The Lord of the Rings is a very good book, although I've only ever read it once.
Tolkein created a whole ' history ' surrounding middle earth, based upon the books ' The Hobbit ' and ' The Silmarillion ' ( from whom Marillion took their name ), and it can become almost totally believable, a bit like reading an ancient book on greek or roman mythology.
But it is best, if, like the film, you take the book as a tryptich and read them in order, and slowly, because there is a huge amount of information to take in - much of which has never made it near to the film. There are side-plots, sub-plots, simultaneous plots from different parts of the ' quest ', and it can all get a bit confusing !
I thought Jaws the film was far superior to Jaws the book, all that rubbish with them coming home every day, the affair Brody's wife has and the shark dying becuase it was weighed down