My favorite books

Where shall I begin? I think this will be an ongoing saga - my house, after all, contains thousands of books, and all the fiction I have read many times. I'm a re-reader, not just a reader. Too many favorites, where shall I begin?

How about a series that, uniquely, as far as I can remember, I didn't simply re-read, but re-read immediately. That is, as soon as I'd finished the series of five books, I started again at the beginning and read them through again. That was a long time ago, and since then I have read them I don't know how many times, and in their turn, my sons have read them many times. So I guess I should put them first:

The Belgariad, by David Eddings

Then there's a new series I've just discovered: Chronicles of the Raven, by James Barclay

Both fantasy, I notice. Okay, I do read far more fantasy than science fiction nowadays, but when I first started reading sci-fi fantasy, there was really only science fiction. And the ones I enjoy most have some humor in them. I don't draw the line at pure let's-not-take-anything-seriously humor, either. So what I'm going to do is gather books in three categories (look left). Every day (well, fairly often, anyway), I'll add to those lists. It's about time all that reading came in useful. I hope you enjoy them. Basically what I'll do is tell you why I think they're terrific (if I don't think they're terrific they wouldn't be on my list, right?) - there's enough straight description out there without me adding to it. I'll provide links so you can find out more about them, if you're interested.