The closest I've come is reading Indian mythology. I don't know the names or places and some of the ideas are totally foreign. And that's with me already having a vague idea of India and it's people. You don't even have that with Tolkien

It's like reading the Bible if you had zero cultural or historical context. Like we picked an alien off another planet, taught them our alphabet and then gave them this book and said "it's a really good read!"