Spurred on by the filming of the Hobbit in New Zealand, I have been reading listening journeying through Middle Earth.

Even though I have read the famed works of J.R.R. Tolkien many times before, this is the first time I have read them since Peter Jackson’s films came out.

In listening to the unabridged books, I find myself imagining the characters looking and acting similar to the ones portrayed on the big screen…it is also interesting to note that my mind keeps looking forward to certain events – only to find out that Jackson actually added or left out or changed that part.

Take for example, the climb up the black stairs near the tower of Cirith Ungol. In the movies, Frodo turns his back on Samwise after Gollum threw the rest of their food. This, as LOTR nerds could tell you, did not happen in the “Two Towers” – instead, they walk into the tunnels of Shelob side-by-side.

Yet, I will forgive Jackson as the movies where amazing! (Plus there is only so much you can say/show within three hours!)

Now that I have finished the “Hobbit,” “The Fellowship of the Ring”, and the “Two Towers” – it is own to the “Return of the King” and the grand finale of Tolkien’s Middle Earth.