"She also took the spoons."

Something I have been discovering more and more as I dig into Tolkien's works is his keen sense of humor.  I suppose that the reason I missed so many of his quips the first time I read The Lord of the Rings was due to my being so young when I read it.  Now, as I am older, I feel as though I catch more of the jokes and can (sometimes quite literally) laugh at the humor.  I have also experienced this same discovery rereading other works such as C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia.  Books like these possess a new meaning when read outside of childhood, and the clever techniques utilized by the author are much more apparent.

One particular passage that I believe exemplifies Tolkien's usage of humor is found in the list of Bilbo's gifts to other hobbits in the Shire.  "For Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, as a present; on a case of silver spoons.  Bilbo believed that she had acquired a good many of his spoons, while he was away on his former journey.  Lobelia knew that quite well.  When she arrived later in the day, she took the point at once, but she also took the spoons."

That last line is brilliant humor.  It is well-crafted, witty, and memorable, and it is moments like these throughout the book that make the story shine.  It is almost as if for one split-second, the reader escapes the narrative of the story learning more about the author than about his characters.  For me, I love these little moments in which one almost hears the voice of the author himself in the middle of a developing story.  While this particular example is difficult to miss, there are other moments throughout the story in which it seems as though Tolkien includes a humorous moment or line of dialogue so as to temporarily distract the reader from the gravitas of the central plot.  Tolkien's humor is yet another example of his mastery of storytelling and an often subtle feature that makes his works so enjoyable to read.