I'm with you on all of that :) And I also hope your brother makes it to the end! Be sure to update us with his final thoughts ^__^
The last time I read the books was about 15 years ago (I went momentarily 'it can't have been that long!' but the movies came out 10 years ago, and the last time I read the books I was still a teenager, so...) and I must admit that I skipped about everything that wasn't about Merry & Pippin. The Frodo & Sam stuff was great but after 7 times didn't have much reread value anymore, and I loved loved loved Pippin's interaction with the squire dude in Minas Tirith, which in the movies they sort of meshed with his interaction with Faramir. Not quite the same, but the guy was only in a few scenes, so I can fogive Peter Jackson for cutting him out...
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The last time I read the books was about 15 years ago (I went momentarily 'it can't have been that long!' but the movies came out 10 years ago, and the last time I read the books I was still a teenager, so...) and I must admit that I skipped about everything that wasn't about Merry & Pippin. The Frodo & Sam stuff was great but after 7 times didn't have much reread value anymore, and I loved loved loved Pippin's interaction with the squire dude in Minas Tirith, which in the movies they sort of meshed with his interaction with Faramir. Not quite the same, but the guy was only in a few scenes, so I can fogive Peter Jackson for cutting him out...