Usually when I get a cookbook I just skim through the recipes, but when An Unexpected Cookbook came in the mail I sat down and read through every recipe step by step. Not only am I excited to make some delicious Hobbit inspired meals from these recipes, but I also learned a whole lot about Victorian-era food and cooking, and what types of things Tolkien would have eaten throughout his life. There's a lot of personality and humor mixed in throughout the steps of the recipes, which makes them more entertaining to read than any cookbook I've encountered before. The suggestions for how to reuse leftovers in other recipes is also a plus. This is a really cute and engrossing cookbook! I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Tolkien! ( )