So, How old are you?

[horus17]

Started in the fall of my freshman year at Michigan State in 1990. Just turned 38.

 

I think those of us that have waited the 2+ years for each next installment to come out since 1990 deserve a medal, or a ter'angreal or something. Sheesh. Just not fair that all the youngsters out there can pick it up and read straight thru all 12 books out right now!! Having to wait makes for soooooo many rereads. I think I'm on my 6th right now, almost done w/ LoC.

 

No one mentioned Orson Scott Card, but he's more Sci-Fi. I stole Enders Game from my AuntBesty back in the day, and fell in love with reading. And one of my new favorites is Neil Gaiman. And on the funny side, Christopher Moore and Tom Robbins.

 

Great topic Hoppy!!

[yoniy0]

I never returned to Harry Potter books even though i LOVED them before WoT, i find them really basic and childish, and i dont know how adults read them, i still like the movies though.

Really? See, now my experience is almost completely opposite. I started reading WoT back in '97. I was 14 at the time. The Harry Potter books I held out on because I felt (I don't know why) that it's doing bad things to the genre, but after I was forced to watch the Prisoner of Azkaban film with my little brother (you know how these things go) I changed my mind. I like the books very much now, mostly for surprising me when I first read them (the 5th one is the main exception to that, and indeed I liked it much less than I did the others). The movies, I can't stand (except for the 3rd one. Can anyone guess why?).

 

Oh, horus17 - I love Ender's game. And the shadow series. Xenocide and co. weren't as good, though.

[aunt_pol]

33, started reading them in 2000. Boyf got me 1-8, I think it was at the time, so I've only had to play the waiting game since then.

 

@horus: amen to that! I've def done about ten rereads, one per yr, and I wouldn't swear there haven't been more!

 

Because of the hanging around, I refused to read any Harry Potter book until the whole lot had been released, and was pleasantly surprised by them when I did have at them.

Also loved the His Dark Materials trilogy - was hugely surprised how moving they were.

[TalonSpiritCat]

36...and I started the series with the first release of EOTW.

[Sid]

I think those of us that have waited the 2+ years for each next installment to come out since 1990 deserve a medal, or a ter'angreal or something. Sheesh. Just not fair that all the youngsters out there can pick it up and read straight thru all 12 books out right now!! Having to wait makes for soooooo many rereads. I think I'm on my 6th right now, almost done w/ LoC.

 

How about if someone told you they thought the series was done already when you started TeoTW...  Get a little bit into TPoD and think "oh, damn it, there's no freakin' way he'll wrap it up!".  14 years and about 12 rereads later...

[TheAngryDruid]

I started reading in college, must have been '90-91. I was 20-21 at the time, am 40 now.

 

I was already into fantasy. I liked some of the posts discussing other authors. Was an avid Fanstasy/Sci-Fi reader at the time. And my arc and authors have evolved over time.

 

I started out with Tolkein (Hobbit, LTR), actually reading the copies my mother had. Also read Ursula LeGuin's trilogy, Wizard of Earthsea (and later, some of her sci-fi stuff). And CS Lewis' classic, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

 

Which led me into D&D, Gygax (glad someone mentioned Gary earlier), and then the Dragonlance novels (Weiss & Hickman, and Forgotten Realms (R.A. Salvatore, Elaine Cunningham).

 

From there, progressed more into general fantasy and sci-fi.

 

Earlier Fantasy: Terry Brooks, Stephen Donaldson (great stuff), Raymond E. Feist (good), Fred Saberhagen, David Eddings (not as good looking back).

 

Also enjoyed some crossover Sci-Fi/Fantasy types like Piers Anthony (Xanth & Incarnations of Immortality, in my younger days, then the Sci-Fi stuff) and , Anne McCaffery, and my favorite of the bunch, Roger Zelazny (Sci-Fi + Nine Princes in Amber).

 

In the sci-fi realm, my undisputed favorite is Frank Herbert (Dune + White Plague, & the Jesus Incident/Lazarus Effect Series). Also got hooked early on classic's like Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End", Asimov's "I, Robot", and Robert Heinlien's "Stranger in a Strange Land." Also like Orson Scot Card and Phillip K. Dick.

 

Now, I'm just RJ and George Martin in terms of fantasy. Tried Tad Williams & David Drake, but wasn't that into it (though it might be more me than the books). I've never read Goodkind.

 

If I had to rank them:

Fantasy: Tolkein, LeGuin, RJ, Martin, Donaldson

Sci-Fi: Herbert, Zelazny

 

[t0rque]

33, been reading for four years. 

[Crael123]

i started in 5th grade, i was 10 or 11. i am 14 now

[PrncRny]

I started reading TEoTW in HS. Freshman year, so that would be 98/99ish. I almost immediately went out and bought all that were avaliable and have just barely begun replacing books as they're falling apart.

what I find interesting about the rereads is how you can pick up on nuances of prophecy and dialogue and immediately make connections to things later in the book that you missed the first times through. I'm STILL doing that after 4 times. :)

I want my wife to read them, but she wants to wait until the last book is about to come out. She hates waiting when she's in the middle of something. lol.

