Somebody encourage me....

My grandmother came to visit us back in June...of '98, and she mentioned the "Lord of the Rings" books. And a few others, but I won't get into them... I decided to read them. I dug around in some boxes, and found all four of them. (These are the paperback 'authorized' version. Apparently, when Tolkien originally put them out somebody took 'advantage' of him and...well, that's another story... Anyway, I got through "The Hobbit". Then, my mom went to the library and got me the first part of the "Lord of the Rings" duology that was on tape there. Unfortunatley, I found out that the second part is not there. And it was sooo good! The animation was excellent! Well, I then saw "The Hobbit" that new version recently put out by so-and-so...it stinks. The animation in that makes you want to take a knife and stab Bilbo through the nose. Fortunatly, I'd already read "The Hobbit" but so nothing was ruined for me. Although I never did get through it...it was soo bad... The point is, I'm only halfway through the first book in the trilogy. I saw the first half of that duology, and knowing that Gandalf won't die, though it looks like he will a few dozen times, doesn't help add to the suspense. Is there anything for me to look forward to?