The Lord of the Rings

I hadn't read Tolkien's epic adventure since I was 14, and as a result kind of thought of it as a kids book.  So I was a bit surprised when Ursula Le Guin waxed poetic about the quality of the writing.  And it turns out that while the Hobbit perhaps falls slightly on the young adult side, the remainder of the trilogy is not children's fare at all -- I simply happened to read it when I was a child.  Of course it's a fantasy action adventure novel with wizards and magical swords and whatnot.   But the writing is superb and sophisticated.  Tolkien is quite simply a master storyteller.  Le Guin remarked particularly on the rhythm of his prose at the level of the sentence and passage.  And there is something very pleasing about the lilt of the language that almost cries out to be read aloud.  But I was more struck by how well he manages the pacing and rhythm of the story overall.  These days, we expect that anything one might call a page-turner is apt to be just one long car chase scene.  Indeed, the films condense the novels in precisely this way.  Tolkien, however, really lets the plot breathe.  There are plenty of action-adventure scenes, but they are interspersed with long periods where the reader gets to rest and reflect alongside the characters.  The tension builds and releases, ebbs and flows on a variety of scales.  Even within the build-up to a dramatic battle, there are brief interludes of respite that heighten the contrast of the blow when it is finally struck.  The result is something that holds our attention in a much deeper way than just remaining at the edge of our seat.