Not that I'm a geek or anything...

...but here's a sentence from the book that I'm reading for fun: "A Tolkein Compass," edited by Jared Lobdell.
"We may quite properly ask, How does this move the Ring on its journey from Hobbiton to Mordor?, a question that implies disapproval of retrograde motions and of digressive adventures unless they have demonstrable utility for the larger movement of the tale, and receive a satisfactory explanation."