[Knight of Gondor]

Without trying to sound elite and proud (though how much more elite can you get than in the service of the White City?), The Silmarillion is not for everyone. I was really a beginner at it all (I don't think I'd even read The Hobbit yet!) when I received The Sil for Christmas. I started reading it, and though it was a tough challenge, I knew I would want to get through it, and be proud once I was done. I was right. Not only did I gradually enjoy some of the stories (despite getting a little lost in a sea of names!) but I found myself obtaining a massive new appreciation for exactly HOW much work Tolkien put in!

At the same time, my appetite was whetted for more, which I found in The Book of Lost Tales, 1 and 2. Both are really less complete forms of The Sil, so if you want the quintessential history, the Sil is the most complete, I've found.

If you simply can't, can't, can't get through it, it's really not that big a deal. No one will jeer you for being too much of a wimp (I don't think). And if you need to find out something about the history, you need only consult the brains that haunt this board!