I just finished reading the Lord of the Rings, and thought I would give some of my impressions.
Also, I wonder if you all will recommend the Peter Jackson films. I haven't seen them, but I haven't heard anything bad about them.
I was surprised the world of LOTR was so detailed and so deep in background. I had read long ago that he was a linguist and very concerned about having real languages for his characters to speak. I didn't realize he would also have such a long and detailed history for his world, involving various races and kingdoms, multiple wars with Sauron, and the whole situation with the Undying Lands and Numenor. I was also surprised to find that there is a single God, the One, and that he is so rarely mentioned.
I was also surprised that Tolkien had such an involved idea of how his world was layed out geographically. I would have benefitted from some better maps. I liked the fact that there were different communities of elves and of men, and that some were different from others. I also found the distrust between different groups to be a touch of realism.
I have been hearing in the past few years that there is a great deal of Christian symbolism in them, even though Tolkien apparently didn't intend to give them any sort of allegorical meaning. The alienation of Numenor from the Undying lands, and its ultimate destruction seemed like an allusion to Eden and the Fall, even though I read that Tolkien actually had Atlantis in mind. Gandalf dies and seems to go to Hell and defeat a Satan-like creature. He returns dressed in white and riding a white horse, much as Christ in some Apocalyptic passages. Frodo appears to die more than once, and has to give up power that he is tempted to use for himself. Aragorn sojourns on the earth in humility, once serving in his own rightful kingdom. Though he doesn't die in the story, he does heal and carries a sword that his broken and then restored. And of course, he returns to claim his kingdom and bring peace.