Should I read in this order?

Should I read in this order The Hobbit, Fellowship Of the Ring, TT, ROTK, The Silmarillion?

BTW, is The Silmarillion a book where I should read from front to back so from cover to cover?

Yeah thats the order I would recommend.
And yes the Silmarillion does need to be read from cover to cover.

The only Tolkien book Id say you can really skip through and read chapters in any order you please is Unfinished Tales.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Yeah thats the order I would recommend.
And yes the Silmarillion does need to be read from cover to cover.

The only Tolkien book Id say you can really skip through and read chapters in any order you please is Unfinished Tales.

Thank you very much! I never read or seen the book of Unfinished Tales before. The same with Silmarillion. Unfinished Tales is not a book to read from cover to cover? I thought it would be made that way.

Well with UT each chapter tends to be on a seperate subject.
So you could read the chapter on Galadriel before the one on the movements of the Black Riders. or vice versa, as neither really effects the other- its not a single story, its a collection of bits and pieces, and if memory serves the chapters are only ordered chronologically not for any narrative purpose.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Well with UT each chapter tends to be on a seperate subject.
So you could read the chapter on Galadriel before the one on the movements of the Black Riders. or vice versa, as neither really effects the other- its not a single story, its a collection of bits and pieces, and if memory serves the chapters are only ordered chronologically not for any narrative purpose.

Thank you! And what LOTR book is the shortest and the longest?

Does length of book matter if youre reading them in order?

I think with LOTRs you gotta read them in order, start with Fellowship, then TT, then ROTK ! It was meant to be ONE book anyhow until "Unwin" decided to cut it into three  

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Does length of book matter if youre reading them in order?

No and it does not matter what the length is in any order not just in order so it doesn't matter at all. I was just asking because I'm curious.

azriel wrote:I think with LOTRs you gotta read them in order, start with Fellowship, then TT, then ROTK ! It was meant to be ONE book anyhow until "Unwin" decided to cut it into three  

Did they ever once sold it as one big book? Or was it always sold as of a split of 3 books?

If you mean was it in one WHOLE book & not 3 separate individual books ? then yes, Ive several LOTRs books & they are written as a whole but, there are sections IN the book that say,,,,"Fellowship of the ring" & then "book one",,,"book 2", Then "The two towers",,,"book 3",,,"Book 4" & finally, "ROTK",,, "Book 5",,"Book 6". Then Appendices, Indexes.  

it was published in volumes originally

CC12 35 wrote:it was published in volumes originally

Do you mean volumes as in the 3 separate books like Fellowship, TT, ROTK?

Yeah paper shortage after the war, was too expensive to publish it as one huge book.

azriel wrote:If you mean was it in one WHOLE book & not 3 separate individual books ? then yes, Ive several LOTRs books & they are written as a whole but, there are sections IN the book that say,,,,"Fellowship of the ring" & then "book one",,,"book 2", Then "The two towers",,,"book 3",,,"Book 4" & finally, "ROTK",,, "Book 5",,"Book 6". Then Appendices, Indexes.  

Where could I find such a book to buy?

Not sure you easily can, and you probably don't want to carry such a monstrous tome around with you anyway.  You can buy nice box sets where all the books fit in a nice case, usually just LoTR but some include the Hobbit. Pull them out as you read them.

Don't purchase the Silmarillion unless you find you can't get enough of the appendices in LoTR.  Unfinished tales is like an enhanced set of appendices to both LoTR and the Silmarillion.  Don't confuse it with the Book of Lost Tales, which is really earlier drafts of the books.

Many people have a hard time with the Silmarillion, which why I say don't purchase it until you find you are an addict.

halfwise wrote:Not sure you easily can, and you probably don't want to carry such a monstrous tome around with you anyway.  You can buy nice box sets where all the books fit in a nice case, usually just LoTR but some include the Hobbit.  Pull them out as you read them.

Don't purchase the Silmarillion unless you find you can't get enough of the appendices in LoTR.  Unfinished tales is like an enhanced set of appendices to both LoTR and the Silmarillion.  Don't confuse it with the Book of Lost Tales, which is really earlier drafts of the books.

Many people have a hard time with the Silmarillion, which why I say don't purchase it until you find you are an addict.

Hey halfwise: a good box set like this one? http://www.ebay.com/itm/251322091067?redirect=mobile or would you recommend buying something better?

I can recommend this version of the Hobbit, and the similar illustrated editions (also by Alan Lee) of LotR, but I can't find them on Amazon. My sister has them, and they're beautiful books.

hey p...Figg was lookin 4 u

CC12 35 wrote:hey p...Figg was lookin 4 u

Why was Figg looking for me?

dunno...something 2 do wiv rasberries or sumeting

How about this one?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0395974682?ie=UTF8&force-full-site=1&ref_=aw_bottom_links

And click on see all buying options and then order the new copy going for $20.00?

It really doesn't matter which set you buy, get what looks good to you. It might be nice to have one that has decent illustrations, but I've never had one like that. Likely cost a bit extra.

halfwise wrote:It really doesn't matter which set you buy, get what looks good to you.  It might be nice to have one that has decent illustrations, but I've never had one like that.  Likely cost a bit extra.

I like the one above cuz it's made as the whole book as it was meant to be.

Was the one above in my link has all 3 books in one volume? It looks that way.

Yeah that's the single volume edition.
Got to be careful with them- even with the hardback there is a risk of easy damage to the books spine and eventually pages falling out.
At the very least expect the spine of the paperback to get pretty creased, especially if you reread them many times.

The single editions Id say are better for that reason, and they are more portable and more comfortable to read lying on your back!

yeah, whatever set u buy, it's basically the same text in them, it just comes down to price and if you care about that stuff, the cover art.