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Want to read LOTR books, what order?

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Originally posted by: Malak
You don't have any clue who Sauron is if you don't read the Silmarillion though. It just has too much information in it to be skipped.
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I'm guessing people who read the trilogy before the Silmarillion came out dealt with it somehow.
 
Originally posted by: Leros
Originally posted by: Malak
You don't have any clue who Sauron is if you don't read the Silmarillion though. It just has too much information in it to be skipped.
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I'm guessing people who read the trilogy before the Silmarillion came out dealt with it somehow.
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That doesn't mean it's not better that way now though. I own both the trilogy and silmarillion. It doesn't really matter if you even ever read the Silmarillion, but technically you could just as easily make it all one book, they are in chronological order.
 
Originally posted by: tk149
Don't read the Silmarillion first. It's not really a cohesive story (i.e. no real plot). It's more like the background history for LoTR, and reads like an encyclopedia.

The Hobbit is sort of written like a kid's book. LoTR is more serious and much darker, plus it has a lot more depth. You can skip the introduction about Hobbits, if you just want to jump into the plot.

Hobbit -> LoTR -> Silmarillion
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Exactly. Reads like an encyclopedia is an excellent way of describing it, and I personally think it's much more interesting after you have read the Hobbit and the Trilogy.
 
Assuming you haven't seen the movies and don't know the general plot then read the Hobbit>LOTR>Silmarillion. The Silmarillion contains spoilers for the other books and therefore should be read last.
 
By all means read the Hobbit first... it sets the scene for the LOTR seris & if you skip it, a lot of otherwise great parts of the book LOTR seris won't mean nearly as much.

Also in addition to making sure you don't buy any of the edited versions of the stories, make absolutely certain you get complete & unabridged versions too ... many of the collections & 3-in-1 combo books have pieces cut out. Buy complete stand-alone versions of each individual book only.


Edit: Read the Simarillion last ... not only will it make very little sense if you try to read it first, its best read in pieces as its not really intended to to tell any one cohesive story.
 
Originally posted by: Feldenak
Hobbit --> Fellowship of the Ring --> The Two Towers --> Return of the King --> Silmarillion
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Ditto this. Read Silmarillion last. You will definately appreciate it more and if you start with the Silm you may not bother with the rest of the books since you might not get past it.
 
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