Rather late in coming around to appreciating Tolkien's epic that is The Lord Of The Rings - I always loved the Hobbit but have only recently successfully finished The Fellowship Of The Ring and now The Two Towers.
It's pointless reviewing or worrying about spoilers with a book so well established as this, but I'll just say that I thoroughly enjoyed this outing through Middle Earth. It was utterly absorbing and actually an easier read than The Fellowship was for me.
The locations and descriptions are all intricately described and made me feel like I was really there with the Hobbits, either journeying with Treebeard or being led to the dwelling of Shelob by Gollum.
I think this may be the only instance where it's actually helpful to have seen the film before reading the book, and it's easy to see how Peter Jackson was able to realise the tales as a motion picture so successfully, as everything right down to Gollum's linguistics feel just like they do in the film.
I'm looking forward to finishing the trilogy, and maybe giving the Silmarillion and the Unfinished Tales a go, but right now I have some more modern reads to be getting on with.
If you've read these books and have an opinion on them, especially if you've read them and didn't enjoy it, I'd be eager to hear from you!