The Lord of the Rings is one of the books "everybody knows." Tolkien brought back the fantasy genre almost single-handedly. Some may not regard that as a Good Thing, since rather a lot of modern fantasy is little more than bad attempts to duplicate Tolkien's style. However, poor imitations should not be allowed to ruin our enjoyment of the original. The fact is that Tolkien stands up to repeated re-reading, and has delighted and entertained generations of readers.