The first part of one of my all-time favourite books. I've just read it again and there's so much in it - and it's quite a simple story, really, Fellowship. It's the detail that gets me - the maps, the flora... the botanist in me is always pleased to read Tolkien. In another book, I'd whinge to myself about waffle and padding and the need for a red pen striking through entire passages, but the story's so wonderfully told I just don't care.

Lee's illustrations are lovely, too. He seems to have done a lot of art for the Tolkien books, which pleases me.