How can I turn multiple .doc (word files) into a book?

I am trying to turn multiple word documents with different themes, pictures and background etc... into one book. When I have tried to compile them, I keep losing themes from individual files. This is not for a professional project or anything. I am basically putting letters together for a friend, and need it to appear somewhat like a book online. As well as printable. Also, if there is a free way to do it, that would be wonderful. I don't have any $ to invest in this, it is a series of letters I have collected for a sick friend.
Thanks!

You can print each document separately, however within each document you'll have to manually set the page numbers (if you're using them) and manually create your table of contents or index.

This might be a great deal of work, depending on what you want the result to be.