Are the books after 1+2 better?

[HelplessModAddi]

A while ago I bought the first two books in the HoMe series, and I could not finish them. Probably because they told me outdated versions of things I already knew (I had read Silmarillion). Tell me, does it get better?

[Mormegil]

You were unfortunate to pick those 2 as the first you read. They are not the easiest books to read in the HoME series. They are good and some of the stories in them are excellent, but the style of writing is very difficult.

Yes, the other books are better. They are also much easier to read. I recommend number 12-'The Peoples of Middle Earth', It is probably the easiest one to understand and enjoy. After that you could try reading numbers 6,7,8 and 9. These are the books that deal with LOTR and are very enjoyable.

The thing about the HoME series is that you don't have to start from books 1 and 2 to get into it. You can start later on in the series and then go back to the books you have missed.

[ReadWryt]

I'm actually in the middle of "The book of Lost Tales Vol. 2" right now and I'm loving it. I am intregued by the idea that Tolkien originally intended to have the stories told verbally by "The Lore Fire", promoting the concept that this history of Middle-earth was an Oral Tradition and not something recorded in writing by the Elves, and I'm always as interested in what Tolkien DIDN'T want the characters to say or do as I am what he ended up wanting them to...but that's just me.

The story of Tinuviel and Beren is especially interesting as it is written in the 1919 manuscript. It's much less lofty and more ironic then the story of Lorien and Beren in the final version, and I laughed out loud when Beren told the king that he "held the Silmaril" yet in his hand but his hand was elsewhere...I'm SO glad the professor re-wrote THAT bit.

[Khamul]

I started with 1&2 and I actually loved them. BOLT 2 was absolutely amazing! The Fall of Gondolin has to be one of the favorite stories in all of the Tolkien books I have read.

[obloquy]

Volumes X, XI, and XII are possibly the most significant of the series. They put forth Tolkien's latest ideas and concepts. Volumes I through V are also essential to the serious Silmarillion reader, though the materials in the Books of Lost Tales are quite obsolete. That said, you'd be crazy to pass up The Fall of Gondolin.