Reading the Prologue Is Important

It is plain indeed that in spite of later estrangement Hobbits are relatives of ours: far nearer to us than Elves, or even than Dwarves. Of old they spoke the languages of Men, after their own fashion, and liked and disliked much the same things as Men did. But what exactly our relationship is can no longer be discovered. The beginning of Hobbits lies far back in the Elder Days that are now lost and forgotten. Only the Elves still preserve any records of that vanished time, and their traditions are concerned almost entirely with their own history, in which Men appear seldom and Hobbits are not mentioned at all. Yet it is clear that Hobbits had, in fact, lived quietly in Middle-earth for many long years before other folk became even aware of them. And the world being after all full of strange creatures beyond count, these little people seemed off very little importance. But in the days of Bilbo, and of Frodo his heir, they suddenly became, by no wish of their own, both important and renowned, and troubled the counsels of the Wise and the Great.

--from the Prologue, The Fellowship of The Ring

Anticipation!

I'm super excited about this blog book club! I have always meant to read The Lord of the Rings trilogy which came long before their movies, and now we are! I'm really interested to see all sorts of differences between the movies and books. I loved the movies a lot, but I heard that they did change some things, and I wonder if that will change my opinion of the movies slightly.
We are reading relatively slowly! We should be reading about three chapters a week. So by next Monday we will have read the prologue and chapters 1 and 2. That way we should be finished in around eight weeks.
We are also planning on trying to watch it at the same time long distance, and commentating on it once we have finished read The Fellowship of the Ring.

First post, first book

We're starting out this jolly experiment with The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien. So, to begin, here are some of the many, many covers of The Fellowship of the Ring. I am not including movie tie-in covers because, no. These images do not belong to me. They belong to their respective publishing companies, artists, and designers.
    

  


Any favorites? Any must-post covers I've missed? Which edition do you have?