I think next up on my reading list will be "All the Weyrs of Pern." I read it before a few years back, so maybe this go around I'll be prepared for a certain event in it and won't end up bawling my eyes out.

There's an amazing used book store two minutes from where I work, so whenever I start to run low I collect books that I've already read and trade them in for store credit. My list of "books that I hope to find at McKays" keeps growing whenever I try out a new series there. My only gripe with McKays is that they price the Redwall books only slightly cheaper than what you could find them for at Waldenbooks.

If anyone's looking for some good reading, I highly recommend:

Anything by Neil Gaiman. "Coraline," "Good Omens" (co-written with Terry Pratchett of "Discworld" fame), "Neverwhere," and "American Gods" feature high on this list. I found "Stardust" to be so-so, with the characters seeming a little stiff, but that's not stopping me from eagerly awaiting "Anansi Boys" to come out.

McCaffrey's Pern series is also extremely fascinating. The whole series takes place over a span of 2500 years, and it's just absolutely amazing to see the culture she manages to create. My advice is not to read the books in chronological order, but to start instead with the Harper Hall Trilogy and follow it up with the Dragonriders of Pern part of the series. Because if you start with "Dragonsdawn," you're going to get a lot of names thrown at you and have no clue what their significance is.

Glen Cooks' Garrett, P.I. series is another fun read. You can start with pretty much any book in the series and you're given just enough backstory to (1) whet your whistle for more of the books and (2) keep you from being confused about who's who. They're just the right mix of funny and sarcastic. Though from Petty Pewter Gods on down the line they start to lose something.

Spider Robinson - highly recommend. Sci-fi with the empath's touch to it. The Callahan's series is an excellent place to start, though the early books can be tough to find. The main theme behind the series is that "shared pain is lessened; shared joy increased." There are tall tales and awful puns and people overcoming problems together. PT's Thursdays always seem to have a similar feel to these books. And, if you're not easily offended, the two Lady Sally's books are also very good reads, and really, the fact that they take place in a "house of ill-repute" isn't that big a deal.