
Trolls, etc.).
Along with Tolkien's other works,
The Lord of the Rings has been subjected to
extensive analysis of its themes and origins. Although a major work in itself, the story was only the last movement of a larger work Tolkien had worked on since 1917, that he described as a
mythopoeia.
[3] Influences on this earlier work, and on the story of
The Lord of the Rings, include
philology, mythology, religion and the author's distaste for the effects of
industrialization, as well as earlier fantasy works and Tolkien's experiences in
World War I.
[4] The Lord of the Rings in its turn is considered to have had a great effect on modern fantasy; the impact of Tolkien's works is such that the use of the words "Tolkienian" and "Tolkienesque" has been recorded in the
Oxford English Dictionary.
[5]
The enduring popularity of
The Lord of the Rings has led to numerous references in popular culture, the founding of many societies by
fans of Tolkien's works,
[6] and the publication of many books about Tolkien and his works.
The Lord of the Rings has
inspired, and continues to inspire, artwork, music, films and television,
video games, and subsequent literature.
Adaptations of The Lord of the Rings have been made for radio, theatre, and film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings