I discovered it in the cafeteria in high school, (via a girl who actually had the attention span to read the entire Simalrillion). I didn't start reading it then, but I was fascinated by the depth the the universe the back summary suggested. Many years later, during a my normal search for summer reading, I got the first book out of the library. I was warned I'd lose several years of my life to the series, but I finished the 11 books out at the time in just a few months. I've reread most of the books twice since then, and Eye of the World about four times.