Read the Hobbit or Lord of the Rings First
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J.R.R. Tolkien give-and-take
Okay, and so I'm planning on reading "The Lord of the rings" series. I have had it read it to me, I but don't remember it, well I remember a really long epilouge, and long songs and poetry, I've decided to try to read the whole entire series, by starting over. I've been told sevral times to kickoff with "The Hobbit", and I'm wondering why. Cheers then much for your aid! :D 
Modern The Hobbit is a classic in its own right, equally well as being an introduction to Centre-world. You will acquire more than near the nature of Hobbits and dwarves, wizards and elves, yous will understand more about Gollum and why Bilbo's meeting with him was and then of import to the events of LOTR.
Well-nigh importantly, you will go to enjoy an incredibly skillful volume. I'm jealous at the idea of you experiencing it for the first fourth dimension!
I showtime read The Hobbit nigh 40 years ago when I was 8 and have read it dozens of times since, the last time just a couple of months ago. Each time it'southward like a visit from an old friend, and I still detect little things that I hadn't noticed, or had forgotten.
It'due south a relatively quick, and definitely rewarding, read. Exercise it, Nelle: you know it makes sense :-D
Not only is The Hobbit fun, but the difference and similarity between it and its sequel help one understand both Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings better.
I know I'm dragging on here, merely a adept example of this is found in the character of Gollum. Tolkien'due south Gollum in The Hobbit was very different in the beginning edition, and Tolkien changed his motives and character dramatically for the 2nd edition after he began writing The Lord of the Rings. If you can find a copy of that scene (the affiliate 'Riddles in the Night') from the first edition, I would encourage it. I once heard a Tolkien-scholar draw him while writing as 'flying blind': his ideas were so multitudinous and complex that he wasn't sure how to turn them into commercial fiction.
AND (ha ha!! distressing for taking so much space) if you want to understand The Hobbit a little better, read the novella Roverandom, a children's story about a toy canis familiaris his son had lost at the beach. The Hobbit, I think, is a very good median between the feel and aim of Roverandom, which was done essentially for the Hell of it (to exist glib), and the very serious feel of The Lord of the Rings, past which fourth dimension Tolkien realised that people wanted to see and hear more of his invented mythology and his vast fictional world.
OK, I'thou washed. Have fun with it!
Thank you Logan and Michael, the other people who told me to read "The Hobbit" start, gave no caption. Your opinions have helped alot. I volition kickoff reading "The Hobbit" every bit soon as possible! (I have other reading projects I demand to finish first). I will also check out the "Roverandom" book equally presently as possible! Thank you so much for your help it is greatly appreciated! :D Mod 
I may exist a bot tardily to the party, but I will comment whatsoever way. :) The Lord of the Rings was originally supposed to be a sequel to the Hobbit, although it grew into an epic all its own. They essentially follow the aforementioned story, and that information technology one reason to read the Hobbit first. Another reason is because Tolkien wrote in a style that is a flake more than formal and more intellectual than most modern fiction writers. If you lot do not oft read historical or mythological works, you may find his elevated writing tone and archaic diction a footling tough at first. Because the Hobbit was originally intended as a children's book, the style is a little more playful and less heightened. Therefore it may be improve for some to read it beginning, and gradually adapt to Tolkien's more intellectual manner. :) Also, if you find yourself struggling with the Lord of the Rings, I urge yous to rent or stream the audio book while y'all read. I used that technique with my younger sis, and successfully turned her into an avid Ringer. ;) @ Sidhe. Thanks I'll try the audio book thought! I tried reading The Lord of the Rings first, and I had alot of problem keeping rails, so hopefully reading "The Hobbit" kickoff will help. Thanks for your help! 
Too, (nobody slap me please) if you can't go through the prologue in LOTR, skip it. I've never read information technology. I've started it, only it is very........... not entertaining. ;) Modern Why, yous picayune....! ;-)
Michael wrote: "Connor wrote: "Also, (nobody slap me please) if y'all can't get through the prologue in LOTR, skip it. I've never read it. I've started it, merely it is very........... not entertaining. ;)"Why, yous l..."
At to the lowest degree you didn't slap me. ;)
True, you can read Lord of the Rings without reading The Hobbit. Lord of the Rings can stand lonely. But when I read the series, I decided to start with The Hobbit because the events in it takes place threescore years earlier the events in the Lord of the Rings. And there are a few referances to The Hobbit in the Lord of the Rings that yous would empathize better if you read The Hobbit first. 
Mod 
I also feel the same manner as Dena and Stefan above me. I read "The Hobbit" subsequently reading "Lord of the Rings" and I had no trouble enjoying both to the fullest. The finding the ring is not actually a major outcome in "The Hobbit" it'southward a subplot or something. Other than that it depends on the readers age. Every bit others have explained here.
