I adore reading. I first started reading intensively when I was in third grade because my mom was pregnant and didn't have much time to read to me anymore. So I started reading on my own, and jumped headfirst into a junior high series called "The Girls of Canby Hall." If I am remembering correctly, this series took place on a high school campus and was about the experiences of a bunch of floormates in a dorm. From there, I progressed into the "Sweet Valley High" series and "Encyclopedia Brown" mysteries and "The Boxcar Children" mysteries. Eventually I turned to Anne McCaffrey's "Harper Hall" trilogy and the rest of her "Pern" series. Piers Anthony's "Xanth" series was also a favorite of mine at the time. Due to talking with other people, including the librarians at the Carbondale Public Library and my best friend Alexis, I discovered other authors and books who would comprise my favorites list, many of whom I've tried to list here.
Jack the Bodiless is the first book in the Galactic Milieu Trilogy written by Julian May. The Galactic Milieu Trilogy is the last part of a series spanning six-million years. A very mind-boggling and Wagnerian-opera based series. I definitely recommend the series if you enjoy puzzling out paradoxes and science-fiction. And take a look at Steve's page on Julian May.
Go to the Romance Authors Page to discover some of the newest romances being published. My favorite romance authors include Judith McNaught, Jude Deveraux, Linda Lael Miller, and Mary Balogh.
The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey is a great retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Set in historical California, it combines the fairy tale and history wonderfully.
I just read The Wood Wife by Terri Windling. It is a great novel full of poetry and wonder and exploration.
I often wish that I had more time to read. Being in college is not entirely enjoyable when I can't balance out schoolwork with books.
Other favorite SF/Fantasy authors of mine include Peter S. Beagle, Meredith Ann Pierce, Tanith Lee, Anne McCaffrey, Patricia A. McKillip, Robin McKinley, Carol Severance, Orson Scott Card, Andre Norton, Tanya Huff. There are more, but I can't remember all of them off the top of my head. ^_^
If you're like me, you wish that you could write as well as some of my favorite authors do. Lisa Silverthorne has a great page about her writing experience and advice on getting published, including submission guidelines for various publishers.
These are the books I read in 1998. Here are the books for 2006, to be updated regularly. Screw the backgrounds, here are my categorizations of books. Many books can be categorized into more than one heading, but I don't have the time to create cross-references yet. I also have more babblings about books on my LiveJournal.