I'd recommend reading The Silmarillion, then rereading LotR, it'll give you a new understanding.

I would recommend The Silmarillion and Unfinished tales too if you are that interested

Yeah, I could never get into Unfinished Tales, but it's a good book

@Hazbojangles so HoME is just not recommended at all or should I just read it after all other stuff

Just read anything Lotr universe related

Excuse my stupidity, but what is HoME?

@Kwonhaobi The History of Middle-earth

There are 12 of them though. Probably pretty expensive