What can I say about a book whose literary mastery makes my review a puny attempt? If you haven’t read it you’ve probably watched Peter Jackson’s outstanding rendition of this English feat. If not even that, hopefully you’re not of those whose saturation with Twitter, Facebook, movies, and internet leaves little time—especially interest—for reading books. And I trust you don’t hail from the club of those who represent one lady who considers the movie version of this story demonic.

A fuzzy-toed Hobbit, Frodo, sets off to destroy Sauron’s ring, with Samwise as his pudgy but stout companion. Aragorn, the future king and current ranger, Legolas, the hawk-visioned elf with a step lighter than the wind, and Gimli, the dwarf with rock-power strength become the guardians of Frodo the ringbearer along with Samwise, Gandalf the grey-haired wizard, and Merry and Pippin, fellow eaves-dropping hobbits.

Most amazing to me is not Tolkien’s writing. It’s very typical of of early 20th century writers—verbose and painfully descriptive in parts. Indeed, many fiction writers of today outrun Tolkien in brevity, action, and clarity. It’d be a dreary search finding a publisher today who’d take a risk on a writer with Tolkien’s style but without his fame. Yet few stories can compete with the genius of this one, and even fewer reach the character depth Tolkien produces.

What makes a classic out of the work of a man considered by many to be the father of modern fantasy, the pioneer of English myth, a professor at Oxford, and a man who influenced C. S. Lewis as heavily as C. S. Lewis influenced him? His characters connect with life as we experience it. Good and evil, confusion and liberation, magic and and dark forces...his writing is timeless. Many works knocking at the bestseller’s list today will be potboilers tomorrow, in garage sales next year. But not Tolkien. C. S. Lewis’ The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe took off in popularity many times faster than Tolkien’s, but today Tolkien is read much more widely. I don’t imply that Lewis penned potboilers. His works are outstanding. But when it comes to fiction, Tolkien holds the scepter, for his work expresses the timeless nature of human experience, elements that no technology can never outdate. He literally created a whole new world.

I now understand why Tolkien’s hobbit characters love pipe smoke and beer. Tolkien and Lewis enjoyed both for 23 years on Tuesday mornings at a pub they frequented with four other male literature lovers to discuss their writings. They called their club The Inklings. I read this book on vacation; couldn’t stop reading until I was nodding off to sleep at 2 a.m. I took a trip to the library to get the next volume, The Two Towers, and found it checked out, so I picked up Tolkien’s The Book of Lost Tales, Volume 1. That’s Tolkien on another level. More on that later...

J. R. R. Tolkien. The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of the Lord of the Rings. Boston: Houghton Mufflin, 1982. 398 pp.