THREAD. You have not read Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings until you've read it out loud.

Seriously, the language *soars* when spoken. Last night I was reading the scene where Gandalf and co. fight off Wargs beneath Caradhras, and the beauty of the language he employs brought me nigh upon tears. TEARS.

That is a minor and otherwise-forgettable scene. You likely don't remember it. They didn't bother to put it in the movie. You read right over it if you're reading silently to yourself.

Reading it out loud though, suddenly these mythic figures of Gandalf, Aragorn, Gimli, and Legolas stride out of legend and onto the field of imagination and strike a pose in the firelight, surrounded by glimmering green eyes, and you see them as if for the first time.

I am not a visual person, but the image is seared into my mind the day after reading it.