If anyone's going to ask me to choose between LOTR or The Hobbit I'd choose The Hobbit. Not that anyone would ask me that, but i'm just saying. And not that i have anything against LOTR, because that's not the case. Don't get me wrong, I love LOTR but that book is so dull sometimes especially when Tolkien got going on names (which I can't never seem to remember) or relatives or stuff like that. The Hobbit is lighter, less like a history book and so much more fun. I read LOTR way before I read The Hobbit and based on my experience it was OK, so if you want to read LOTR first then by all means, go and do that.