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/lit/ - Literature

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21009396 No.21009396 [Reply] [Original]

I just saw all the movies and I wanted to read the books, in what order do I read them?

>> No.21009400

>>21009396
The Hobbit > Lord of the Rings

>> No.21009412

>>21009396
The Hobbit then LOTR then Silmarillion then the expanded Silmarillion tales like Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, etc.

>> No.21009418

>>21009412
Yeah but he should take a break between LOTR and The Silmarillion

>> No.21009432

1. The Hobbit
2. The Lord of the Rings
All other books are fan fiction published after Tolkien's death and unless you want to impress some Tolkien fangirl it's pointless to read them.

>> No.21009454

>>21009396
hobbit can be read in a day, then try reading fellowship and drop it forever when you get to the first obnoxious song or the insufferable bombadil scene

>> No.21009464

>>21009454
filtered

>> No.21009467

>>21009454
those parts are pure SOVL

>> No.21009476

>>21009396
Stupid /tv/ poster

>> No.21009519

>>21009432
Tolkien said the Silmarillion is necessary for LOTR. He wanted to publish them together, but they wouldn't let him.

>> No.21009547

>>21009454
Literally just finished reading the fellowship, and its fucking pure beauty. The worldbuilding and sense of nostalgia for ages long past instilled in you is pure kino. And the poems/songs are actually important events/lore and interesting if you pay attention.

>> No.21009569

0. The Hobbit. It's not really necessary to understand or appreciate LOTR and in fact is very different from it in tone. You can read it before or after the trilogy.

1. The trilogy.

2. The Silmarillion.

3. Unfinished Tales.

4. The Children of Hurin

5. Beren and Luthien.

6. The Fall of Gondolin

7. The letters

8. HoME

>> No.21009862

>>21009454
How's middle school these days?

>> No.21009870

>>21009418
take this to heart OP

>> No.21009876

>>21009412
This is correct, also:
Read them in spring or summer, outdoors if possible

>> No.21009885

>>21009454
I read the hobbit and when I got to the songs I actually created a melody for each of them, it was quite fun.

>> No.21009890

>>21009569
>The Hobbit.
>It's not really necessary to understand or appreciate LOTR and in fact is very different from it in tone.
>You can read it before or after the trilogy.
This is true.

>> No.21010878

>>21009396
>>21009412
>>21009418
>>21009519
>>21009569
make sure to have Enya music playing while reading Silmarillion.

>> No.21010884

if youve already seen the movies, start with the silmarillion, then do the hobbit then lord of the rings

it may be an unconventional order but since you already know the story, im sure you could appreciate the silmarillion, then your reading of the simarillion will enhance your enjoyment of the hobbit and LOTR

>> No.21010885

Main works:
> The Hobbit
> The Lord of the Rings

Posthumous work:
> The Silmarillion
> Unfinished Tales
> The Children of Húrin
> Beren and Lúthien
> The Fall of Gondolin
> The History of Middle-earth
> The Nature of Middle-earth

Poetry and songs:
> The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
> The Road Ever Goes On
> Biblo’s Last Song

Other miscellaneous:
> Various letters, essays, academic work, short stories.
> Also there are tons of supplementary material out there not by Tolkien.

>> No.21010894

>>21010878
You mean the Irish singer?

>> No.21010918

>>21010878
Holy mother of reddit

>> No.21011023

>>21010878

Listen to this before you read anything about the Elves (it's from an English Folk Opera inspired by the same source material, and is close to how Tolkien imagined his Elves/Fairies)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z827zM0EZnA

>> No.21011355

>>21009396
>how should i read tolkien?
With your eyes.

>> No.21011417

>>21009396
Read these books in this order:
1) The Silmarillion: from "Ainulindalë" to "Of the Ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin".
2) Beren and Luthien (book).
3) The Silmarillion: "Of Beren and Lúthien" and "Of the Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad"
4) The Children of Hurin (book).
5) The Silmarillion: "Of Túrin Turambar" and
"Of the Ruin of Doriath".
6) The Fall of Gondolin (book).
7) The Silmarillion: "Of the Voyage of Eärendil and the War of Wrath" and "Akallabêth"
8) The Unfinished Tales: Part Two: The Second Age
9) The Silmarillion: Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age
10) the rest of The Unfinished Tales
11) Do you want more before reading History of Middle Earth? Read a biography, his letters, The Road to Middle Earth, The History of The Hobbit, Master of Middle Earth: The Fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien, etc.
12) History of Middle Earth.

>> No.21011438
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21011438

>>21009396
>I just saw all the movies and I wanted to read the books, in what order do I read them?
The Hobbit, then stop because it gets dumb afterwards. The simple fairytale open worldness of The Hobbit and it being 300 pages long is way better than it's meandering sequel that's 80% worldbuilding, 20% story, and is 1300 pages long. The publishers wanted a sequel to The Hobbit and it feels forced from Tolkien. The Silmarillion is even worse, you might as well just open a real history book and read that, you'll gain more value.
Also Gandalf as an eccentric old wandering magician is so much more intriguing than an angel come to help mankind against the dark lord and blah blah blah blah blah.