I actually read the Lord of the Rings first, and have yet to finish the Hobbit. Like Like. I do want to read some of the other books too. I started rereading LotR this year but only made it through the first two, so I may also have to read RotK in the next two months!
I would add Unfinished Tales to this list. I love so many of the stories in them, unfinished though they are, especially Aldarion and Erendis, and all five stories of the Third Age. You could even read it before reading The Silmarillion. Some of the content overlaps with other books, though. The History of Middle-earth can be interesting if you want to know more about a particular subject, story, or character.
I read Unfinished Tales before the Silmarillion and it was just epic. The book captured my imagination. You are commenting using your WordPress.
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Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Create a free website or blog at WordPress. A Tolkien Reading Order The question of Tolkienian reading order has popped up in a couple of places recently. My opinion, as far as the Middle-earth texts go: The Hobbit.
And, pragmatically, The Hobbit is short. The Lord of the Rings. The Silmarillion. Note that in contrast to most of the later stuff in this list, it is a coherent narrative within the covers of one book. Unfinished Tales. For Second and Third Age material, Unfinished Tales is pretty neat though — including some great world-building essays and background material. Whereas Unfinished Tales is broad, this one is narrow, and probably less user-friendly, in that a fair amount of this volume is verse specifically heroic rhyming couplets.
The Fall of Gondolin. I guess most people would not add this book into this list, since most of these tales do play outside the realm of Middle-earth, but I believe this collection of tales just deserves the same respect as J. Tolkien wrote! And here they are all together in one volume. Roverandom and the four other tales are written with the same skill, quality and hallmarks that made tolkien's The Hobbit a classic.
In the past they were largely overlooked because of their short lengths, but once you read them will reaffirm tolkien's place as a master storyteller for readers young and old. The edition of Tales from the Perilous Realm: Roverandom and Other Classic Faery Stories was released as a hardback edition and includes a lovely dust jacket painting by Alan Lee, together with a number of pencil drawings that illustrate each of the five works in the collection.
It also includes a special introduction written by the world-renowned Tolkien scholar and writer, Tom Shippey.
This is the edition I would advise to buy, or the signed deluxe edition. Here you can see some sample pages from this edition of Tales from the Perilous Realm by J.
Tolkien [ pdf ], guess that tells enough why I like it! The Children of Hurin by J. Tolkien worked on throughout his life, though he never realised his ambition to see it published in his lifetime. Some of the text will be familiar from extracts and references within the other Tolkien books you already read, but here the entire story has been presented in its complete form. The completed puzzle, in a sense.
Still, while I believe the version in Unfinished Tales is a lot stronger, it is very nice to read one of the 'Great Tales' in full. I hope other books like these will be published in the near future! The History of Middle-earth by J.
Tolkien Still looking for more Tolkien? Although J. Tolkien is well known for The Hobbit , The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion , the material which laid the groundwork for what must be the most fully realised sub-creation ever to spring from a single imagination was begun many years before the publication of The Hobbit , and indeed Tolkien continued to work upon its completion. The History of Middle-earth is one of the largest works of 'literary archeology', and was marvously undertaken by J.
R tolkien's son Christopher Tolkien. During the s and s, Christopher Tolkien edited the vast collection of manuscripts together with maps and illustrations and published most of his father's Middle-earth writings as the volume History of Middle-earth series. In addition to the source material and earlier drafts of several portions of The Lord of the Rings , these books greatly expand on the original material published in The Silmarillion , and in many cases diverge from it. Part of the reason for this is that Christopher Tolkien heavily edited The Silmarillion to ready it for publication, in places incorrectly because he was unaware of the existence of much material which had come to light only long after publication.
The first five volumes talk about the early history of The Silmarillion , composed from the manuscripts from till The next 4 volumes concentrate on the The Lord of the Rings , its creation, including early drafts and alternate versions of events, maps, illustrations and explanations not found in the book.
The last three volumes tell the later history of The Silmarillion , written after Tolkien had completed The Lord of the Rings and in these works the historical structure of the Ages that link The Lord of the Rings with The Silmarillion actually emerges. The History of Middle-earth is very long and several parts are hard to read, but inside are some true gems. Some of the alternative versions or completely new tales that can be found here are of very high quality and only for this reason it is nice to read it.
I guess if you really are into Tolkien and want more My personal favorite is volume 10 of the series, but there are many fabulous parts that I like re-reading now an then.
While I also have to admit that some parts are just hard labour to read and some chapters did not capture my complete attention, overall I believe that one day a lot of people will realize what a massive amount of material was brought together in these twelve volumes.
I would even go so far that there will probably be a day that the bigger literature society will be thankfull and finally show the respect for the incredible work done by Christopher Tolkien. While most prefer to read The History of Middle-earth in the Deluxe version , because it is handy to carry around, I prefer either to read them in paperback or the original 1st editions.
My all time favorite set however is the three volume set, once released in a box, now available in three handy volumes. Enjoyed this post? Click to get future articles delivered by email or get the RSS feed. Tolkien a writer of note Friday 17 July - Why tolkien's books are so popular Among the Students Thursday 16 July - The world first publication of a previously unknown work by J.
Books by J. Tolkien - Tolkien reading order Here I will however put down my personal preferred reading order, which is not based on any logic; except maybe from my own taste. It starts out with the easier books and works up to the more difficult ones.
I'll include some tips on how to tackle these and will link to some nice editions to read in as well. Hope this somehow answers the question on how to read tolkien's books and hope you enjoy the reading!
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