Even the music group LED ZEPPELIN made reference to LotR in one of their songs... "and Gollum, the evil one, crept up and slipped away with her..."
When I was in college, I had a beautiful poster, depicting a sketch of Gandalf and Gollum on my wall. I went to a military school, so every morning, I had to take the poster down for morning inspection, and then I hung it back up for the rest of the day, particularly when I was doing homework.
I wish I could say I was obsessed, but you guys know way more about the works of J.R.R. than I do!
All I can say is, when my cousin was 8, he read the Hobbit, and shamed me into doing so (I was 12). Now, I'm 35, and have never read the Silmarillion, though I've read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings a few times now.
Am I obsessed? Well, I always thought it was one of the greatest stories ever told, and now that the movies are out, I think it's some of the greatest movie making ever done!
How do you properly honor greatness? Something so original, and so perfectly concieved that there can be no imitation, to me that's greatness. Tolkien certainly achieved that. As did J.K. Rowling with the H.P. series!
Some people say there is no comparison, but that's kind of the point isn't it? These stories are incomparable.
That is so cool. My greatest dream is to be a student of Hogwarts, in Middle Earth. If wishes were horses....sigh.