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Originally Posted by Mithalwen
I guess I am a little sensitive because I was taught that it was a character weakness not to finish a book and still feel a little guilty if I don't (unless the book is utter tripe) but while reading all sequentially may well be ideal if you are up to the task, I just wanted to emphasize that it is worth looking at the later volumes even if you are daunted by the early ones.
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I've now got a notion to sit and read all the volumes in order, although I must have already done this to some extent with the early volumes many years ago as I used to religiously visit the Tolkien shelf in the local library and snap up anything I hadn't seen before. I'd like to see if it gave me the sense of a 'story' of the creation of Tolkien's life work.
But I still say that if reading all the volumes is daunting - and it may well be so for anyone quite new to Tolkien - then it is well worth beginning in the middle with those relating to LotR. And some of the volumes do include 'stand-alone' pieces, such as The New Shadow, set in the fourth age.
Now, while I was never taught it was a weakness not to finish a book, I
do feel guilty if I don't at least give a book a chance. Even if I only read a random chapter I would call that giving it a chance.
If the rest of the book is not useful, interesting or entertaining then I'm afraid I move on, as there are far too many books waiting to be read. I also have a nasty habit of skim-reading factual books, looking for the parts I need to read, a habit picked up from work.
Maybe one of the reasons I like Tolkien so much is that skim-reading is out of the question; it's all too easy to miss something.