Mod I would hold that it doesn't really thing which you read first, only if yous haven't read either information technology's but kind of logical to start with the earlier of the two. Plus LoTR contains some "spoilers" for The Hobbit if y'all haven't read that already.
Suffice to say, you'll likely enjoy them both regardless of the club you read them in.
Mod 
I did read 'the lord of the rings' long before the hobbit, hence i would recomend that yous read the hobbit first as it does help to set the scene, before one is introduced to Bilbo and Frodo. Knowing the history between Bilbo and Gandalf first is helpful and i think that you would enjoy LOTR more if you lot read them in this order (not that there is a fix order). 
Actually not only would I read the Hobbit starting time, simply I would likewise read the Silmarillion and Lost Tales first to give you lot a feel for the history of Middle earth before you lot get into LOTR. Then again maybe you lot should just save those before you reread LOTR like I'thou doing now.Definitely read the Hobbit kickoff though.
I read LotR before The Hobbit and I didn't feel it made whatever divergence in my eventual enjoyment of the latter (I sandwiched The Silmarillion betwixt the two). I'd say become with whatever seems more interesting kickoff, though if you plan on meet The Hobbit flick in Dec, yous might desire to go that one finished, outset and LotR is decidedly more time consuming. 
I read The Hobbit beginning, but I recall it doesn't make that much of a deviation which one you read commencement or second. I'd personally read Hobbit offset, but eitherway round is fine. 
The Hobbit should definitely be read kickoff for continuity sake. It is there nosotros are starting time introduced the darkly seductive power of The Ring, and the creatures of Heart Earth, including Bilbo. John wrote: "The Hobbit should definitely be read first for continuity sake. Information technology is there we are starting time introduced the darkly seductive power of The Ring, and the creatures of Middle Earth, including Bilbo." I do agree.
Reading The Hobbit first would serve well if you lot wanted to 'introduce' yourself to Middle Globe. However, I personally read LOTR first, which gave The Hobbit that actress dimension, knowing everything that was to come.In the end though, information technology doesn't really matter that much.
Yes do read The Hobbit get-go. Only because information technology was released outset and introduces Gandalf and Bilbo and just because it'southward a easy way to get into Tolkien and how he writes and all. 
Reading "The Hobbit" is not crucial to understanding "The Lord of the Rings", but information technology would give yous an agreement of Middle Earth. I read LOTR first and then read the Hobbit. I read all at least once a twelvemonth! Savour! 
Like if you tin't wait for the Hobbit to come out this December! 
Both LotR and The Hobbit are stand-lonely novels and don't need each other to exist properly understood. However, The Hobbit is a corking book and a perfect introduction to Eye-earth and its main characters.I recommend reading it before The Lord of the Rings.
hey, Nelle, i read the Hobbit when i took I class in Children's Lit at U.Ç.Riverside and didn't much treat information technology, Merely my teacher recommended LOTR (this was in 1964 before any fame or fortune had come to Tolkien). So I only picked upward "The Fellowship of the Band" at the Pomona Library. I couldn't put it down (even tho I had 4 Children to care for. I have been a fan ever since. I regret I never wrote to TRR before he died. My husband once played Gandalf on phase and did a corking job---LOTR is similar being inside all the great fairy stories, I read them when I experience depressed and need to exist lifted. I read The Hobbit afterward and only then loved it. 
I'd go for the Hobbit first, just to go your feet wet in the earth of middle globe. You don't have to, but it will enhance the reading of LOTR in a big way. 
There And Back Again will requite yous a little more of the backstory that might assistance you lot to understand what's going on in the trilogy. A few of the characters announced in both works. I would hesitate to say that it's mandatory to read it get-go, but it would certainly brand LoTR better. 
And so happy i constitute this word! I accept been wanting to read LotR and didn't know if i should read the Hobbit first. I volition defiantly be picking up the Hobbit monday morning when the library opens.:) I feel similar I have been living nether a rock, I have not even watched the movies and I am a Junior in high schoolhouse! 
I'm one of those readers who missed out on reading Tolkien every bit a child (even though I saw the Cartoons). When I finally got around to reading the books, I had a hard time getting my hands on the professor'south books from the library, as they were always--and I do mean--e'er rented out. I got tired of waiting to read the books in literary social club, so I decided to grab the simply book that was bachelor to me and that was The Silmarillion. Fortunately, I'm a fan of mythology and classic literature, so it made my introduction to Tolkien much easier than the boilerplate reader. I dived right into 'Rings" afterward that and really stopped after reading The 2 Towers so I could read The Hobbit. Only afterwards, did I continue to read The Render of the King.Having read the books in this haphazard order, I highly recommend readers to showtime with The Hobbit. As others have mentioned, it's the most reader-friendly of the Middle-Globe books and will set upward the storyline for "Rings" for y'all. If you read Rings first, you'll miss some of the references to The Hobbit and lose some of the impact of the cyclic nature of the tales.
