A good literarture don't must be original.
You're right, it doesn't. But it at the very least needs to offer new insight into older themes. And Tolkien was fairly original in many ways. However, just as you don't have to be original to be good, original work doesn't guarantee good work. That being said, as I've said several times, I enjoyed Tolkien's books, but there's a very large gap between "good enough" and "great."
Please don't claim that the characters of LoTR are stereotypical and two dimensional
Actually, I think I was calling the characters static and one-dimensional.
for ('tis not matter what you think) in this matter you "damn wrong";).
Yeah. I guess you'd be the expert there.
please never accuse me in a lack of taste...
All right. I apologize for that lack of taste crack. It was unnecessarily smarmy. I think what I meant by that was not that you lack taste, but that perhaps your literary palate could use a little refinement.
I just think LoTR is a great book, not the greatest in the world, but great.
I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.
P.P.S. If you still disagree with me, please tell me what in your opinion a great book.
Ultimately it's all a matter of opinion. But since you asked, a great book would be "Don Quixote," or "Catch-22," or "Crime and Punishment." There are too many to list. But I would recommend you start with the classics: Dostoevsky, Eliot, Fitzgerald, Goethe, Melville, Moliere, Shaw, Faulkner, and see where they lead you.
-Phil.
