The being with Lews Therin in the Book one prologue is actually Ishamael, not the Dark One himself. I won't spoil for you whether you will see the DO directly in the series or not, but there will definitely be hints of his intent and nature. 

The first time I read the series, I read every word as fast as I possibly could, devouring it.

The next couple of times, I skipped over the bits I didn't like, for example the Egwene Nynaeve and Elayne (also most things to do with the Seanchan).

I'm now on probably my tenth reread, and enjoy 99.9% of the series. Even the bits I don't enjoy I know add value to the story. I would recommend reading everything, don't skip things otherwise you won't get the full picture.

I am currently reading The Dragon Reborn, but i am also pondering over Christopher Tolkien's The History of Middle-Earth. It's hard to believe the massive amount of notes it took J.R.R Tolkien to write his epic!!

I'm actually about half way through The Dragon Reborn too, but I usually have 2-3 books on the go at once, depending on my mood, whether I'm reading on iPhone or Kindle etc. The other one I have at the minute is Christian Nation. It's a little far fetched, however for some people on the religious right I suppose it would be a sort of utopia for them, a heaven on Earth.

Doing a reread of aCoS at the minute, but for the life of me I can't remember whether Old Cully turned out to be someone significant later on? I'm assuming it was either him or Shiaine who set the beggars on Nyneave and Elayne and later on on Mat but it's nagging away at me.

I've reread this series many times, but only just really took in that bit about an eleventh man. Is it possible it's a Gray Man?