I just started The Fellowship of the Ring

"The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say."

Imagine being able to read your DNA as a piece of literature. Imagine being able to read the root out of which grew many of your basic interests as well as patterns of speech and thought and writing style.
Luckily, I do not have to imagine. I can do it.

I just started The Fellowship of the Ring, first of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

And upon starting I am amazed yet again and the simple charm and inexpressibly subtle and cunning nature of this timeless masterwork. For why not? This is the book that not only shaped me, but is the seed out of which grew the vast wonders of the Fantasy genre. From Harry Potter to the heretical A Song of Ice and Fire, to Ranger's Apprentice to Abhorsen to the Inheritance Cycle to Shannara. We owe it all to a groups of hobbits who went on the most extraordinary adventure.