[Mithalwen]

That may be true but I bought the first four as they emerged and found them very hard work and that combined with financial and other pressures at the time ( I had started University) more or less put the kybosh on Tolkien for me for a decade or so. When they reprinted them, I had got back into Tolkien and decided I wanted to complete my set regardless (for similar reasons I bought "The Road goes ever on" despite my piano playing not being up to snuff ..) and the "History of the Lord of the Rings" volumes are so much more readable.

I do resolve to read the 12 systematically rather than "dipping" but I still think it is perfectly acceptable to head for what interests you - and it is better to read some out of synch than be put off the whole. We all have our thresh-holds of interest and the early volumes of HoME were possibly mine. We will see when I attempt them again. But I would have been sorry to miss out on some of the gems in the later volumes because of that...

Also, these are not the kind of books that are discounted at the supermarket and I had to order mine unseen ( they are rarely "on the shelf" - even good bookshops may have half a dozen editions of the Rings but have nothing more obscure than UT). It can be a lot of money to spend on a book that doesn't interest you.