Tolkien Compared to Contemporary Authors

[Galadriel]

Hmm...well, that's a hard question! I am more of a fantasy reader than anything else, but I would say the authors who affected me the most aside from Tolkien were Alice Walker and John Boyne. They canNOT compare to Tolkien, but they left a lasting influence on me, especially Alice Walker. I loved her "The Colour Purple", which you have probably heard of.
Oh, and how could I forget Khaled Hosseini? He is AMAZING. I would highly reccomend his "The Kite Runner" and "A Thousand Splendid Suns". Brilliant, just brilliant. I am dying for his new book, which I don't think is out yet
Yet sadly, none of these authors even come close to Tolkien, whose writing had a certain charm that is not present in most other books. I would not even say Harry Potter has the Tolkien charm, though it is well written.