answer:LoTR is a single book. You should think of the three “books” (Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers, Return of the King) as three parts of a single book. That’s the order they must be read in. You probably should read the Hobbit before LoTR. It was written before LoTR and takes place chronologically before. But really, the Hobbit is pretty standalone. It’s also written in a very different style; it’s basically a children’s book. I would recommend reading the Silmarillion after LoTR. It’s a mythological history of the setting. But part of the fun of reading it is to see how it links up with the characters and places you meet in LoTR.