The reason why Tolkien is so well-thought of and highly rated is that he is THE father of modern fantasy books. Without him it is doubtful that many of the greats that followed (Guy Gavriel Kay, Michael Moorcock, Terry Goodkind, Andre Norton, et. al.) would have gotten anywhere.
My love of Tolkien's works lies in the histories, languages, and sheer depth of what he created before he even wrote the Lord of the Rings - the Hobbit was a kiddie tale - the LOTR was for us adults, as well as the Silmarillion - now, if you really want something neat to listen to on the drive in to work, listen to Martin Shaw's reading the ENTIRE Silmarillion - 13 CDs long - it is great!