[R.R.J Tolkien]

Originally Posted by Huinesoron

It absolutely depends on what you want to get out of it.

• The Book of Lost Tales I & II are fascinating, because they comprise a nearly-complete version of Middle-earth which is completely different to the one we know. If you want to read the tale of Beren and Luthien versus a giant cat, this is where you find it. They also have a lot more detail than the later Silmarillion, in particular for the parts before the Elves awoke (Volume 1), and are unique in applying a framing narrative to the legends of the Elder Days.
• The Lays of Beleriand is a beautiful book, and if you like Tolkien's poetry I'd say it's indispensable. It's the only volume of HoME that I have two copies of.
• The Shaping of Middle-earth is one to skip, unless you're interested in Tolkien's thought-processes. It contains the first 'Annals' version of the Silm (a condensed form which carried through clear to the final versions), and also the original maps, but there's nothing truly exciting.
• The Lost Road is mostly another 'works in progress' book, featuring the first Quenta Silmarillion text, plus the first stories of Numenor. Its two big selling points are 'The Lost Road' itself - Tolkien's unfinished Time-Travel-To-Numenor tale - and a whole heap of stuff about the development of his languages.
• The History of the Lord of the Rings (volumes 6-9) is kind of off being its own thing. It's fascinating stuff, but if you don't want to see Tolkien's drafts, it's mostly skippable. (The same goes for Rateliff's History of the Hobbit, which isn't part of HoME but seems worth a mention.)
• The exception is book 9, Sauron Defeated, which includes the wonderful Notion Club Papers. This is a nearly-complete story which is part literary criticism, part time travel to Numenor, and part sociological study of a lightly-disguised version of the Inklings.
• Morgoth's Ring you've ordered, and it's probably my favourite. The Athrabeth is a beautiful text (says the unabashed Finrod fan...), and with 'Laws and Customs...' and 'Myths Transformed', this is the book you want if you're seeking a deeper insight into what Tolkien envisioned the people of the Elder Days actually being like, or if you want to know his very latest thoughts.
• The War of the Jewels is a bit of an in-between book. It forms part of a pair with Morgoth's Ring - between them they hold the last 'completed' text of the Silmarillion - but its offerings after that are kind of slapdash. A bit of linguistics, a bit of chronology, a bit of puzzling over tricky questions... it's all right.
• The Peoples of Middle-earth mostly deals with the later Ages. It's presented as the history of the Appendices, but it's not - it's just a book of everything CT didn't fit into the earlier ones. It contains two partial narratives from otherwise unstudied eras - the early Second Age, and the early Fourth - along with the definitive text on dwarves, and... well, bits and pieces. If your primary interest is the Noldor, it does feature a discussion of Feanor's use of language, but it's probably not worth it just for that.

It's also probably worth mentioning the 'allied texts' - The Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, and the upcoming Fall of Gondolin. Between them, they pretty much negate the need for The Book of Lost Tales II - the 'Tale of Turambar' isn't all that different from the final version, and B&L and (presumably) FoG include accounts of the earlier stories. They are also beautiful books in their own right.

hS

Great post and thank you very much sir. You have given me much to consider.