: I often wish I could have read THE SILMARILLION first. Certain characters would have had more meaning for me when I got to THE LORD OF THE RINGS than they did the first time I read the book.

I started readinf Tolkien purely by chance. I picked up THE LORD OF THE RINGS and just started reading. It was a bit slow going at first, partly because I had no preconceptios about any of it at all, so I didn't know what to expect or if anything good or interesting would happen.

Well anyway, as I've told countless people before, it took me a month to get through the first book. For the second, The Two Towers, it took me 2 weeks (started getting more engrossed). And by the third one, The Return of the King, I ripped through it in less than 2 days, ignoring everything else in the world but that book.

I read the Hobbit after that, because frankly some of the stuff in LotR didn't make a whole lot of sense without understanding what went on in the first hobbit book. Then I read the Silmarillion.

I'm not saying it's the best order, but I certainly enjoyed myself. A friend of mine is entering the world of Tolkien right now (started Tuesday). She warned me that she hates slow beginnings, so I started her off on the Hobbit first. It's a quick little tale, and a good one, and I thought it would snare her and grip her. And she sems to be enjoying it. I didn't ant her to give up on Tolkien because of the slow start.

(I should explain that. Personally, I don't find the beginning of LotR slow anymore. For me, the whole structure of LotR is incredible and damn near perfect. It starts somewhat quietly, but there is a kind of unknown menace that throbs just beneath the surface. And at some points, the sheer terror of the hobbits' journey exhilerates me (I'm trying not to give anything away). But nevertheless, someone used to instant gratification (as I was when I first read it) might mistake it for lack of action or bad tempo. And that might turn some (though not all) off to Tolkien. Just FYI.)

But I guess if I were to do it over again, I would probably read them chronologically (Hobbit, LotR, Silm.). It's the simplest answer. But there's really no *right* answer. (Actually, as an experiment, it might be interesting to read the Silm first, as Michael notes, to see if all the references in LotR make more sense...)

Cheers, and happy reading.

Dave C-Q