OH, heavens no! I meant paperbacks. I can get them at The Book Lady for $1 each. They were turned in by the gross after the movies came out. I’m sure a gazillion people bought them and never finished reading them.
Reading aloud reminds one of just how *much* brilliantly composed compound-complex prose there is. Some people can’t spend too much time gazing at all the details of a Gothic cathedral ... but others say, “Okay, yeah, but where’s the explosions?”
If you can get paperbacks of LOTR and The Hobbit, I can used at least two copies. I either read them to death or give them away to new recruits!
I’ve heard of people who bought the books, hated them, went to the movies and wished they had read the books. Or thought the books were superficial.