 

Other Authors:

 

Terry Brooks (the shanarras are a bit overdone, i think, but the Landover series was pretty good.)

Patrick Rothfuss (if you haven't read his debut novel The Name of the Wind - DO IT! He's a great up and comer)

Brandon Sanderson (thanks for exposing me to his work, WoT!)

Elizabeth Haydon (check out the Rhapsody series. I really enjoyed it)

[goddessbec]

im 27 at the end of august and i started reading when book 9 was just about to be released. (think i was about 18 or 19?)

 

My then bf had all the books and he kept trying to make me read, he told me id like it coz there were 'girl wizards' in it (girl power had me) and i fell in love with the series, read all the books up to 9, then over the years i stopped reading them coz we broke up and he had all the books. Last year when book 12 was released i started reading them again from the start, im a slow reader though, only up to book 11!

 

trying to get my new bf into it, he loves fantasy but he said he read up to book 5 of WOT and just dosent want to read anymore. What is wrong with some people??? lol

[Red Hand Man]

27 now, started reading them when I was 25 (after grad school), have re-read them several times.

 

Lots of time when you watch people work for a living.  :)

[ed2funy]

18 now.

I'll be 19 on the 29th. ;D

 

I started when I was 16 in the beginning of 11th grade....*nods*

[Icedragon]

I was about 14 when i started reading. 23 now.

[Mik]

I got a paperback copy of TEotW from my girlfriend to kill some time in the evenings for our mountain-hike.

I think that was august '94. I couldn't put it down and bought TGH as soon as we got back.

I've been a WOT addict ever since.

 

16 years later, I'm still together with the same girl and I'm still reading sections from that same TEotW-paperback occasionally (it's barely in one piece).

I'm 34 now.

 

[Ozzie_aiel]

29 now, started reading them in my late teens

[RembrandtQ.Einstein]

21

 

To expand on this. I started reading the series with 16 mostly because I was grounded out of my ass for 3 weeks. Something about a party. I came home stoned and drunk, then since I was so inebriated I left my wallet in the kitchen for some stupid reason. My father found two open empty condom wrappers in there. This sealed the deal and my social life got castrated for a few weeks. I lasted a total of 3 days before I bitched at my mother for lack of anything to do, so later that day she picked up "A Crown of Swords" from the used books section and brought it home for me. Telling me if I am so bored I should do something productive like read.....I finally got bored enough 2 days later to crack it open.

[Ewandrina]

I have been a WOT fan for about 10 years I am now 27. I got into fantasy books with Lord of the rings, moved onto Riftwar Saga by Raymond. E. Feist then a friend told me about WOT and have never looked back. I will also say I am a Harry Potter fan as it is a great way to introduce you readers into the fantasy world, I read potter to my young son and when he is older OFC WOT will follow.

[Kemian]

im 30 now. Cant remeber when i first picked up the wheel of time but i started with a sample chapter book(first 19 chapters of TEotW) and went out straight after finishing it and bought the first 6 books as that was all that was available then. been reading and rereading them since them - such a good series!

[Senexx]

whats an ageist?

 

It is like a racist but rather than be about race, it is about age.

[Matrim DeLaneous]

First time I've read through this thread. Knew I'd be at the far end of this list.  Started about the time the series started in 1990 when I was 20 - 21.  Now I'm 41.  In my mid to late teens I read a lot of other Fiction, and then like many others, picked up Tolkien <loved it, but not as much as RJ>.  Became a voracious Fantasy Fiction reader, working my way around the shelves at Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc.  Mostly remember Weis & Hickman, Eddings' The Belgariad & The Ellenium; Feist's Rifwar Saga;  Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince, Dragon Star, Exiles; Goodkind and many others.  IMO, GRR Martin & Patrick Rothfuss are the only ones to come close to RJ.  Never really broke in to Sci Fi, but do read other types of fiction between WOT books. 

 

NOTE:  Have probably re-read the series 6 or 7 times.

[ravenfier]

I picked up TEoTW when i was 11 or 12, now im 25- be 26 in Nov. Introduced the books to my Hubby 3 years ago when he said I'm board- tossed him book 1 and now he's hook as deeply as I am, lol.

 

Never was able to get into Tolken, Rice or King- I read them to fall asleep, lol.

 

Like Norton, Niven, McCaffery( hey I was hooked on her when I was 7), Bertin(been waiting 11 year for the last book in her series, much longer than GRRM's ;D), Carol Berg, I should stop here I could go on and on with all the writers that I like.

[Owayn The Traveller]

26 and a half.

 

Started reading the books end of the last centuary.

[Hunter]

27 in two months. Started reading around 13 or so.

[jemron]

I'm 28, started reading when I was about 14 or 15.  Will still be reading/discussing (hopefully) when I'm 42.

[talligan]

24. I guess I started when I was ~12 or 13.