what to buy
 

I was given LOTR's as a christmas present, now about to start the third part...ooooh...and its all getting soo nerve-wracking...i doubt by the end i will have any remaining nerves to wrack! [img]smilies/eek.gif[/img]

Any way, i also have the hobbit and the silmarillion (still to read) but what else would you recommend to read after these? and in which order? [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

I started on HoME, but that was heavy ... Someone here recommended - in another post - going through the books in this order:

1. The Hobbit
2. Lord of the Rings
3. Silmarillion
3. Unfinished Tales
4. History of Middle-Earth (but not neccesarily starting with books 1 & 2, as they are dry and heavy. That's probably what I did wrong. Now I'll just have to get my finger away from the keyboard and down to the library, so that it can take UT out of the shelves, open it and so on... [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] )

[ January 25, 2002: Message edited by: Carannillion ]

And remember that you can buy them right from the site Book Store!

If you really like LotR, try Smith of Wooten Major and Farmer Giles of Ham by Tolkien. These two short stories are not about Middle Earth, but they are good and are very quick reads.

Also The Tolkien Reader which has the Adventures of Tom Bombadil and some other good short stories.

Getting yourself a nice illustrated encyclopaedia of Tolkien may be a good plan, for referring back to when you get madly confused....

Not a bad idear! Unfortunatly most 'nice illustrated encyclopaedias' are written by David Day, and are both inaccurate and not extensive enough. I recomend 'The Complete Guide to Middle-earth' by Robert Foster which is the most detailed work so far. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]