The Fall of Numenor, by J.R.R.Tolkien

Tolkien's The Fall of Numenor might be the spiritual successor to the appendices in The Return of the King that I marveled over as a teenager, absorbing the epic's deeper history through shards of stories, annals of kings, and the chronology of a hinted past. Edited by Brian Sibley, this volume assembles various pieces from the later works of Middle Earth history into a masterful account of the Second Age, and beautifully pairs Tolkien's prose with extensive maps and illustrations by Alan Lee, the long-time official Tolkien artist. This is an excellent companion to the televised Rings of Power--and the perfect gift for all Tolkien nerds.