I remember your 2009 posting, but any discussion has long since faded from memory without looking it up again.

In many ways, my perception of the books has largely followed that of your first and now third readings. I suspect I'm still too much of an action junkie to appreciate the Frodo/Sam relationship to the same extent you did, but for me it really did come down to being the most relate-able points of the story.

What changed for me was having (finally) read the Silmarillion in 2007. Reading Lord of the Rings after that, just felt flat... like your comments throughout the review that it was the background history coming through far too strongly for what the nominal story was to be interesting in its own right.