Last summer when we were driving to the cabin we vacation in, a car
passed us with a bumper sticker that said “Not all those who wander are
lost.” My husband commented on it and Abby, my twelve year old, then
recited the Riddle of Strider for him. She likes the book
for its poetry and memorizes the poems.

Our house has 5 complete copies of this book, one for each of the two kids
and my three. One of my copies is the edition I bought in the 70’s when I
first discovered it and that sits in a place of honor on my bookshelf.
One set is my working copy that I take down to read when the need
strikes. And the third is the trilogy published as one hardbound book, as
Tolkien originally intended. That is the one I am reading now. I am about
a third of the way into the last section, war is gathering, night has
permanently fallen and Aragorn has gone thru the Paths of the Dead.

What brought me back to the book is the movie, of course. I haven’t seen
the second installment yet but for Christmas I got a copy of the extended
4 DVD set of the first movie. We watched it as a family after all the
Christmas hullabaloo was over and even my husband, who has steadfastly
looked down his cute upturned nose at the movie, enjoyed it immensely.
Then my kids and I watched the “making of the movie’ stuff that they fill
out the DVD set with. Some was interesting, particularly the costuming
section. Some was filler and as my daughter says, “Like, hello. I don’t
care.”

So I went back to the book. And it is so much better. Even with the added
scenes in the DVD, the book outshines the movie. What I find with every
rereading of the book is that I hear or notice something different every
time. This time it’s the almost Biblical language Tolkien used to
describe events and people. And all the Biblical parallels which for some
reason I totally missed before.

Except for perhaps Jane Austen and
Charles Dickens, I cannot think of another author’s books that I know so well,
have read so many times and enjoy so much each time I come back to it.