I have several unread books that I've purchased, it took me 6 months to re-read The Hobbit again when I bought it as last time I took it from the library in school, and that's a book I thoroughly enjoyed.
If I bought the books for this series, with them having more than double the amount of pages than The Hobbit, I'll probably be a grandpa by the time I've read them all.
I might buy the first one, but honestly, by watching the tv programs, I don't get the fuss, it's a good program, but I don't believe it fits the hype.