First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?  If you want to make your own post, feel free to use or edit the banner above, and follow the rules below:

• Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
• Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
• Finally… reveal the book!

If you’re using Twitter, don’t forget to use #FirstLinesFridays!

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It’s Friday and I am particularly stoked about finally getting to the end of this week! It’s been a long, slow week at work and I’m ready for some time at home with the family. Not to mention some uninterrupted reading time! But, first, it’s time for another First Lines Friday and, this week, I’m bringing you an oldie, but goodie. Well… according to most fantasy-loving readers. I didn’t get on well with this book the first time I read it, but I’m giving it another go. Let’s see if you can guess what book I’m talking about after reading these first few lines! Spoiler alert: this one is gonna be pretty easy 😂

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The Line(s):

“When Mr. Bilbo Baggins of Bag End announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday with a party of special magnificence, there was much talk and excitement in Hobbiton.”

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The Hints:

This is the first book of one of the most popular fantasy series of all time.

It was originally published in 1954.

There have been many screen adaptations of this book, but the most recent starred Elijah Wood, among others!

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The Reveal:

Click the cover to be taken to the Goodreads page

Goodreads Synopsis

“The first volume in J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic adventure THE LORD OF THE RINGS

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.”

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Told ya this was an easy one 😉 I’m currently buddy reading this book with a bunch of The Write Reads gang and I have to admit, I’m not hating it! I’m trying the audiobook this time because I’ve tried reading the physical book multiple times and loathed it every single time, lol. The audiobook is agreeing with me so far.

Did those first few lines capture your attention? Did they make you want to read the rest of the story? Let me know in the comments!

And, as always, happy reading!