Which is the best order to read them? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

dancing spawn of ungoliant · 09-25-2003, 03:37 AM

Hi, Theoden, welcome and enjoy being dead!
I assume that by 'other books' you mean the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and the Hobbit.
The Hobbit is kind of an independent proloque to LotR but it's not really necessary to start with it. I read LotR before the Hobbit and I didn't have problems with that. If you are going to read those books twice it's interesting to notice totally new things and links between them.

The Sil is more historical than novel-like book of M-E. So is UT which just expands the stories told in the Sil, Hobbit and LotR.

This would be one possible order to read the books: 1)Hobbit 2)LotR 3)Silmarillion 4)Unfinished Tales
But that's only one alternative. Do as you like. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

09-25-2003, 03:37 AM	#2
dancing spawn of ungoliant Mischievous Candle Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: So near to Russia, so far from Japan, quite a long way from Cairo, lots of miles from Vietnam. Posts: 1,234	Hi, Theoden, welcome and enjoy being dead! I assume that by 'other books' you mean the Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales and the Hobbit. The Hobbit is kind of an independent proloque to LotR but it's not really necessary to start with it. I read LotR before the Hobbit and I didn't have problems with that. If you are going to read those books twice it's interesting to notice totally new things and links between them. The Sil is more historical than novel-like book of M-E. So is UT which just expands the stories told in the Sil, Hobbit and LotR. This would be one possible order to read the books: 1)Hobbit 2)LotR 3)Silmarillion 4)Unfinished Tales But that's only one alternative. Do as you like. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] __________________ Fenris Wolf