What book are you reading?

[Mouzafphaerre]

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Both of us are using gay literally here, not as a pseudonym for homosexuals.

Tolkien denies all allegories and firmly states that he himself doesn't like allegories at all in the preface of the LotR. With or without allegories, it's still literature.

ADD:
About women, glad someone else mentions it. He uses female characters sparingly, making those few who happen to be come out rather sharply. Almost all female characters are special ones. One or two ordinary exceptions, like the one at the Gondor hospital appear but I'm sure Tolkien wrote all his stuff in much more a lighthearted manner than we nerds read them, and the scarce and special women appearance came out naturally of his style and not of a strategic foreplanning.
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