Thanks for the welcome back,
Esty !
I saw the
'Silm' threads in Chapter-by-Chapter and look forward to reading them. I found this book a hard read also, probably because it was put together by Christopher Tolkien after his father's death. Parts of
The Silmarillion seem remote to me, not chronologically, but as in being harder to relate to. Had Tolkien ever been able to complete stories in his lifetime, I think I would find the book more engrossing. As important as the stories (or story?) of the Legendarium are, Tolkien, when he knew he was writing for publication at least, gave his readers well-developed characters to carry the story along and lots of detail to fire the imagination.
I seem to have gone off on a tangent there more suited to the Books -- whoops!
<Pours another ale and wanders off to the Books, with perhaps a side trip to Mirth>