Yay! This is my second favorite genre next to mysteries. I'm partial to absurdist fantasy and Urban Fantasy but If it's got wizards or mythological creatures in it then I'm there. I've got fantasy series coming out of my ears but my favorite one is the Harry Dresden series by Jim Butcher. I think I'll read The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett for this one, it's the first book in the Disc Worlds series.

ETA I'm also currently watching Sword and Lasers first episode on youtube check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syoiGCYwTNc&feature=g-all-u&context=G20b1665FAAAAAAAACAA

I read the first Dresden Files and liked it alot.  I have the next four on the TBR pile. 

My favorite fantasy writer is Anne McCaffrey.  She has several series that are wonderful.  Dragonriders of Pern - 20 books in this series, Tower and Hive series of five books, Petaybee series of three, and another one I just love, the Crystal Singer Series (three books).  She passed away last November.  She was such a prolific writer with an imagination that was totally unique.  She has other series that I haven't read, and look forward to reading.  Anne McCaffrey

I've read a fair number of Roger Zelazny and Piers Anthony.  Can't remember what series I really liked right now.  The Xanth series I have not read, too many books.  I have all the Harry Potter books in HB.  The Lord of the Rings trilogy along with the Hobbit wasn't one I liked that much, too much fighting and not enough fantasy.  So many writers, so little time!! Mary Stewart, Terry Brooks (hilarious wizard series), too many to list.

I am hopefully moving up to this week on the list to get Game of Thrones.  I'm in the single digits!!

Hmmmm, maybe I will actually have to read that first HP book. I was a fantasy nut when I was a kid but not so much now. If it had a dragon in it I was there. 

I couldn't get into Potter, I tried but I lost interest so I gave the book to my niece she ate it up then devoured the other books and the movies. I did however adore The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. I read the trilogy when I was ten, I broke my arm and couldn't go out to play very much so I checked them out at the library. I didn't read The Hobbit until I was 19 though. As I said before I am more of an Urban Fantasy and Absurdist Fantasy fan than I am a fan of traditional fantasy. Urban Fantasy has all the marks of a traditional fantasy but it is set in the modern world, usually in an urban setting. Absurdist Fantasy is purposely hilarious and ... absurd.

I have a bizare crush on Harry Dresden, I know he isn't real but if he were ... . I also love the Brothers Leandros books by Rob Thurman, they remind me of the show Supernatural, I've got the first book in this authors other series on my TBR as well.

The Potter books are interesting from a couple of aspects.  First, the books get darker and more complex as the story goes on.  It is like they are written for the level that Harry is at age wise.  So, the first one is pretty simple, and the last one is much more involved.  Each one builds on the relationships between the characters.  Second, the author did a great deal of research into old myths and made her 'facts' kinda fit, like the age of Nicolas Flammel.  He was a real person who had a reputation as an alchemist.  Rowling made him the correct age in her book by using his known birthdate.  Details like this make the books more interesting.

Nicolas Flamel

I have had the first HP book for some time and I started to read it once but the writing was so bad I gave up after a few pages. It's one of those things I want to have read and I understand she gets better as she goes along, plus it looks like a quick read. I can't say I'm really into modern fantasy. I've read every Tolkien both as a kid and adult, loved it but I'm not a big re-reader. It's kind of unusual I've re-read the ones I have but I did like them that much. When I was a teen I was a dragon maniac, I went after everything in that genre. I tried reading one as an adult and it didn't really grab me, I guess I outgrew them. 

Chris, if you're getting into Discworld for the first time I wouldn't start with The Colour of Magic.  Even though its the first, its not the best or most accessible.  I'd recommend starting with Mort (book 4) although they aren't sequential and I've not had a problem reading them out of order.

Anyone read the Game of Thrones series?  I am finally up to number 2 on the FIFO, so might get it this week.

I have it but I haven't read it. Too many unread books here! And I just ordered 3 more, ugh. 

I'm waiting for Clash of Kings at the library.

Sevenspiders, I haven't read any of the other Discworld books but I didn't really find TCOM to be inaccessible. I really liked it but was disappointed with the ending, the lack there of actually. I found Discworld through the movies though, so it may be that watching them brought me up to speed enough to not find too much fault with TCOM.

I'm not really eager to read Potter, I do enjoy YA fantasy as much as any other genre but like Star Wars the world is saturated enough with Potter for me to not have to read it to know the story. I don't want to force myself through a badly written book just because I might like the next in the series, that's just not how I roll. I've got too many books to read as it is and I find more every day so I'm not too wrapped up in reading a single series just because everyone else has. Besides in general if it has a huge hype surrounding it I'll hate a book. I didn't hate Hunger Games but I didn't really like it then I found out about the huge following and the movie I kinda figured that, that must be why I didn't like it, I could sense a hype build up.

My daughter who is now 22 started out as a poor reader. I read to her every night for years and years.  Eventually she got the hang of it and now reads Jane Austen for pleasure.   In any case I read all the Harry Potters to her, all the Star Wars.....fortunately she read the Lord of the Rings to herself, because I wasn't a fan.   But I came to love Harry and Han etc.   I don't consider myself a Sci fy  reader but have read them because of her. 

I see JKRowling has a book coming out in the fall described as dark humor.  I'll give it a try.

I'm halfway through Potter in one night, it is a quick read. Must be the large kiddie print, lol. It isn't as bad as I remember it. At least it's interesting enough that I forgot about the writing. I know the basic story too but what the heck, at least I can cross it off the list. 

I have a couple more urban fantasy series starters on my TBR so I'll probably read them in the next couple of weeks, between Orange and Historian. I'll probably read Furies of Calderon, the first in the Codex Alera series and Moon Called, the first in the Mercy Thompson series. I'm trying out the Mercy book because a friend of mine has been telling me forever that I'll love it, she has a similar taste in books as me and I caught it at a yard sale for cheap.

Game of Thrones is on its way to me!!  Yea!!  Don't know when I will get to it with The Historian on the schedule for May's reading list.

Just to add a little more here, I meant to get back to this discussion and just didn't get to it until now.

I found a cozy mystery series I enjoyed by Barbara Bretton, the first book was Casting Spells.  It is basically a paranormal cozy with some romance.  I didn't think I would like it, but it was entertaining.

I recently found another series by Annette Blair, and I got the first three.  The first is Veiled Deception, and it was funny as well as having a mystery.

There were two other series I read years ago that I barely remember, but they were both good.  One was several books dealing with Wizards traveling around their country through the use of Tarot cards.  I cannot find it with a lot of searching.  I thought the series was written by either Piers Anthony or Roger Zelazny, but I don't see anything that looks close on their book lists.   The other was a book that had some kind of lines that those with the power could use to move between worlds through something of a mist, might have been called the Void.  Cannot remember what it was and can't find it either.  Ring a bell with anyone?