Thus is totally true. (However Tolkien's work has some resemblance to greek mythology too I thunk we should mention that)
I would say turin
Hi! In my opinion you should start with hobbit. The lord of the rings sometimes refers to hobbit which can be confusing if you haven't read the latter. Also, the hobbit is more easy to read and is a great start with Tolkien. Lord of the rings can get a little bit boring and we don't want you to hung up on Tolkien; he was great.