From Movie to Book

[Starr Polish]

We all are aware that the LotR is really one book, divided for publisher's purposes into 3.

Er...I thought Tolkien originally wanted it published as six books...but I'm still a newbie

I saw the movie first, and in some ways, I'm sure it's affected the way I see the characters and all, but I'd read some of The Hobbit before, and had a good picture of Gandalf and Bilbo, so those characters didn't change.
I have an incredibly active imagination, and if I want, I can banish the movie character image and use my mind's eye instead. The hobbits are chubbier and don't look so darn...young, and other things like that. I can see the actor's face while I'm reading if I want to, but I don't always want to do that.

Also, watching the movie without reading the book was actually pretty confusing for me, and I <i>DID</i> get a lot more out of the book. The desired, er, effect, of the book doesn't get lost if you see the movie first if you are actually interested in reading the book FOR THE BOOK ITSELF.