[pyan]

I'd agree with you there, Overread...it can be read on so many levels. It's quite possible to read it as a straightforward adventure story, but if you want to dig, there are so many books on the subject it's almost silly.

And after spending over forty years reading SF/F, I've yet to read another book that made me want to dig so far as I have into Middle-earth, nor yet one that would stand up to the digging....