The Lord of the Rings

A recent survey in the United Kingdom (UK) found that The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe was the eighth most re-read book among UK readers. The Narnia book was beaten by many noteworthy novels and series, including Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, and the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling, which took the number one spot.

There is magic in the last line of The Lord of the Rings. To recap: the stolidly courageous Sam Gamgee, having watched his best friend, Frodo Baggins, sail towards the Grey Havens and into a kind of death, is left to walk back to the Shire where he finds his wife and children waiting with the promise of a quiet life far from the slaughter of the War of the Ring. J. R. R. Tolkien finishes with the sentence: “‘Well, I’m back,’ he said”. It is a touchingly understated conclusion which returns the prose to the homely simplicity of the inaugural chapters after the archaic epic mode of The Return of the King.