See,
The Lord of the Rings never really did anything for me, even if Tolkien and Lewis were, as one of my friends so eloquently put it, "BFF, man." The over-attention to detail, in my opinion, just bogs the story down.
Narnia creates just as vivid a world, for me, at least, in each 200-page book, than Tolkien did in chapter upon chapter upon chapter of forest.
I'm with you on the time thing, though. There's quite a lot that I'd like to read, and I know that I should keep writing, too. Ah, well. Editing will do that, I guess.
"'But do you really mean, sir,' said Peter, 'that there could be other worlds --all over the place, just round the corner-- like that?'
'Nothing is more probable,' said the Professor..."
-The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe