Matthew said, re Eddings: > Reread them one last time, all in a row. Pay close attention to > each cliche, stereotype, failure of a character to grow and > change over the course of the books, and so on. In fact, just > make up a checklist of the qualities of bad writing, and fill it > out. <snip> > > This will cure you. *giggle* I admit, the older I get, the more I flinch when I re-read them and the *Dragonlance* books. However, I think there's a certain window of time at which you can just fall in love with certain books and never really get tired of them. For me, that window was 12-13. Many books I loved at 15 and 16 (Poppy Z Brite, for instance) bore me to tears now. I still love my comfy old David Eddings books, and my comfy old blue jeans, and my comfy habit of eating French Toast smeared with peanut butter and pancake syrup drizzled over the top. In fact, add those all up with a rainy Sunday, a mug of coffee "to which thick cream and [sweet & low] have been liberally applied," a soft easy chair, and a purring cat at my side, and I'm about as happy as a human ever gets. [Note: was anyone else intrigued by the descriptions of making klava in *Issola*? Steven, have you ever really prepared such a thing, or are you just taunting us? While we're at it, am I correct in assuming kethna tastes like venison?] As soon as the Sparhawk series was > revealed to be a quest for Yet Another Blue Stone, I figured out > what he was doing and threw the book across the room I absolutely cannot cope with that series, nor with his "rehash" books (Belgarath the Sorcerer, etc). He hasn't earned the right to pay homage to himself (and for the record, neither has Kevin Smith)! Nikki, stuck on food today... Steven's books always make me hungry!