what books to read?
 

aiya atani,
i have read the hobbit, lotr, silmarillion and am reading the histories of middle earth. what shall i read next? please make a list

This is just me, but I really enjoy much of the stuff in Unfinished Tales.

H.C.

Here's the Book List on the main site.

I'm reading the Unfinished Tales at the moment, having just finished the Silmarillion, and would strongly recommend it. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I will take it one step further from The Saucepan Man's recommendation of reading UT by saying it is an essential, even border line fundamentaly part of the process. I would stop reading HOME and focus on UT.

If you want to read HoME with the Silmarillion or U.T then read volumes 10-12.

Recommended reading order:

The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, The Letters of JRR Tolkien, HoME 1, 2, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 3, and 6-9.

[ February 28, 2003: Message edited by: Legolas ]

I would also recommend reading "Tree and Leaf" which contains Tolkiens famous essay "On Fairy-stories" and "Leaf by Niggle" .
Tolkien wrote this when he was in the beginning of composing LotR, and it is very interesting and touching.

I just bought the letters of J.R.R. Tolkien... you might wanna read them as well.

I have never seen JRRT's letters in any of the book-shops that I have been to (including, recently, Foyles and the other mega-book stores on Charing Cross Road), so I was planning on delving into some of the HoME after the Unfinished Tales. I was just interested to know, Legolas, why you recommend reading the letters first?