The Hobbit or the Fellowship of the Ring? I've been invested in Tamriel for years now, and I seek a new world to explore. From what I've seen, The Hobbit is a prequel to the LOTR trilogy. So in that case I should read it first. However I've also read that it's a childrens book. Not to mention those Hollywood films. I really hate the actor who plays the main character in The Hobbit.. I'm afraid that I won't be able to get his face out of my head when I read the book. The Fellowship of the Ring apprently has an introduction where the writer informs the reader about the events of The Hobbit.

So, opinions? These books are gathering dust.

The Hobbit is a childrens book but its reasonably well-written and amusing. Its also a fairly short read so I'd suggest you have little to lose by reading it first.

They're both children's books. Let them go to dust.

The Hobbit movies svck. The book is a good read. I'd start there, it's short and easier to get into than the trilogy.

The Hobbit is the beginning of the world building for Lord of the Rings. The story is a straightforward adventure type. It could be a young advlt book; the vocabulary isn't what I consider "childrens". Not bad language, just advlt level "big words" and somewhat convoluted sentence structure.

Lord of the Rings brings all the lore/world-building together in an "epic" story.

Both are worth reading, imo.

I would say LOTR. The world is subtly different in The Hobbit. It might be best not to have preconceptions from that book going into LOTR.

I read the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trillogy when I was 6, meh. Childrens books.
To funny .
Dive right into the Fellowship , if you get through the Trillogy , hit up Bilbo.

The movies are great !!! There's Trolls there too.

I'm a fiend for chronological order, but the Hobbit wasn't bad. I read it in 8th grade and found it interesting.

You, sir, are no fun.

...and just what's wrong with "children's books", if they're well written?

The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings are good books. Read them. In that order.

(re: the films - I enjoyed the LotR films, but I've skipped the Hobbit ones. They had no business making that single book out into three super-padded-out spectacles. Between general burn-out after a billion hours of extended edition LotR and annoyance at all the crap they've thrown into the movies, I just had no interest. Ah, well.)

They have a decently wide vocabulary, so you don't have to worry about an overly-simplistic writing style. And the story itself is pretty decent, despite not having GRRM's seal of maturity.

The books are enjoyable regardless of age, and I'm pretty sure LOTR was aimed at advlts anyway. Not that that determines its quality.