Ok, so I have these: Hobbit, LOTR, Silmarillion, Children of Hurin, Unifinished tales, and The Complete History of Middle-Earth (all twelve vols.) But I don't know which order to read them in, and have a hard time choosing what to read. Any suggestions? Maybe chronological order (middle-earth chronology)? If chronological, I don't know which stories come before the others. (note that I have already read Silm, hobbit, LOTR, so I'm not really a beginner)
__________________
Three Silmarils To Rule Them All, Three Silmarils To Find, them and in the darkness bind them
Well, I would normally say The Hobbit, LotR and Sil when you read the first team as the Sil is harder to read and you should already be somewhat acquinted to the world of Tolkien before reading it.
But since you already have read those three, I would recommend the others in the following order:
CoH, rest of the UT (as there is no need to read the part about the CoH in the UT again) and finall HoMe as these books often only fill gaps or present stories quite unrelated to anything else in Tolkien's works.
EruIlluvatarEa I agree with The Might. His suggestion will fill in some gaps and provoke (or encourage) you to find Tolkiens works outside of Middle Earth. (like "Farmer Giles of Ham" and "Smith of Wooton Major") You don't say how recently you have read The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, or Lord of the Rings. If it has been awhile, or if you are looking for places to join in the "Forums", re-reading those masterpieces and reading the "Forums" at the same time really leads to some wonderful interactions and thought provoking insights. Just a suggestion...it worked for me.
__________________
Vocatus atque non vocatus, Deus aderit Called or uncalled, God is present
