It would kind of have to be The Hobbit, right? Lord of the Rings is too long/big/bulky to bring the entire three-book volume. And anything not Tolkien-related would be silly. This is a trip to Middle Earth after all.

Obviously, we’re not talking about a Kindle situation here (in which case bring whatever you want), but rather a scenario where you’re carrying everything you need for weeks on your back and have to make some hard choices. And if you’re still into actual, physical books, the “deluxe pocket edition” of the Hobbit is a pretty awesome choice. It’s leather-bound, which means “cool” (but also “expensive” and “easily damaged” apparently) and has gold trimmed pages. There are also some really nice old school illustrations, including maps and hand sketched images of locations and creatures from the book.

The adventure and travel themes of the story make it easily adaptable to any journey.

Because The Hobbit itself is such a short book, having a small version like this means it can easily fit in the smallest backpacks or even in a cargo pocket.

And as a fun bonus, when you bring a physical book like this, you can mark up passages or even take notes on some of the blank pages at the end. Pretty cool thing to do while actually being in the actual locations described in the book. Well, not REALLY the ACTUAL locations I guess. But still…

What books are on your must-have list for travel?