How often do you play

[TomB]

Personal favorites...

The Belgariad/Mallorean series by David Eddings. His other stuff isn't bad either, but these are better.

The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan - especially the first 6 books. After that it slows down quite a bit.

Anything by Roger Zelazny - especially the 1st Amber series. The second one was okay too, but I thought it got a little out of hand on the magic side, though he wrapped it up together in the end, albeit rather abruptly. I believe he was dying at the time he was writing it though, so it can be forgiven, I reckon.

The whole Sword of Shannara thing by Terry Brooks. It's a little slow, and Brooks gets WAY too descriptive at times, but some of the characters are kinda interesting and I found the stories to be somewhat compelling.

The main Pern thing by Anne McCaffery. I'd stay away from the side stories though, like Nerilka's story, and Moreta's Ride. I found them to be much ado about nothing...

I also enjoyed reading many of the various Battletech novels (especially the ones by Michael Stackpole), and some of the Forgotten Realms stuff is actually pretty good too - R.A. Salvatore's is prolly the best, and I liked Elaine Cunningham's novels too. And Ender's Game was great, I thought, while I found the Moorcock stuff almost depressing at times.

IMHO...

 

[Oversoul]

And Peace Shall Sleep was a favorite of mine also...

I think very highly of Stackpole as well.

Eddings I liked, although he isn't for everyone...

That Anne McCaffery person, I read some of her stuff and liked at least half of it but some of it I remember not being very good, so maybe she got better (or worse) over time or something...

 

[Homestar]

out of magic books, i find interest in the Forgotten Realms series

Also, when i say i have read magic books from invasion up, that doesnt mean that thats all ive read, i have read eternal ice, And Peace Shall Sleep.

 

[DarthFerret]

I played quite a bit when I first started, but not quite to this extreem, although, to be honest, I was also a college student and in a Fraternity (Delta Tau Delta).

One thing to remember, like has already been stated, Magic is cardboard crack. I have kinda instated my own rule, for people that I introduce into Magic. I ask them to please wait about 3 months before buying thier own cards. I have enough cards for anyone to build a fairly competitive deck to thier own liking. I let them use my cards for the first 3 months (or more if they like.)

I have taught a few people that will go out right after my teaching them to play and buy several hundred dollars worth of cards, only to see them 1-3 months later, offering to sell them off to me for a fraction of the actual cost. I rarely buy cards anymore (lack of finances) so I usually cannot offer them what they paid for them. I feel bad for doing this, but where I live it is hard to find anyone else to buy them. Therefore to keep people from doing this to themselves, I ask them to follow this guideline. The ones that do, usually get thier own cards, but in a reasonable amount, and are still playing (as far as I know anyway).

As for the reading, I love the Shannara series by Brooks (also wrote the first Star Wars Novel for Lucas) but agree that it can be a little slow.

I liked Ender's Game, but did not like Speaker of the Sun (sequal)

Another good read, if you can find it anywhere is the DeathWorld Trilogy, and (not science fiction, but still good) The HAB Theory.

Any of the DragonLance novels that are actually written by either Margaret Weiss, Tracy Hickman or Don Perrin are excellent reads

My favorite M:TG book was Arena. Yes the first book, and the only one that allowed you to copy the card coupon to gain TWO cards. (I have dual copys of both "Arena" and "Sewers of Estark")

That would be my 2 cents worth on the subject of reading.

 

[Reverend Love]

TomB

It's a little slow, and Brooks gets WAY too descriptive at times

I'm so hip to that. Anne Rice taught me the valuable lesson of skipping entire paragraphs, and only going back if I missed something.

"Lestat gazed at the Rose, it's blood red petals reminding him of his first feeding in Paris. The night was alive with.."
NEXT!
"The Ruffian's eyes filled with terror as Lestat ripped his throat out"
Aah here we go...

EDIT

While we're on books, has anyone read the final three books of King's the Dark Tower?

 

[Spiderman]

Man, not sure where and if I should split this...

Books I liked that others didn't mention:

The Midkemia series by I forgot who at the moment.
The Dark Tower series and related books by Dennis McKiernan. The Dark Tower roughly follows the Tolkien books and you can see the similarities, but the other books expand on the universe and start to separate out.
MYTH series by Robert Aspirin. Full of humor and puns.

 

[train]

the split might be good and encourage more to speak out on books - since this title doesn't lead those that may read to this thread...

 

[Spiderman]

The thing is, I think there's a book topic already in Off-Topic... maybe when I get through all the threads from when I was off I'll organize