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Reading Middle Earth Books In Order

F

frango9000

New Member
HI. IM NEW HERE I WANTED TO ASK YOU ONE QUESTION. I HACE TE SIMARILLION, THE HOBBIT, LORD OF THE RINGS 1,2 AND 3. I WANTED TO KNOW IF IS THERE ANY OTHER BOOK I WOULD NEED TO HAVE ALL THE BOOKS RELATED TO THIS ONES, AND IN WHAT ORDER DO YOU SUGEST ME TO READ THESE BOOKS (I MEAN THE HOBIT AND THE SIMARILLION BEFORE OR AFTER LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY
 
Hi, Frango, welcome to the boards. Don't be a stranger!

Anyway, there are loads of books related to 'The Lord of the Rings'. I think that, if you were to search the amazon.com-database for the name Tolkien , you'd find many, many books dealing with Middle-earth, and the history thereof.

As for order, I believe that, of the three books you have, 'The Silmarillion' comes first, then 'The Hobbit', and then 'The Lord of the Rings'.

Hope I've been of some help to you.

Cheers, Martin :D
 
Read the simarillion last, it's very tough going and may put you off the other ones. it is a prequel but reading LOTR first will make it easier.
 
Good point, Ashlea. Chonologically speaking, you should read 'The Silmarillion' first, but, as you said, in order to make things a whole lot easier on yourself, start with 'The Hobbit', then 'The Lord of the Rings', and then 'The Silmarillion'.

Mind you, the latter is nothing like the former two. While 'The Hobbit', and 'The Lord of the Rings' read like an adventure-story, 'The Silmarillion' reads more like a history book. It's names and dates where ever you look. I didn't enjoy it that much, actually. It was a bit of a letdown after the highly enjoyable 'The Hobbit', and the massive 'The Lord of the Rings'.

So when you look at it from that point of view, you could start with 'The Silmarillion'. That way you start with the least enjoyable one (in my humble opinion, of course), and you end with a bang.

as for other books on the Ring, Hobbits, Elves (or Elfs, whichever you prefer) and Middle-Earth, I can't help you with that, simply because I haven't read any other ones than the aforementioned three.

Cheers, Martin :D
 
Keep in mind, the Simarillion and various other stuff by Tolkien was not published until after his death. Tolkien did not consider them ready for publication, and his son just threw them all together, so I don't think the quality is there.
 
But you must admit it's a difficult read. It's definitely a book that arouses strong opinions, one way or the other.
 
I've only read Lord of the Rings and The hobbit . I didnt finish the Hobbit because it bored me to death.
But Lord of the Rings is brilliant, and I feel could easily be read on it's own.

rune
 
I read the Hobbit years ago, and can't really remember much about it about from the basic plot. I think we got the book free with the ZX Spectrum game The Hobbit! I then read the Lord of the Rings about two years before the first film came out, and absolutely loved it. I purposely didn't re-read it until I had seen the last film, but now I have started reading it for the second time and am just up to the Tom Bombadil bit (which I'm glad was not in the film as his constant singing of nonsense words really gets on my wick). When I've finished LOTR I'm going to read The Silmarillion, as I got so into Middle-Earth and all its history that I read all the appendices in my quest for information! :)
 
The Silmarillion is a necessity, if you desire to have passable knowledge of Tolkien's Middle earth, I would recommend these title (all btw considered Canon, which many other Tolkien related novels are not)

The Book of Lost Tales I
The Book of Lost Tales II
Unfinished Tales
The Lays of Belieriand
The War of the Jewels
The Shaping of Middle Earth
The Lost Road and Other Writings
The Treason of Isengard
The People of Middle Earth
Sauron Defeated
Morgoth's Ring
The War of the Ring
The Return of Shadow

also Tolkien's Letters by Humphrey Carpenter.

That will get you started.

fantasybookspot.com
 
The Silmarillion really isn't that difficult to read. It may confuse you at the beginning but, take my word for it, it's really worth reading. You just have to give the book a chance. I love the book maybe even more than LotR. I've read it many times and could read it over and over again, I think.

I started with LotR. Then I read The Silmarillion and finally The Hobbit. A bit strange order but I actually liked it that way. I think reading The Hobbit or LotR first is highly recommended. I suppose you must love the world of Tolkien before you can love The Silmarillion. And, after all, The Silmarillion is a bit hard to read.
 
The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

Last year, I bought my dad the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I always wanted to read them, but it seems I never found the time. I enjoyed the movies that just came out. My dad said it is a little different. Are these books worth reading?
 
Oh thanks. I read the first two pages of The Hobbit and I like it. It is alittle harder to understand, but I think it is worth reading!:)
 
1. Unfinished Tales. this is really a great book and you should read it AFTER the Silmarillion. it explains about wizards and a whole wack of other stuff.

2. The History of Middle-earth series. 12 books in all.

3. The Complete Tolkien Companion by J. E. Tyler. you want to know anything, its here.

i love all of tolkiens books and i hope you enjoy them! :D
 
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