In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.
For a number of scheduling reasons I wanted either an easier read or a re-read for the fortnightly book, so it will be J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, or There and Back Again. Published in September of 1937, it was immediately popular, and has never been out of print, although it had a revised second edition (changing the famous riddle scene to be more in conformity with The Lord of the Rings) in 1951.
I just have an ordinary paperback version of it, but it's worth noting that Tolkien put an immense amount of effort into the design of the original -- he provided illustrations, did the dust jacket, and ultimately was responsible for most of the binding design.
This seems like an excellent time to remind us all of this astounding adaptation, thrown together in 1966 so that William Snyder would not lose the movie rights he had bought:
