J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

Erin, from our Content team, on The Hobbit: "One Saturday near my 6th birthday, I asked my father to read to me. He asked me if I liked wizards and dragons. This was a trick question - he knew I liked dragons. I said I only liked wizards that were as good as witches. As he pulled The Hobbit from the shelf, I had my doubts. It was the biggest book we had ever read together. I asked him if there would be words I didn't know. In reply, he merely smiled in a way that now reminds of what Gandalf must have looked like as Bilbo Baggins left The Shire for the first time."

Joe, from our Content team, on The Fellowship of the Ring: "I'm loath to admit that I wasn't a Lord of the Rings fan until the first film debuted in 2001. After going to see it with a group of friends on a Friday night in December, I quickly gathered all 3 books and lost myself (and my junior year of high school) to the world of Middle-earth. Book 1, The Fellowship of the Ring, still reminds me of the snow-covered grounds of my hometown and walking home with my head down, nose buried in book."

Chris, one of our Editors, on The Two Towers: "Like most people I know, I picked up the Lord of the Rings trilogy the summer after the first movie was released and devoured the books before the second film hit theaters. The Two Towers stands out to me because it is the rare second installment that doesn’t lose any steam. There are two HUGE battles, and we meet so many new, exciting, and textured characters that we really get a sense of how expansive the world Tolkien created is. Besides, how could you not love a book where we spend our first quality time with the scheming-yet-somehow-lovable Gollum?"

David, from our Promotions team, on The Return of the King: "Have the stakes ever been higher, the circumstances more dire than they are here in The Return of the King? You know the part where the Gate of Gondor has given way and the evil Lord of the Nazgul rides through in triumph, and all seems lost...and then the ragged, courageous cavalry arrives from Rohan in the nick of time? Chokes me up every single time. 'And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns, in dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the north wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last.'"