about to read the lord of the rings series

I have the 3 lord of the rings books and im about to start reading them. But I also have the hobbit. should I read the hobbit first, or should I start with the fellowship of the ring?

Read everything Tolkien wrote before September 1939 (up to when they find Balin, certain Frodo & Sam parts of RotK) and then burn the books. The innocent magic of it's all replaced with a crappy allegory for WW2 & nukes after that point anyway.