If you are working on any aspect of the films you should look at two books by Brian Sibley:
- The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy
- The Lord of the Rings: Official Movie Guide
If you are working on Christian themes in Lord of the Rings you should read The Gospel According to Tolkien: Visions of the Kingdom in Middle-Earth by Ralph C. Wood.
There is an excellent chapter on “Middle-earth: Nature and Ecology” in Patrick Curry’s Defending Middle-Earth: Tolkien: Myth and Modernity.
There are all sorts of good essays on elves, monsters, Tolkien and Christianity, and environmental themes in LOTR in The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All edited by Gregory Bassham and Eric Bronson.
Meditations on Middle-Earth, edited by Karen Haber and illustrated by John Howe, is an excellent collection of essays by contemporary fantasy writers on the influence of Tolkien and LOTR on their work.
Anyone working on Tolkien’s friendship with C.S. Lewis or the Inklings should read Tolkien and C.S. Lewis: The Gift of Friendship. There is also a book on the Inklings, which I can’t find at the moment, but which should be easy to track down in WORLDCAT.
