2023 Reading #1

• Book: The Fellowship of the Ring
• Author: JRR Tolkien
• ISBN-13: 9780547928210

When I was a teenager, I read the Lord of the Rings every year. I haven't read it in at least a decade now, and it felt like time to go back to it. Reading it felt like a warm hug.

I've always had a strange relationship with Fellowship, because I enjoy the story best. I like that all the characters are together, rather than split across multiple locations. It has the most time in the Shire, my favourite location, and with Elves, my favourite kind of character. But I also find it the most slow-going (Bombadil, all the Elvish songs) - none of the other stories have parts like that where I just want to rush through to get to the end.

This time around, I really enjoyed Tom Bombadil's part in the story. It's the first time I've ever appreciated it, and I don't know why or what's changed in how I'm reading it. But this is one reason I like re-reading my favourite books; it still feels different each time.