After critics and authors had their say with a top 100 list that was decidedly highbrow, Guardian readers decided to weigh in - and promptly threw the whole thing into a volcano. Thousands of votes poured in from Uruguay to the Isle of Skye, Albuquerque to Sydney, and the result is a clear message: move over, Middlemarch; the hobbits are here.
Topping the chart of what Guardian readers declare the 100 greatest novels published in English is JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings - a work that didn't even make the cut when authors, critics, and academics made their selection. Strictly speaking, it's a trilogy, though that was hardly fixed during the book's bumpy journey toward publication in 1954, as author and publisher wrestled over how best to present it. Composed over many years, written in English and in prose, it nonetheless draws heavily on other languages, storytelling traditions, and poetic forms - because why settle for one literary tradition when you can have several?
Andrea Clark in Courtland, Alabama, summed up the appeal: “It has profound meaning about the importance of life, sacrifice, the natural world, corruption of power, the evils of war, generosity of spirit - and a lot more. I don’t know of any novel that is reread so often by so many as this one. It connects with all sorts of people on a very fundamental level.” So basically, it's the one book everyone agrees on, which is probably more than can be said for the One Ring.