Ok, so what's everyone's favorite book series, if you like them at all?
When I was younger I just loved Sweet Valley Twins by Francine Pascal, and then I grew into Nancy Drew (which I still read sometimes I loved the first two Chronicles of Narnia books, but the ones after that I thought were dull and totally uneventful...(I thought that people didn't give the first book, The Magician's Nephew, as much respect as it deserved. It was much better than the second one, the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe!)
Now I'm kinda searching for a new series that I like...looking forward 2 hear anything you have to say

I really love Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children series, which includes 'The Clan of the Cave Bear', 'The Valley of Horses', 'The Mammoth Hunters', and 'The Plains of Passage'. The 5th book in the series is coming out this year.

I also adore the 'Chronicles of Narnia'. I have read them all, and my favorite ones are 'The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe', 'The Magician's Nephew', and 'The Last Battle'.

[ 02-03-2002: Message edited by: DakotaNorth ]

Why not good old "Harry Potter?" So what if they started out for kids........ my parents (2 extremely intelligent people, mind you) are both hooked on them!!
First one is "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

Also, the "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy.

the classics are always good.

I like Dragonlance.
David Eddings, Belgariad, Mallorean, Elenium and Tamuli.
Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.

I love DragonLance. It's a great storyline with unexpected funny parts... like the entire Fizban the Fabulous thing.

Can't stand Harry Potter. It's just not written up to par with, well... anything above a "Dick and Jane" primer. Unless you like sentences that stop and start like "See Spot. See spot run. Run, Spot, run."; I don't.

Haven't read anything Star Wars-y, but I've read a few book in the Star Trek series and they... didn't suck.

My favourite series is "Outlander" ("Cross Stitch" in the UK) by Diana Gabaldon. Amazing plots, believeable characters, and a witty writing style that leaves nothing to be desired.

I tried Terry Pratchett and, although that's usually "my kind" of humour (stupid humour) I just couldn't get into them. Sometimes you just can't *shrugs*.

You want a truly amazing children's series (aside from the Chronicles of Narnia - that's amazing, too!)? Try the "Swallows and Amazons" series by Arthur Ransome. That was the second book I ever read (first was "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe") not including picture books.

I really liked the Sweet Valley Twins series when I was a little kid, although I thought it got kind of stuipd once they reached high school. There was one (super special?) book I remember reading where Liz and Jess went to this funky fantasy land and met these two princes that I'd like to find and add to my "Books That I Read as a Kid that Stuck in my Memory" pile for my kids to read later (Already includes Swallows & Amazons and the Chronicles of Narnia). But I don't remember the title of that one. Maybe you could help me out with this, Misty, if you've read that one? And the one where they meet the other twins and one almost drowns?

Oh! And another series I read as a child was the BabySitters Club series! I thought that was really cool until I actually started babysitting and realised what monsters little kids are. (OK, that was just Hannah... and the other family that had the two demon children...).

[ 02-04-2002: Message edited by: LadyCaitriona ]

i loved the Narnia chronicles and read them when i was wee. i also loved the Dark Is Rising series too.
other series i read as a nipper:
The Twins at St Clares, Naughtiest Girl, The _____ of Adventure series all by Enid Blyton

in my adult life i am currently enveigled in:

James Patterson's Alex Cross novels
Patricia D Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta novels
Jeffrey Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme novels
Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus novels. i love that Rankin talks about places that i have been to in Edinburgh and Glasgow, it's just like watching 'Taggart', saying,: 'I've been there!', oops am i sharing too much now?
Anne Rice's vampire chronicles. i loved the first few four books of Anne Rice's vampire chronicles but have struggled with the follow ups like 'Pandora'.
Elizabeth Moon's Serrano legacy novels
Patrick Tilley's Amtrak Wars
The Harry Potter books - i agree with luv2read - i resisted until last summer and then became hooked.
Anne Rule's true crime books. i read her book 'the Stranger Within' and was hooked from then on.

i love all of them equally, but find it diffcult when a few of them release a new book at the same time.

Lord Andry, I have read Edding's Belgariad novels but for some reason cannot continue them. i will try again.

