I want to basically start from the beginning (the creation myth sequence in “The Silmarillion”) and read up to where we hit “The Hobbit.” I’ve always loved Tolkien’s extended creation, and I’ve owned copies of most of it for years but have never read it.
I’m thinking “Start with ‘The Silmarillion’ and go from there”…but could some fanatic suggest a decent “curriculum” that fits in all of the unfinished and extended stuff in the right order?
There’s very little material which doesn’t exist in some form in The Silmarillion. Once you’ve read that, most of the rest is tellings and re-tellings of the same tales.
That said, after Sil, I would recommend Unfinished Tales. Nothing in it is a finished story, of course (hence the name): Some are in a very early stage of the authorial process, but give interesting tidbits not found in the finished works (for instance, more background on the Wizards), and some are fully polished, but only contain portions of the story (for instance, the beginning and the end of the “Children of Hurin”, but nothing of the middle of the story). So it’s important that you have read the Silmarillion first, so you’ll know roughly what fits into the gaps.
Speaking of the Children of Hurin, right before or right after Unfinished would probably be the right place to read the recently-released volume. I haven’t read it yet, but it’s a complete narrative which builds off of the pieces found in Unfinished and elsewhere. Those pieces are some of the most beautiful writing I’ve ever read (though the subject matter is damn depressing), so the new book will probably be well worthwhile.
After that, you can start in on the History of Middle Earth series (HOMES), which are conveniently numbered. The “history” here refers not so much to history within the works, but the history of how the works came to be. The first two are the Book of Lost Tales volumes 1 and 2, which basically cover the same material as Sil, but from a much earlier stage, so they have a dramatically different shape and feel. The framing story is of a medieval English sailor who accidentally manages to find the way to Tol Eressea, and while he’s a guest in the Elves’ halls, he hears all the tales. Altogether, there are about a dozen books in HOMES; the later ones deal specific subject matters (such as the lead-up to the War of the Ring, or Morgoth’s impact on the World, etc.) You can read them in order, or skip through to the ones on matters which interest you.
What Chronos said.
Warning: HOMES is for the real JRRT fanatic who doesn’t mind wading thru a lot of gravel to find a few nuggets of gold and gems.
It helps a lot if you find gravel fairly interesting, too.
I’m 10/12ths thru my 3rd re-reading of HOMES, but am putting it aside for a bit to read Children of Hurin. I like gravel well enough, but CoH is gold streaked with some platinum.