If you want to beginning right at the very beginning then you should read The Silmarillion. That way y'all'll know how Middle Earth was created and all but its a long complicated history. The Hobbit is a lot easier to read and its more than fun also. It would be better to read information technology before reading LOTR because that manner you'd understand Hobbits and Dwarves improve and it provides the perfect dorsum story to the trilogy. 
The Hobbit has always been a fun read for me. I started to reread over Thanksgiving and I know I am farther along than the first pic. Read it now before the movie put images in your head. Modern I accept to give you kudos on reading The Silmarillion start and getting through it then standing on to LOTR and The Hobbit. I thoroughly enjoyed The Silmarillion, simply having already read the other books and loved them, helped my in navigating my way through The Silmarillion tremendously. It's a great book, but I would never propose that someone new to Tolkien read it before getting comfortable with his globe and style.
That said, The Hobbit is actually the all-time identify to get-go. It eases the reader in to Middle Globe in a fun mode and gives a lot of practiced groundwork to fix the reader for LOTR.
Stefan wrote: "I have to give you lot kudos on reading The Silmarillion first and getting through it so standing on to LOTR and The Hobbit. I thoroughly enjoyed The Silmarillion, but having already read the other books and loved them, helped my in navigating my way through The Silmarillion tremendously. It's a bang-up book, only I would never suggest that someone new to Tolkien read it before getting comfortable with his world and style." I agree, Stefan. The Silmarillion is my best favorite book, but I wouldn't dare recommend anyone to first their didactics of Tolkien with it. Bated from the sheer size of the book, its contents would scare away near readers who aren't familiar with mythic tales. The Hobbit, on the other mitt, is the perfect fashion to familiarize oneself with Heart Globe. In fact, if the new movie lives upwardly to its billing (and I have no reason to recall it won't), I'd recommend movie goers to start there before watching The Lord of Rings as well.
I agree with anybody that yous'll want to read The Hobbit commencement. I had read one-half of it a few years before I read The Lord of the Rings and as before long as I finished LOTR I went back to read The Hobbit. You can read the LOTR firsts but yous will want to read The Hobbit when your washed so you might likewise start with it!! 
a friend told me that if i want to read the series in a chronological way I should start with The Silmarillion. However when I read it, it was a little chip besides much in my first try of Tolkien'due south works. So, at present I just decided to read The Hobbit first instead. :) I read The Hobbit earlier I read LOTR considering I heard at that place was some referances in LOTR that happened in the Hobbit. And the Hobbit takes palce lx years before the events in LOTR and then to me it just made sense to read The Hobbit showtime. 
Yeah, it was written kickoff therefore Tolkien intended for it to be read first :) 
I concur with the general consensus in hither and suggest reading The Hobbit commencement.My husband went straight to LOTR and he just doesn`t have the same dear for Bilbo as I take.
I read The Hobbit as a teenager and went straight to LOTR. I`ve been re-reading every couple of years since.
I also love Roverandom, it is pure Tolkien, enchanting and very sweetness.
I am reading The Hobbit right now. I just checked information technology out from the library. Fun read. 
Brooke wrote: "I am reading The Hobbit right now. I just checked it out from the library. Fun read." Enjoy! It's pretty awesome.
Mod Savour! It'south pretty crawly."
And the book is much meliorate than the movie in my opinion.
Namarie, God anoint, Anne Marie :)
I'd definitely say read it because it familiarizes you with the globe and some of he creatures and locations mentioned in The Lord of the rings trilogy, not to mention at that place is a lot of referencing in the first function of the fellowship which might become you lost and confused. Personally it does make the whole story more enjoyable and easier to understand since you met almost half the cast or relations to them at least beforehand. 
Yes. 
Haha! An reply that is brusque and sweet and correct. 
I've honestly read it later on The Lord of the Rings, just because I've met the latter first. I cannot say I regret that, since has been rather sweetness to know better Bilbo and his story knowing already the struggles he had to endure in his final years and the story of the Band itself.Then, what I can tell yous is this: Should you lot read it before The Lord of the Rings? It depends. For me, it has been better this fashion, reading information technology afterward, considering I couldn't have been able to appreciated it and information technology could take put me off Tolkien altogether. Then, knowing what you now know about them and nigh how different they are from each other, you can make a choice based on your tastes.
(I hope I didn't explain myself too poorly, English is not my first linguistic communication!)
Mod You lot did neat, Eleanora - if you hadn't said so, I wouldn't even have known English was not your first. :)
I read The Hobbit after LOTR as well and enjoyed it in that order as well.
Namarie, God bless, Anne Marie :)
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