I didn't like The Lord of the Rings when I read it as a teenager. I loved The Hobbit, but Rings just bored me. It had too much singing and story-telling, and was just too long. I lost interest before finishing the first volume, so the other two volumes were a long slog. I had to read it because of peer pressure (I got tired of hearing "What, you haven't read the Rings trilogy?"), but it was a lot like reading books my teachers assigned.
After seeing the three Rings films, I am ready to give the books another chance. The films were entertaining, and have given me enough knowledge of the story and characters that I can read the books without losing interest. I hope to enjoy all the stuff that didn't make it into the movies, and to be able to say something intelligent when I get trapped in one of those stupid "The movie wasn't like the book" conversations.
Who knows? If this works out, maybe I'll give that horrible Dune series another chance as well.