Ben's Birthday Present

So my birthday isn't until August but I thought I'd take a cue from Mom and take advantage of a good deal when I see it. If only I could get down the part where I buy stuff for other people. This was 70% off the list price though and it's been on my Amazon wish list for two or three years, so I couldn't pass it up.They are a really cool edition of Tolkien's books with illustrations by Alan Lee. Peter Jackson used his drawings a lot when making the films, in fact, Alan Lee was one of the art designers that worked on the films.

This is Helms Deep, they used this drawing to design the set in the film.

When I showed them to my friend Jared who just got accepted to PhD school he said, "Cool. I won't be able to read anything like that for about six years." That is sad but true. I think the summer between the masters and PhD school I'll read a lot of stuff like this just for fun. If I'm smart though, I will start on my reading list.