I recently came across a book I hadn't read in years.  It was "Bored of the Rings" by the Harvard Lampoon.  I think they were the predecessors of the National Lampoon.  They wrote this silly, stupid, hilarious satire of the Lord of the Rings.  Unfortunately, I told a buddy about it, and he borrowed it for the weekend before I had a chance to re-read more than a few pages.  I read enough to see how The Hobbitt (which in Lampoon world was "Valley of the Trolls" and might be written later) was worked into the introduction.   It cracked me up. 

I encourage everyone to find a copy of this and read it, but only if you are into the Lord of the Rings.   If not, you won't get the references and it will just be silly and stupid.  Oh, wait - it will be silly and stupid either way, but you might enjoy nympho elf maidens and farting nazgul pigs if you liked the real thing.  They managed to summarize all those books into a very slender volume - check it out and let me know what you think!