Hello. I'm a new Tolkien reader. And a question.

Hello!

I'm a new Tolkien reader. Right now I'm in the middle of The Two Towers. Terrific books I must say. I've also got myself a guide by Colin Duriez called The JRR Tolkien Handbook which is a Tolkien / Middle Earth dictionary. Sometimes I find it hard to remember all the names of characters and places, and this giude is very helpful.

My interest in reading The Lord of the Rings grew after watching the moves years ago, but it wasn't until 2009 that I decided to buy them (The Hobbit too) and start reading this amazing work of literature.

But I have a question: what other works by Tolkien should I be reading once I finish The Lord of the Rings? I was a bit overwhelmed when I read about his books on Wikipedia, and noticed that several of them are not individual works but are also contained in compilations, etc. What order should I follow?. Do you recommend any special sets?

Thanks in advance.

Patrick.

If you are looking for books dealing with middle-earth written by Tolkien himself I would recommend The Silmarillion and The Children of Hurin. The Silmarillion reads more like a history book that can be very dry reading, but has great information about the history of the elves and the first war of the ring. Children of Hurin is a more recent novel edited by Christopher Tolkien. Other than collections of unfinished story ideas there really is not much more.

My suggestion is, when finished with The Lord of the Rings, read the appendices at the end of The Return of the King.

If you like the appendices, and find yourself really wanting to know a lot more about what happened in the "dim past" of Middle Earth, and want to know who all those elves were, and also like reading 'densely packed' information as is given to you there, check out The Silmarillion. If the ONLY part of the appendices you like is The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen (it's part of Appendix A) you may still like The Children of Hurin. If even that little tale leaves you bored, don't bother picking up anything else: you've read all the fun hobbity stuff of Middle Earth in the 4 books (Hobbit + LotR), and there's no more of that, at all, in any of his other works.

If you are an Appendix lover, and then also love the Silmarillion, then you should check out Unfinished Tales. If that too leaves you salivating for more, because you fall in love with seeing how Tolkien changed his story over time then you should check out the 12 volumes of The History of Middle-Earth.

Thank you very much, to both!

Patrick.

Ditto on all the previous recommendations. I would definitely recommend reading Unfinished Tales right after Return of the King. I would also add the following:

If you're interested in Middle-earth geography, The Atlas of Middle-earth is a fascinating read.

For insightful essays on Tolkien's works see Master of Middle-earth.

If you like languages, see The Languages of Tolkien's Middle Earth by Ruth S. Noel.

The JRR Tolkien Handbook that you mentioned is good, but as far as guides go, The Complete Guide to Middle-earth is the best one out there.

A lot of the newer Tolkien guides are "me too" books trying to capitalize on the popularity of the movies. Some of the older works, like the ones I mentioned above, are much more illuminating, in my opinion.

For more Tolkien stuff, check out The Silmarillion, and after that Unfinished Tales. The Children of Hurin is good, but it's story is included in The Silmarillion, though more compact and not as detailed.
As for others...
The Complete Tolkien Companion- J E A Tyler
The Complete Guide to Middle earth

Oh, and The History of Middle earth series is actually rough drafts of The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings that Tolkien's son, Christopher published, so if you aren't interested in that, pass them up. I loved them, but they aren't everyone's cup of tea...unless your a Tolkien nut.
But you may want to check out one of the books in the series, as it has 2 long poems that tell 2 stories, and it's quite beautiful, not included in any other works. Just ignore the study notes in it, trust me.

And then, if you just CAN'T get enough....heheh, there is also J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter. It doesn't deal so much with Middle-earth as much as you'll see just how much of Tolkien is in LOTR and related works. Then of course there is The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Carpenter.

I wouldn't consider myself a hardcore Tolkien fan, but I found both enjoyable. The biography was a smoother, more engaging read than the letters. That is to be expected though when dealing with a series of letters and endless footnotes.

If you only read one, read the biography. If you don't like it, you probably won't like the letters.

And if that's not enough, go for Regional Cooking from Middle Earth: Recipes of the Third Age

http://www.amazon.com/Regional-Cooking-Middle-earth-Recipes-Third/dp/155395257X

Curiously, no one on LibraryThing owns a copy.

Obviously, a lot of Tolkien lightweights around these parts.

I'm pretty sure that JRR only wrote the Hobbit and LoTR*. Nearly everything else is compiled from JRR's working notes by his son Christopher - the Sellamillion certainly is, and only in his later Histories does Christopher stand by his own authorship. Much as you'd expect a compendium of notes to be, this can all be very very dull, contradictory, and full of names and brief references rather than complete tales.

* Maybe some non-middle earth stuff too, like his Christmas stories.

>8 Atomicmutant:
There are 2 copies http://www.librarything.com/work/554550

I think it was the dash in Middle-Earth that did it.

Let's see if touchstones work.

Regional Cooking from Middle-Earth: Recipes of the Third Age

Ooo does it tell you to make for second breakfast? Elevensies? Onsies? :)

The regional cooking book stinks, according to Amazon reviews.

And one reviewer was right: You don't need a cookbook unique to Middle Earth. All you need to do is cook 18th/19th century rural English grub.

The Tolkien Reader contains some neat short stories, including Farmer Giles" and "Leaf by Niggle," as well as the professor's essay "On Fairy Stories," which I found fascinating.

As far as I know these are all his short works and poetry -
Farmer Giles of Ham
The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
Tree and Leaf (On Fairy Stories and Leaf by Niggle)
Smith of Wootton Major
The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth
The Father Christmas Letters
and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl and Sir Orfeo

If I'm not mistaken, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is actually a translation - he was a linguist.

I second all of the above & suggest you visit my library (90 Tolkien & Tolkien related books) amongst the 500+. There are several other members on LT w/lots of Tolkien.

I also belong to a Tolkien group online which has existed since before the first movie came out; we discuss Tolkien & have chats etc.

It was Tolkien who drew me into reading Fantasy @ the age of 58. I have read The Silmarillion, The Children of Hurin The Tolkien Reader & I'm working my way through the 12 volumes of The History of Middle Earth. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight I have not been able to get into as of yet (epic poetry is not my cuppa. That might be traceable to 5th grade when we were required to memorize Hiawatha's Childhood. I actually can still recite large chunks of it!

Welcome to Middle-earth & LT & the GD! 8^)

The Cook book Added to my wishlist. Had no clue one even existed!

17 - That's right. But his translation is one of the best around for Gawain.

re #9 G. G. Kay also had a big hand in assembling and publishing the late Professor's notes. If you like Tolkien, you probably like Kay too.

I note in passing the existence of "Tolkein's Middle-Earth for Dummies" Discovering that in a (now closed) branch of Borders really made my day. I was so pleased I almost managed not to buy a book; I was NOT tempted in parting with real money (or even the virtual kind) for the Dummies book, however.

The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun is another one to explore. And if/when you ever run out of Tolkien stuff, you could always do what our Tolkien-dedicated reading group are about to do and branch out into reading the source-works that inspired Tolkien - including Beowulf, Sir Orfeo, Bevis of Hampton, the Icelandic Sagas, Dracula - and so on ad infinitum probably.

Actually there's (at least) one more volume that should be mentioned. After you've read LOTR, don't miss BOTR: the Harvard Lampoon's Bored of the Rings. Truly hilarious stuff, featuring the boggies Frito and Spam, the Wizards Goodgulf and Serutan, Stomper, Legolam, and the whole crew. My favorite is the ballhog ("back, vile hoopster!").

Thanks to everyone!!! All of your comments are very helpful !

Re msg 24 - Agreed, this is hilarious.