Oooh, I missed a chance to tell one of my fave Tolkien anecdotes yet again!
I got into Tolkien because one of my brothers had the books and he was reading them and wouldn't come out of his room they were so good. Of course, my brother being into mostly cool things made me want to see what the fuss was about. But he also didn't like me touching his stuff so he wouldn't lend them to me. So I stole The Hobbit out of his room when he was out and started reading it. Then my mum made him lend me all the rest of the books too.
I remember getting creases on the spines and being scared he'd get mad at me.
This was especially worrying as I was constantly campaigning to be allowed to join in with his D&D games with his mates which I was expressly barred from - I mean, what 18 year old lad wants his 12 year old sister joining his D&D games, eh? It was bad enough me raiding his fantasy books and Led Zep and Motorhead LPs and nicking his guitar to try and play Smoke On The Water...
*
Mum ended up buying me my own set for Christmas, but by then I'd read my way right through The Hobbit, LotR, the Sil, Unfinished Tales, Tolkien's bio and Journeys of Frodo...plus the newly released Books of Lost Tales and Lays of Beleriand via the local library.
I've got those old books of my brother's now anyway. My most treasured possessions!
*Author's note - he used to nick my LPs as well...