What Order?

[Firawyn]

Okay, I have a question for those of you who are much older than me and have read and reread all of Tolkien's Middle Earth works:

If you were to start from scratch, pretending that you had never read any stories of Middle Earth before, where would you begin, and in what order would you go from there?

It's been over a year since I read Lord of the Rings. I've read the Unfinished Tales once, and bits and pieces of the Sil. I want to bite the bullet and read all of it, because I can, and I'm random like that, but I hardly know where to begin. Since the Sil is the history, should I begin there, or will the Sil be easier to read after I've just read LOTR and the Hobbit?

I own the following:
Lord of the Rings
The Silmarillion
Unfinished Tales
Book of Lost Tales 1
Book of Lost Tales 2

Are there more I need to get, and in what order should I/would you read them?

Many thanks!
Fir-

[YayGollum]

Well, if I'm pretending that I've never read any of these things before, I don't allow the knowledge of what the coolest way to read them to enter my brain, right? I'd probably just start reading the one that was closest to my hand, unless I found that it was the middle of that The Lord Of The Rings story, for an instance. Anyways, I would go with ---> The Silmarillion, The Book Of Lost Tales One, The Book Of Lost Tales Two, The Hobbit, The Lord Of The Rings, then Unfinished Tales, since it has stuff from all of those other bookses. The Silmarillion is not so disjointed that it's hard to read, in my opinion. I had all kinds of fun. But then, I did enjoy the Books Of Lost Tales a bit more. You can't forget The Hobbit and must read it before The Lord Of The Rings, else you miss some cool stuff with Gollum. Unfinished Tales = not so necessary, just a few little tidbits.

[Firawyn]

Yay! I havn't seen you in eons! Nice to see one of my favorite faces poking around.

Well, for once what you've recomended makes perfect sence....I believe I shall do it that way. Any other random opinions before I begin?:cool:

Fir-

[Thorin]

In addition to The Hobbit and LOTR, If you truly want to delve into Middle Earth, this is what I would read first:

The Silmarillion
Unfinished Tales
Morgoth's Ring
War of the Jewels

I have read about two or three other ones from History of Middle Earth but they didn't stand out as much as the above ones. After that, I would say read volumes 6-9 (the above mentioned are XI and XII) I think.

BOLT I and II is awful hard reading at first. However, I highly recommend youread the 'Fall of Gondolin' in BOLT II I believe. It was an earlier version of it that was revised for Silmarillion but it BLOWS the Sil version out of the water. It was probably one of the most exciting Tolkien battles I've ever read!

[Noldor_returned]

My order generally follows:

The Silmarillion
Unfinished Tales
The Hobbit
LOTRI place the Silmarillion first because I know LOTR well enough, and if my mind isn't filled up with its wonderousness I am more likely to get into Sil. UT often refers to Sil and LOTR, so if I have just finished Sil my mind is fresher. Also, Sil provides an introduction of the Narn i hin Hurin, so due to the length of the tale I find it's easier to refresh myself on the shorter version, then sift through the complete.

Do you get what I mean?

[Firawyn]

So basically, I have to start with the Sil.:eek:

[HLGStrider]

When I started reading I did the obvious Hobbit, Lord of the Rings thing and then didn't know where to turn so I went to the library and found that all they had in the Tolkien section other than the above mentioned was Robert Foster's Tolkien companion. I read this and in doing so found references to books I hadn't seen at the library . . . but as a twelve-year-old trying to read through the Silmarillion, I would've been lost without the Tolkien Companion.

Since you aren't going to have a hard time with the language, you probably don't need the companions, but I think it is fun to add one in somewhere. You can get summarized stories, it helps you put together people who have multiple names, and if you can't find all the books right away, it helps you feel in the gaps. It was several years before I managed to get my hands on a copy of the Unfinished Tales and I still haven't read much of the History of Middle Earth simply because I have never come across a library that has them. The Barnes and Noble I work at has a complete boxed set, but even with my employee discount, it would still be a set back.

[YayGollum]

No fair working at Barnes As Well As Noble. oh well.

I merely tossed the order that makes the most sense to myself for reading the bookses that this Firawyn person mentioned owning. If she had all of the bookses, I would have listed them sensibly, as well. Hmph. I still need to find a few of those The History Of Middle Earth things. Mayhaps when they come out with that new one, they'll make the others easier to find? I see no need for little companion bookses. Read the stories. Have fun. No need to remember every name of every character and place.

Also, yes, Yay for the much more interesting versions of stories in those Books Of Lost Tales!

Firawyn person ---> What do you mean, for once what I recommend makes perfect sense? I always make perfect sense.

[Hobbit-GalRosie]

The order I'd recommend for an actual newcomer would be:
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
The Silmarillion
Unfinished Tales
And then...well, I read HoMe in order of publication, and there's some merit in doing it that way, though starting at the end has merit too. Then you'd want to do XII, X, XI, VI-IX, and...V there would make enough sense, but it would also make sense after reading the first four in order.

And Thorin, the two volumes you mention are X and XI, XII is Peoples of Middle-Earth. Of course it also makes sense to read that one directly after the other ones covering the LotR era 'cause it covers the intended Epilogue and other such related matters.

Now, the thing of it is Fir, since you're not actually a newcomer, and having already read LotR don't so much need the gentle working up to the most complex and archaic of Tolkien's works, reading the Sil first wouldn't be too bad an idea. I think I'd still go with The Hobbit and LotR before it, but that's just me.

