The Hobbit: or, There and Back Again, by J.R.R. Tolkien

...hopefully you've all heard of this book...
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Sparky is now rereading this; that is probably necessary because we started reading it aloud right after Christmas. But we have rarely both been available to spend 30 minutes reading together....

So, yeah, I've finally read it. I guess that means that now everyone in the universe over the age of 6 has read it.

Cute. Sorry, all you Tolkien fans, I know there's a lot in there besides cute, but that is my first response. Very allegorical. I kept picturing Tolkien and C.S. Lewis arguing at Oxford whenever there was discord in the book. 'OK, who is Lewis in this scene...?' And, unfortunately, I also couldn't help seeing Elijah Wood as Bilbo--yes, I know he's NOT PLAYING Bilbo in the movies!!

People have built this up to me for 30 years as such a monstrously great book; frankly, nothing could be good enough to match the amount I've heard about it. So, I will reread it (not aloud) and see if I get more out of it that way. But now you can stop hassling me about not having read it, ok??