[*Varda*]

For me, the books are indeed a way to escape. Our world today is so different, and so material. It's very refreshing to go home and read about Good defeating Evil, a book that has morals, where people aren't technology obsessed. It's nice to be able to dream about a world like that. Other than that, it's an amazing story that completely shuts out everything around you and wraps you up and absorbs you in the story.

Before I read LotR, I had never read a book that could induce so many feelings of pain, sadness, joy, and sheer delight in me. Since I first read it 3 years ago, I've read books that achieve a similar effect, but never to the same extent.

I agree that sometimes escapism isn't a good thing. As long as you take care not to get TOO involved and live in a perpetual dreamworld, it is healthy to be able to shut yourself away from the stress of normal life and get caught up in the magic of an amazing story.