How to read J.R.R. Tolkien's books in 2024? | A simple guide

If you ever wondered in which order to read the Tolkien books, then this video is for you.

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Gifted books will of course get prioritized!

[ProseAndPetticoats]

The order I listed in my video is what I think is the best order to get the most out of the books. I also hope it helps readers to slowly ease into Tolkien's prose and the beautiful world of Middle-earth. This is very personal. It's fine to disagree, as long as you do it respectfully.
Happy reading. ♡

[Pestopasta_]

I’ve had the LOTR and the hobbit on my shelf for years and recently I’ve wanted to dive into middle earth but was quite intimidated considering how intricate the world is, so this came at the right time!

[Trotter_Tolkien]

If you don't already have a copy of The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, then wait until November to get one, as a revised edition is coming out with about 150 new letters in it. Also you may want to read his Biography by Humphrey Carpenter to find out more about his life.

[someguy]

I like her! The world of middle earth is so cool. And you want to read the book so badly. But once you start…..they are hard to get through. Realy hard. But the audiobooks are amazing! They have music. Sound effects and use different voices for the charcters. So up having one of those plying as you read is the way to do it

[ArthurKain]

Andy Serikis lends his voice to the Silmarilion, the Hobbit, and the Lord of the Rings audiobooks. Many of Tolkien's books are available in audiobook format on Audible. Really helpful for correct pronunciations of words and names. Oh, and Sir Christopher Lee performs the audiobook version of the Children of Hurin.

[Harshuuu]

1. The Hobbit
TLOTR:
2. Fellowship
3. Two tower
4. The return of the king
5. The simillirion
6. Unfinished tales
7. The children of hurin
8. The fall of gondolian
9. The beren a d luthin
10. Nature of middleearth

[EugeAlvarez]

Nice video!!! Thanks for the tips. This is always useful to go step by step and surprise yourself more and more with Tolkien. ✨

[joeljwhite]

Great reading order recommendation! I read most of these in the order that you suggested. So cool!

[rmcfete]

Simple! Buy the Fellowship of the Rings turn back the cover and read it. What you must do is read the entire index afterwards

[santiagocuello]

Such a great video. You have a very warm voice which makes it nice and easy to watch!! ❤

[mariooooo.o]

One does not simply read the Lord of the Rings. One listens to Phil Dragashs Audiobooks because its the one case in existence where the Audiobook is so great its better than reading 😅

[MattonBooks]

Excellent summary! 🙂 I’m about to start a LotR re-read with blogs on my channel, so I’m glad that made YT push this video at me! 😀👌🏻

[cesar_rojasbravo]

I agree with your order (although it’s not the order I followed 😅). However, I would add that the Nature of ME could be considered as a new volume of the HoME. I also think, as was mentioned, his biography is fascinating! And then you have his other non-ME. Soooo much 😍

[mattdavis]

This was some great insight thank you!

[fuzonzord]

02:58 That's the first time I saw these on someone's shelves. I remember seeing them on Book Depository but not quite knowing what they are. What exactly are they? Are they something similar to Fall of Gondolin?

Fall of Gondolin made me wish he'd write about that city in it's times of peace. I find it somewhat frustrating that he kept inventing all these fascinating locations only to make them a part of a war and never let readers fully appreciate them.

[llukelcs]

I read almost in the same order, except for some small differences and that I only got to "Beren and Lúthien". The one difference, though, is that I read "Children of Húrin" before "Unfinished Tales". It wasn't planned, I just happened to have that book earlier than the other, but I kinda think that it makes the "Unfinished Tales" version of this story kinda obsolete, since both of them are meticulous reconstructions by Christopher Tolkien, except the "Children of Húrin" version is more complete and informative. I really want to get "Nature of Middle-Earth" next!

[seanmurphy]

My recommendation is left to right, top to bottom.

[jarnokaasalainen]

Great video! But I would also add Fall of Numenor.

[entwistlefromthewho]

I would recommend reading the HoME series before The Nature of Middle-earth because it basically acts as the final volume of the series.

[TheDevaLand]

this may be a dummy question but im new to the books and i dont know all of the books that are out there, but a book i keep finding back when looking into tolkien's work is 'the fall of numenor' where would this book roughly fit in? :D