Re. Tristam Shandy, I remember reading a similar anecdote about Peter Jackson's search for actors. When his casting person called up Andy Serkis about being the voice of Gollum and finding that Serkis had never read LOTR, he stated that he was finding the world rapidly falling into two categories: Those who had read the books and those who were just about to.

It's on my list! Yeah, I've said that more times than I care to think about...

You MUST read "Lord Of The Rings"! My advice: start by reading "The Hobbit". I've probably read these a half dozen times starting in the late '60s. One great way is to get with someone else and read them aloud. I used to car-pool with a neighbour and we'd trade off reading and driving. When I was reading (while he was driving), I really enjoyed developing the different characters. I think I would have been at home doing characters on the radio during the Golden Age of Radio, but I digress.
By all means, set some time aside and get into these wonderful books!

BII ~ Hobbit is Great. As preludes go, it doesn't get any better! The tie in with Gandolf and Bilbo and Gollum to the LR trilogy is "classic" stuff for sure.

There is no finer dragon than Smaug, his description (scaled in lizard-mail, encrusted in gems) and dialogue are wonderfully entertaining: "Well, thief! I smell you and feel your air. I hear your breath. Come along! Help yourself again, there is plenty and to spare!"

The movie (someday by P. Jackson) will be a sure blockbuster.

LoR is more mythology than fantasy, as I interpret it. Yes?
JRRT-timeless.

Mythology for sure. In fact, the stories grew out of Tolkien's love of languages. He had invented Elvish and other languages; and created a believable phonetics, orthography, syntax, semantics, etymology, and finally a history behind the language; and out of all this came the books!

I'll reread "The Hobbit" before the movie comes out and then I'll read all of "Lord of the Rings." Really. (My brother-in-law drove us to the theater an hour early for the movie and when I said I hadn't read the book I thought he was gonna kick me out!)

Braling II,
Ever translate the runes on the title pages of the paperbacks?

I never did translate those, but I knew people in the late '60s who not only could translate them, but were writing things using Tolkien's runes!

It was as much fun as decoding a Captain Midnight message, especially the directions on Thror’s map, and no Ovaltean ad’s.