It was the first book I read. My dad had read all the books too, but he started with the Hobbit and moved on from there, reading the Silmarillion last. I regret starting with the Silmarillion first, because it was a slow, hard read. It killed me from reading the other series. When I started on the Hobbit, I'd stop for long periods when the book would slow down in the traveling parts. LOTR was much easier to read for me. I find Harry Potter to be easier to read and I get into the books much sooner than LOTR. Now, the last HP gets dull with all the traveling in the woods, I can skip large parts of it and still get what's going on in the book. I think it might be just me.