I have to place my stake in the same camp as Celuien and Fea on this one. (Exellent post, Fea, by the way; I'd rep you for it but apparently I can't...)
I love both the Hobbit and the Silmarillion. Many of the most fascinating characters (to me) come from the Sil (Feanor, Turin, Maedhros, Fingolfin...), but at its heart the Sil is not so much a story about characters but the epic story of an age. It does not strike the same chords with me as LotR does. It isn't quite as personal. It takes certain aspects of LotR and expands those but neglects the rest.
TH is a delightful book. It makes you laugh, maybe makes you cry, but it lacks the grand scale and epic quality of LotR and the Sil.
But LotR takes all those elements and throws them into one. It's epic and historical but still story-like, humorous and light-hearted in parts, dark and serious in others, and still poignantly moving. And even though I love the characters in the Sil and TH, it's with the characters in LotR that I identify most. I see many aspects of myself in Frodo, admire Sam, love and sympathize with Merry and Pippin, and Aragorn is certainly a favorite. And as the story grows, it doesn't drag on or get out of proportion, but does just that: grows into something large and magnificent and beautiful but still with its humble roots in the Shire. It's a book that you can repeatedly open up and read favorite passages and they never seem to get old. As far as qualities I look for in a book, LotR is about as close to there as I get.
This caught my eye:
Quote:
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your self-sacrificing (um... everyone, pretty much)
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Cross-posting with Bb.