"I would rather be poor in a cottage full of books than a king without the desire to read." T.B. Macaulay

I do not really have any inspirations as far as educational thoughts are concerned, but the task we've been given recently (to write about our first book in English) got me thinking in more general terms about reading books - my favorite pastime. To be more precise, about a certain type of books that I fancy - fantasy. :)
My adventure with this genre started with Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and I've read it twice in Polish before attempting the English version (you can read more about this encounter in the previous post). I've read it for the first time in Polish when I was in the 7th grade and it immediately became my favorite book. Back then I appreciated it more for the adventurous plot than for anything else (e.g. the beautiful and detailed descriptions), and skimmed through some of the more boring descriptive parts, but enjoyed it immensely nonetheless. About two years later I read it again in Polish, and this time I took in all the minute details with great pleasure. I have also read it twice in the original, but I will not get into the particulars and move on to other fantasy works that I've read.
My next encounter with fantasy was the Dragonlance saga. It now consists of over 120 books (and still growing). The first Dragonlance books have been written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, but since then other authors joined in as well. I will not mention their names, nor will I enumerate all the books (too many of both), but let me just say that I myself have read about 20 of them, and greatly enjoyed every single one. As a fantasy connoisseur I consider Dragonlance one of the best fantasy series.
Later on I've read all kinds of different fantasy writings, from a little bit rough and action-based Wiedźmin series by Sapkowski, through Roger Zelazny's Amber Chronicles that combine in an interesting way our own world with the fantasy one, Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Saga with its extremely intricate and constantly surprising plot, to Stephen King's The Dark Tower, which adds a new dimension to fantasy. Let us also not forget about Harry Potter, whose adventures in Hogwarts become darker and more interesting with every book.
But there is one author that I would like to mention in particular - Terry Pratchett. :) His books are satirical in nature and highly humorous, and will have you rolling on the floor laughing. I devour his writings just like Obelix devours roast boar, because I've read almost all of them (41 down and only 3 to go) and I can't get enough. ;) Pratchett's witty humor is amazing and I think that even if you're depressed, it will put a smile on your face in the least; and if you're more sensitive to funny witticisms, you'll be laughing out loud (just be careful when you read his books in public). :)
I could write about fantasy books a lot more as I am a big fan of this genre, but since tastes differ I urge you to read any of the abovementioned books and see for yourselves whether you like them. I'll just leave you off with a quote from Pratchett to give you a glimpse at his style:
"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who, when presented with a glass that is exactly half full, say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty.
The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: 'What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!
And at the other end of the bar the world is full of the other type of person, who has a broken glass, or a glass that has been carelessly knocked over (usually by one of the people calling for a larger glass), or who had no glass at all, because they were at the back of the crowd and had failed to catch the barman's eye."