The LOTR story is rivaled by very few. However, like you were saying, it's a little verbose. It reads like a history book. The movies did a fabulous job of extracting the heart of the story, in my opinion.
George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire," may be the best fantasy series ever written, however. HBO is adapting the series, and I can't freakin' wait.
The Harry Potter series is incredible, too. And now Harry Potter Land is opening. HURRAH!
Isn't HP land out in Oralando at Universal Studios there or something? This summer, right?
I agree about the LOTR movies. They did a really good job of extracting the main parts and main characters of the movie and turning it into something fascinating and exciting to watch. When I was reding the book, I got lost in who was who and what was what, and as loki indicated it was too verbose!