This is an IMHO/Cafe Society thread, I’ll let the mods decide where it should go.
So I’ve got X-mas money to spend and some time to enjoy:
If you wanted to get the best out of the works of Tolkein for your time and money, which works would you include and what order would you read them in?
Generally, start with the Hobbit and then read Lord of the Rings. Only pick up the Similiralion and Unfinished Tales if you’re then interested in the ideas behind those books. He wrote other stuff too, of course, but I’ve only read The Father Christmas Letters from his fiction and none of his nonfiction (which would only be interesting if you were interested in old and middle English).
I would do it as follows:
Hobbit—>LotR (really interchangable though, it might actually be kind of cool to read the Hobbit after the LotR.)
Next Unfinished Tales, and then The Silmarillion.
For the true geek there is also Letters and some non middle earth writings in The Tolkien Reader (although this may be called something else, mine is a cheap little paperback that has The Ballad of Tom Bombadil, Farmer Giles of Ham, and a few other short works.)
I read The Hobbit after LotR. It’s no big deal. Reading Hobbit first’ll help you understand some of the stuff in the first couple chapters of LotR, and you may also have a better picture of Rivendell. Then again, LotR may prepare your mind to really see that Lonely Mountain and everything else for that matter.
In any case, definitely read The Silmarillion sometime after reading LotR. It’s like hearing a fantastic legend then learning the probable (and dull) story behind it. Not that Silmarillion’s dull, but the idea is that first you have this sense of wonder at the vast unknown history alluded to in LotR. Then you learn it. Of course if you’re a history buff, you just might want to tackle this first.