Here's a thread specifically about funny Mat quotes, if you're interested.

As for more serious stuff, I was just considering making a thread like this. Some of my favorites, I'll skip some of the more obvious ones....

“The stone that never falls will fall to announce his coming. Of the blood, but not raised by the blood, he will come from Rhuidean at dawn, and tie you together with bonds you cannot break. He will take you back, and he will destroy you.”

This one still gives me goosebumps every time I read it during the way back machine in TSR.

“You’ll never know if you run away, will you?” Perrin made his voice hard and contemptuous. “I will keep my promise, but if you run, you might never find me again. Run, if you want! Run, and try to forget what happens here! All your talk of protecting people from Trollocs. How many died at Trolloc hands after you came? My family wasn’t the first, and certainly not the last. Run! Or stay, if you can remember you’re men. If you need to find the courage, look at the women, Bornhald. Any one of them is braver than the whole lot of you Whitecloaks!”

I remember reading this in TSR and thinking that FINALLY someone in the series said something flat out that needed saying. I still read it today and don't know if the series has a better example of someone flat out saying what needed to be said.

“Oh, Perrin.” Marin laughed. She actually laughed, with all they faced, and smelling of fear as she did; he wished he had half her courage. “We knew what you were up to before you ever put her on her horse, and I am not sure she didn’t as well. Women do find themselves doing what they don’t want just to please you men. Now you go on and do what you have to. This is Women’s Circle business,” she added firmly.

 

Somehow he managed to smile back at her. “Yes, mistress,” he said, knuckling his forehead. “Beg pardon. I know enough to keep my nose out of that.” The women around her laughed in soft amusement as he turned Stepper away.

Can you tell TSR is my favorite of the books yet?

I just always loved this scene because it summed up so much. Perrin asking Faile to leave to save her. Faile leaving to save Perrin, the courage of everyone of the Two Rivers, and Perrin even making a little joke and making people laugh.

And one of the propechies I just love because it sounds so cool.....

“We rode on the winds of the rising storm,
We ran to the sounds of the thunder.
We danced among the lightning bolts,
and tore the world asunder.”

And of course.....

"He came like the wind. lke the wind touched everything, and like the wind, was gone."

Currently on the home stretch of finishing The Stand. I finally got a hold of a copy of Under the Dome about a month back and blew through it in about a day and a half(any King fan who hasn't read it, it's probably his best non-DT book since Bag of Bone) and it put me in the mood to go back through King's other 1,000 pagers. I was kind of surprised when I realized it had been 15 years since I had read the Stand...

So yeah, that's my past and present, my books up next are...

Fiction: Fahrenheit 451

Non-fiction: The History of the Ancient World

I am curious, actually, since I see a lot of people posting about Eddings. I have wanted to get into his stuff for the longest time, but it can be a little daunting when he has, like, 3 or 4 series floating around. What would you Eddings fans recommend I start with?

I seem to remember reading something that pretty much confirmed Taim was responsible for that second question of yours. It's been a while, and I don't remember the specfics. You're welcome, I know this has been completely unhelpful :D

I am curious now, too.....

I am just curious about this. Everyone who has read the series notices just how standalone-ish the first three books feel up to a point. I've read both that the original deal was for 6 books from the get go, but I've also heard that the book deal was actually only for 3 books and that Jordan would have ended it with the Dragon Reborn if the series wasn't popular enough to get more books.

What makes me ask is that I am currently reading the Dragon Reborn and for the first time it has really hit me just how ambiguous the references to future events are in tEotW and TGH. While right from the beginning TDR seems to be throwing out portents waaaay down the line whenever it can. Like, Rand cleansing Saidin and breaking the Aiel down the road, stuff. Just curious, anyone have any info on this?

Perrin.

People like Mat a lot for his rogue-ish personality, but that's just not my thing. And Rand, while I totally understand he has the weight of the world on his shoulders, rarely goes a chapter without annoying me about something.

Perrin, I can totally relate to. I always liked his character, but the scene in The Dragon Reborn when he spends his free time at the forge, just kind of letting himself zone, letting the work relax him....love that scene. Unlike a lot of people I like his relationship with Faile. A lot of times it can also get frustrating with every scene in a book about this manipulation, or that manipulation going on. It's always nice to read about Perrin because he rarely goes for that stuff. He is a straight talking kind of person, and his character has become strong enough where he holds his own even for his uncomplicated personality.

The part that bothers me about Cadsuane in Book 7 is where she slaps Rand after he uses balefire on the Shadar Logoth cloud of mist.  I expected him to stand up for himself, but he rolls over and takes it which is completely different than every other confrontation he's been involved in.  Rand doesn't roll over before Aes Sedai, he rolls over them.  At least until Cadsuane show's up anyway.

I think you are misunderstanding that scene a lot. That scene defines why Cadsuane is such a great character even though superficially she can appear to be just another Aes Sedai bossing Rand around.

Cadsuane doesn't screw around. She doesn't put up a fight unless she knows she's right and it's important. And usually Rand knows it too, so it's very difficult to argue with her. This scene laid the groundwork for that. Rand is the friggin Dragon Reborn, all other Aes Sedai have tried to control, use, or break him. He used balefire and what did Cadsuane do? Did she give a big speech, or faint, or any of the bluster Aes Sedai normally go on about? No, she walked right up to his face and smacked him. There is no reaction that could have surprised Rand more. And the fact that it was such a human reaction, something that Rand could have gotten from his own mother, just sets up a certain relationship between Cadsuane and Rand that no one else has. She's as close to a mother figure as Rand can have. Oh, and has been mentioned, the thing that seals the deal is that deep down Rand knew full well that he deserved that smack for using balefire. There really was nothing he could do but "take it".

As for thier first meeting, you must know that Rand's defining trait is that when someone pushing him, he will push back. Thing is, that Cadsuane didn't push him that first meeting. Oh sure, she pushed some buttons, but Rand is used to Aes Sedai coming to him and saying "You have to do this or that". Cadsuane didn't do that. She dangled the carrot to get him intrigued, but she didn't give him anything to rail against. And yeah, Rand started taking a harder line against Aes Sedai in book 6/7, but he is never in the habit of stilling or enslaving women just for mouthing off to him. The worst she would have gotten was shielded, "Big Bad Dragon Reborn" performance, and sent away. She knew that, she went in there and made sure that above all else she wasn't just another Aes Sedai to him. All he could really do was watch, and then stand there scratching her head when she left.

Not out of character...there's reason why Rand acted differently around Cadsuance then around any other Aes Sedai. It's because Cadsuane is not like any other Aes Sedai! That's what makes her charactor so great...other Aes Sedai push, and poke, and manipulate. Cadsuane has an aura of, "Here's what you need to do, lets see if your smart enough to actually listen to me, kid...."