Keeping Track of Events in the Silmarillion?

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

I would mostly second what Formendacil said about the nonlinearity. When I first read the Silmarillion, I did so in a haphazard order, and I would actually encourage that. Just read what you think might interest you. Let's say you are interested in the tale of Beren and Lúthien because you have heard about it in LotR, then read that and ignore the fact that you don't know who, say, Celegorm and Curufin are. Next time you read about the Oath of Fëanor, you will already think "Ha! So this is where those rascals come from!"

I also think I read one of the Middle-Earth encyclopedias before actually reading the Silmarillion. So I also had that advantage and was already interested in a couple of people by knowing what they do ("okay, this person is cool, I want to hear their story") and what will happen to them. Thankfully, again, one does not read Tolkien just for the purpose of anticipating "how will this end" and unexpected plot twists, the story's worth lies mostly in that it is beautifully written and narrated, so it doesn't matter if you have "spoiled" yourself in advance about what happens to this and that character.

(Anyway, this was supposed to be a mythology - and with mythology, the assumption is that most people actually know, via generic cultural knowledge, that the Greeks conquer Troy using the wooden horse or somesuch, even if they haven't heard the tale itself.)

And finally, it took me perhaps 20 years to be 99% sure about what is the difference between Fingon, Fingolfin and Finarfin and Finrod Felagund, and some things I am not sure about to this day. So do not push yourself, sometimes it is perfectly okay to just gloss over things and be like "okay, so one of the F-guys did something". And if it turns out to be particularly relevant, you can always consult the index - even in retrospect.

Happy reading