I read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy before the movies came out. I definitely disagree with those who say it's not important to read the book since there are spectacular movies on them that follow the book well. First of all, they dont follow the book well. So much is left out. Second of all, if you dont read the books then you miss out on so much detail and depth of the story. You just wouldnt receive the story entirely, and that's pretty sad because of how wonderful the whole thing is. Third of all, the book has so much quality and if you read it you would gain something from it every time you read it.