To Read The Fellowship of the Ring?

We are getting geared up for this year's marathon reading, and for the first time, allowed student members to "vote" with their spare change (all proceeds to the Trenton Public Libraries!). The year, we are reading the first novel in J.R.R. Tolkein's Lord of the Ring trilogy: The Fellowship of the Ring.

This is a novel I first read on the advice of my youngest brother Phil, who devoured it one summer while he attempted to live the rest of his life. He read it while delivering newspapers (American children used to walk around their neighborhoods delivering afternoon papers). He read it while playing Little League ball -- probably the most important reason his coach put him in left field.