EDIT: I'd also like to point out that reading The Hobbit before LotR isn't really as necessary imho as some make it out to be. It and LotR are so different, there's no reason to do that one way or the other. The Hobbit's a fun little romp, and I love it, but it doesn't "prepare" you in any way for what's to come with LotR or anything like that. But this all largely irrelevent, since you've obviously already read both of those.

[Firawyn]

I see. I'm almost inclined to agree with you Rosie. Worming my way into the Sil by reading Hobbit and LOTR again first might now be a bad idea. :cool:

That definatly makes the whole dalk slightly less daunting.:eek:

[Barliman Butterbur]

If you were to start from scratch, pretending that you had never read any stories of Middle Earth before, where would you begin, and in what order would you go from there?

Hobbit
LOTR
Unfinished Tales
Sil
HoME

Or not...

And, let me compliment you: your spelling has improved vastly! What motivated such an important improvement? :)

Barley

[Ithrynluin]

Hobbit
LOTR
Unfinished Tales
Sil
HoME

I'd suggest switching the UT and the Sil, as the first part of Unfinished Tales contains stories from the First Age, i.e. The Silmarillion.

And, let me compliment you: your spelling has improved vastly! What motivated such an important improvement?

Perhaps good old Fir upgraded to Mozilla Firefox version 2.0 which has an inbuilt spelling checker? :p But seriously, I second Barley's compliments and will go on to say that it's not only your spelling that has matured but also your attitude. :)

[Firawyn]

In reference to my spelling: three years of Latin and three years of intence english study have finally paid off. Thank you guys!

In reference to my attitude...well let's just say that the last month especially has been a huge growing expierience. I'm no longer living under my parents' roof. I'm learning true responsibility and how to handle the consequenses of my choices. And of course, age does have some part to play. :)

And last but not least, in reference to the topic at hand, so now I should start with the Hobbit? I dare say you guys need to make up your minds! lol

Will it be the Hobbit or the Sil? :D

[chrysophalax]

I would recommend starting with the Silmarillion, just because it's the start of Tolkien's universe. Starting at the beginning is always best in my opinion.

Heh, this shows my age, because I myself read the Hobbit, then LotR, just because the others hadn't been published yet!;) Once they started coming out, I pounced! Personally, I think Yay's order is the one I whould choose as the most logical progression timeline-wise.

[YayGollum]

Yes, my order is easily the best. Do not be swayed by these crazy out of proper order typeses. Sure, I would recommend reading the order ---> The Hobbit, The Lord Of The Rings, The Silmarillion, The Books Of Lost Tales, then Unfinished Tales to a dude who had never read any of them, which I guess your original question was asking for, but you still wrote that you have read a bit of them and would not be overly daunted by reading The Silmarillion first. Argh, yo. Why so many daunted by reading The Silmarillion first? :confused:

[Thorin]

I agree Yay. The Silmarillion has nothing on the HOME series for difficult reading. At least Sil is an interesting narrative as opposed to myriads of 'changes' to the etymology of an Elvish word and all its conjugates in this edition which changed after that edition and foot note after foot note on the most mundane things like BOLT 1 for example.

Alot of HOME are Christopher Tolkiens ramblings on what changed in his father's scripts in any given instance.

Quite hard reading only interrupted by great stories like Turin and the Fall of Gondolin. Sil is one sweeping narrative that tells the story over thousands of years.

[Shireman D]

Hobbit, then LOTR, Silmarillion, Lost Tales - and don't touch any of HOME until you have read the finished product books.

HOME is for odsessives and pedants ... must be why I like it so much.

[The Tall Hobbit]

I think that it is best for a new reader to read the Middle-Earth books in the order in which they were originally published:

The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
The Silmarillion
Unfinished Tales
The History of Middle Earth
Bilbo's Last Song

[Valandil]

You know, when Firawyn started this thread, I had recently begun a re-read of "The Silmarillion". After I finished the "Quenta Silmarillion" - instead of going on to the "Akallabeth" - I picked up "Unfinished Tales" to start re-reading the First Age segments. So - I think I'll continue going on, somewhat chronologically - First Age stories, then Second Age, etc - as long as my steam holds up.

I don't have much in the way of HOME books though - just Volumes 10 and 12. So maybe I'll re-read "Athrabeth" while I'm in my other First Age readings. :)

[Luke Sineath]

I say, read LotR or Hobbit first, but not because Sil. is 'difficult.' I think the thing is this: Hobbit and LotR reference all sorts of back history, and the stories hint at legends of the past and so on...such that, reading the Silmarillion is a way of delving deepeer into the world and learning more.

I think the works should be read cyclically, :LOTR --> Hobbit --> Sil. --> Hobbit --> LOTR.

[Thorin]

I think the works should be read cyclically, :LOTR --> Hobbit --> Sil. --> Hobbit --> LOTR.

Interesting methiod that has merits, Luke. Welcome to the forum, BTW. I haven't been around for a couple of years but I remember the Elder days well. How much fun we had when the movies first came out!]

Using your same format, I would probably do it like this:

LotR-Hobbit-Sil-Unfinished Tales-Hobbit-LoTR

[Noldor_returned]

My biggest problem with that is reading the Hobbit twice. Sure, it's worth reading, but it just isn't long enough to bother with. Assuming you keep reading and don't have a big long break, it should still be fresh in your mind. Maybe skim it.