Please excuse my absence. I had my hands full today with family obligations and was surprised to return and find I had unknowingly generated a small "tornado".
Your suggestion seems wise,
Esty, regarding a separate thread. My initial intent was not to start a full-scale discussion of HoMe, although I will be glad to contribute to such a thread in the Books forum. Rather it was a personal resolve to read through the two books in tandem, and, where something was directly pertinent to the wider discussion, to mention that briefly in the chapter thread-- perhaps just two or three sentences--in the same way that many others have quoted various sources. I am assuming this wouldn't be a problem.
Yes, on my own time, I do intend to look at certain things in depth, and one of these is the vexing question of how and when Tolkien's "Christian" revisions came about. But, if I found something interesting, I assumed that it would eventually go up on a separate thread in Books, either an old one or a new one.
Just one comment as to the importance of HoMe.... my interest in HoMe is not so much in looking at those ideas and motifs that were rejected, but rather to see exactly when the ideas, characters, names, etc. that did become part of the book first made their appearance. In this sense, I do think HoMe is more than simply a collection of rejected drafts. Each draft built on the one before. Through its pages, we can gain a better idea of how JRRT constructed his story, the process of writing and evolving ideas. But I do agree that such an in-depth discussion would be better off separate from the chapter-by-chapter thread.
I hope this clarifies things, at least in terms of what I was thinking.