The Silmarillion

it would be a magnificent one save that the death of the author then gave way to some of its incoherent nature, hence more like a book of several stories that do not have a single frame; on second thought, it is. yet the incompleteness is also a part that enrich The Silmarillion.

aside from that, The Silmarillion provides an introduction for those who are not content with the appendix in the back of LotR: RotK and describe more of what's happening before the Third Age of Middle-Earth, all i can say is all the waiting i had for the book was worthwhile.