The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

I just finished this book for the 4th or 5th time. I really can't say enough about it. In my opinion this is a masterpiece of fictional literature. J.R.R. Tolkien was a masterful author. His brilliance is manifest throughout the book as each character is portrayed in depth.  Each one feels like they are indeed their own person with their own personality and way of thinking, their own culture and humor and proverbs, and their own fine arts such as music and poetry.  It really is incredible.

The Lord of the Rings doesn’t feel like fiction.  There are, obviously mythical creatures and things of that nature, however, aside from that it feels like, instead of writing about something he was making up, Tolkien was writing about a place and events and people that occupy a portion of actual history somewhere.  From what I understand about Tolkien, that was actually part of his motivation.  He was bothered by the fact that England didn’t have its own mythology, but rather borrowed and adapted mythological accounts from its neighbors.  I’m not sure about the truth of that account, but nonetheless if there was a gap the work that went into Middle Earth certainly filled it.

I highly recommend this book.  There is a lot we can learn from Tolkien’s use of the English language and his wonderfully descriptive writing style.  I feel that the Lord of the Rings is a direct result of talent being governed by discipline to produce excellence.  What a book!