Lord of the Views; The Gallery, Wk 20

It's Week 20 of Tara's Gallery, and this time she's set us the challenge of coming up with a photograph to illustrate a favourite title, whether it's a novel, a fairy tale or a children's book.

My favourite book is, I'm afraid, a marmite book. You either love it or hate it. I love it, but am sympathetic to those who don't; it's long, takes a while to really get going, and sits firmly in the category called 'fantasy'. Those who've never read usually roll their eyes and mutter 'nerd' under their breaths when I admit to the fact that I re-read this title every few years just for the fun of it.

As for those who have read it, and didn't enjoy it, I have to say I can understand that too; it's an epic, and even worse, an epic with very few women in it. Not something I would willingly pick up for the first time nowadays, it's true. But this book is very much a product of it's time (it was written in the 1930's), and is reflective of the author's concern about what was happening on the world stage at that stage of history. The winds of change echo throughout it, even after the happy ending.

What is also apparent throughout, however, is JRR Tolkien's love of the English countryside. (Guessed what it is yet?). Perhaps I'm more sensitive to that right now, living in Moscow, but I do believe that it has a special kind of beauty. And yes, when Peter Jackson made his recent Lord of the Rings trilogy, he chose New Zealand as the backdrop, and it worked brilliantly, but for me there are still places in England where you can see The Shire in glorious technicolour.

This is one of them.

And yes, it's a view across the Somerset levels to Glastonbury Tor, not really a scene from 'The Lord of the Rings', but - as long as you can ignore the pesky telephone wire - you have to admit, it does sort of work in this context...