That's something I'm trying to get back into - odd working hours affect that negatively, and I reserve after midnight, before bed, for writing, and nothing else.

But, here's hoping I can get back into my 100 pages a day (roughly 2 hours, a little less for me) routine.

Oh, and thanks to everyone for the suggestions!

I would have to recomend "The Mind's I"

Have you read "Gödel, Escher, and Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid"?

...

Awesome.

*sigh* yeah working sucks, I did a lot of my reading up until the end of college. The last few years I haven't read that much, and some of those had to be IT books with "interesting" titles such as ASP .Net and SQL 2000 administrators guide :/ (although I drew the line at reading the 1000 page book just on TCP/IP v4)

My problem is with really good books I can't bear to put them down. So if I start a book when I get home, and its good, I will read till 4am or later trying to finish it and then be really tired at work the next day.

Work + part-time degree + studying german = NO TIME! I actually have unread books on my shelves since xmas, which is not like me at all. Some new Dragonlance ones and Terry Brooks, Word and the Void series which I never got into are sitting there. Achaea + Lusternia have also consumed 60 days of my time in the last 18 months *glare IRE*

*feels bad for glaring*

*runs up and hugs Lusternia*

Anyway, jerle shannara series by Terry Brooks is good, and the followup, high druid of shannara (first book : jarka ruus) looks good too. I really like Terry Pratchett, and his recent one, The Monstrous Regiment is great. (Going Postal is on my desk waiting.)

I always found Brooks to be a bit...stale and predictable. Especially a lot of the magic system he uses. It's a great idea, the whole wish song thingo, but he never seems to pull it off in my opinion.

Meh.

I thought Imajica was great. A totally strange and new way of looking at fantasy for me. After I read Imajica I read the first of Clive Barker's Abarat books, they have some great illustrations. His best book ever written by far is Thief of Always though.

Also for anyone who has never read the Dune series by Frank Herbert, shame on you. Especially with current world events. He who controls the spice controls the universe

Oh yeah, and George RR Martin is the best fantasy writer still alive.

Try 'The Curse of the Mistwraith' by Janny Wurts, The Redemption of Althalus by David Eddings, 'The view from the mirror' series by Ian Irvine, Shadowmarch by Tad Williams (Doesnt have much of a climax, unfortunately), 'The Change' trilogy by Sean Williams.. and if you just want a good example of writing, to diverge from fantasy, go read Pattern Recognition by William Gibson.

I actually picked up the first four books by Raymond E. Feist when I heard the next IRE mud will be based on those. Very impressed and would suggest his writings to anyone who is willing to try them. I bought the RiftWar Saga (4 books) and after finishing those, I went out and bought like 8 more of his.

Yeah, I also recommend Redemption of Althalus, by Eddings. Very good book. Standalone book not a series. BTW after posting yesterday I read Going Postal by Pratchett and its good so go read it! I find my self laughing out loud a few times in his books

*quote*
"he came back with two mismatched coffee mugs, one had an appealing little kitten on it, except that erratic collisions in the washing-up bowl had scratched it so that its expresssion was that of a creature in the final stages of rabies."

The Redemption of Althalus was good, but if you've ever read any of his other books you shouldn't read it unless you really liked them and the character types in them, because it's the same thing yet again as the Belgariad/Mallorean and the Elenium/Tamuli. I don't mind, myself, because I like reading books over and over again and I think Althalus is the best one, but it does feel like you're reading about the same people again (Especially when they start calling whatsername "Little mother" ).

On the plus side, if you want to read David Eddings stuff but don't want to read 10 or so books of one series, Althalus is it .

Agreed. Redemption is like all his other books, distilled into a concentrated form. I didnt like his other ones, but I wore out my copy of Redemption. I'd also like to add in the Bitterbynde trilogy by Cecelia Dart Thornton. Bit wishy washy, but the series is a good read.

If he gets all of these books, he wont have any room left to breathe.

Great suggestions - I do have the first three of the Belgariad, and am about 200 pages into The Sword of Shannara right now (then the Eye of the World novel, then A Game of Thrones).

David and Lee Eddings were my favourite authors at one point. Not anymore. I got sick of them simply rehashing the same thing in a slightly different setting.

Polgara and her father will always be some of the best fantasy characters I've ever come across, though.

I'll add Guy Gavriel Kay to the list. Try his Fionavar Tapestry trilogy. Anything by John Marco is good. Also Tad Williams, War of the Flowers specifically.

I think what's best so far about this list I'm noticing, is that some of the names I gathered in my independent searches of the internet are being re-named here (Guy Gavriel Kay and Tad Williams I saw recommended somewhere in the depths of the internet, and here they are recommended).

Believe me, I'm developing a lengthy list of followups

Apart from Tolkein, I've never read any swords and sorcery fantasy, but with contemporary fantasy, Neil Gaiman and Philip Pullman top my list. Neil Gaiman's American Gods is amazing and his short stories were what got me into writing myself.

I've read one Gaiman short story, and I do remember it was quite good .

Oi... well... later today I'm designing my wish list for my birthday (mother insists on me telling her what I want, and I think I'll give her a choice between 100+ items )