The hobbits have it: topping the chart of what Guardian readers declare the 100 greatest novels published in English is a work of literature that didn’t even feature when authors, critics and academics made their selection. JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings is, strictly speaking, a trilogy, although that was by no means fixed during the work’s bumpy journey towards publication in 1954, as author and publisher wrangled over how best to present it.