I have tried Lord of the Rings, but always get stuck after the Fellowship. i am going to try again tho'

can't wait for new harry p book to come out !!!

My favorite series? The 87th Precinct tales of Ed McBain (aka Salvatore Lombino, also known as "Evan Hunter"). tjoeb};>

How long does a series have to be to qualify as a series?

If a trilogy counts, I'd put Evelyn Waugh's "Sword of Honour" at the top of my list. I also enjoyed Anthony Burgess's Malayan trilogy (Time for A Tiger,The Enemy in the Blanket,The Beds in the East) and his four Enderby books.

George Macdonald Fraser's Flashman books (11 to date, I think) would also rate highly.

Any of Stephen R. Lawhead's series (he has several)
Lord of the Rings - I grew up with my parents reading them to us and I've just picked them up again and I love them.
And of course, Harry Potter. There was so much uproar about them where I live I thought I should read them and see what the mess was all about. I'm totally hooked!

That's a no brainer: The Chonicles of Narnia. I've read them several times and can't wait to read them again! My sister is nuts about The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but I still have not read them yet. Go Aslan!!!

Anne Rices' Vampire Cronicles (that's not spelled right!)

Corinne

Egypt, Italy, and Me

Hitchiker's Guide to The Galaxy - reading Mostly Harmless at the moment; but if it's only half as good as the other four, it would still rock!!

Anne Of Green Gables - how embarrassing is that? I read all these books at school, and I absoltely loved them. I've wanted to go to Canada ever since.

The Vampire Chronicles - Very enthralling books, very well done. There are just too many tacky vampire books out there, nice to see something decent!!

Dear me, could those three choices possibly be any more different?

All the books by Clive Cussler, which I will not even begin to recount! It's funny, for an old soul like me, to be so fascinated by the derring-do of Dirk Pitt. It's like a teenaged boys' adventure novel! Things just happen! Not much on detail...and as you read, you just accept it all and can't wait for the next impossible thing! Love Them. Not a series, really, just a carry over of characters from one novel to the next...super!

Thank you for reminding me of the books I used to love to read as a child, lefois.

Encyclopdeia Brown (did anyone else in the world read these? He was basically a kid detective)
and the Enid Blyton Magic Faraway Tree books...

hey tanzen, i loved the Magic Faraway Trees books, used to read them again and again when i was younger, even when i was in secondary school !!!

To me, the words HARDBACK BOOKS signify a serious thing.

I personally only have a few serious, series collections.

All 4 Harry Potter books
Jonathan Kellerman
Faye Kellerman
Patricia Cornwell
Tom Clancey
Jean Auel
Sue Grafton

I DO still have all the Nancy Drew books I collected during my younger years. All hardbacks. I stopped buying them when they went to paperback, somewhere around #56. Sad, but true....

This is my first post.. well not really, I posted in the Welcome Center but this is my first actual post in these forums. I have lots of favorite series. right now it's The Cat Who books by Lilian Jackson Braun. I took the next to the last book out of the library and was hooked. When I went back I took out the whole remaining series, 22 books and than I bought the newest one. I loved them.

Other Favorite series are:

The Harry Potter books
Nancy Drew
The Alphabet Books(K Mulhone)
Narnia Chronicals
Lord of the Rings
Diane Motts Davidson's Cooking mysteries

Jo-Ann

Hahahaha, Oh LA, it's so weird you call those choices "classic". I agree, though, the Belgariad is a great collection.

I actually really liked the Nicholas Carter bokos on the English Civil War. They're fictional, but include great gobs of very cool historical fact.

We also have Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes stories.

If there is a classic category for really bad fantasy then yes David Eddings works would certainly be amongst them. Snuggled neatly alongside Ray Feist and Hickman.
A excellent fantasy series is The Dying Earth by Jack Vance. He only wrote two, the above and Cugel's Saga, but if you still can't get enough Michael Shea wrote an alternative second book, called Quest for Simbilis.
Blind cannibals growing human parts in the garden! Great stuff and high in protein.

If you like Nancy Drew you could try other mystery types like the Hardy Boys and the Three Investigators.
There is always Harry Potter, but some people just don't seem to like it (unlike me! Go Harry!)
Slightly off the subject of series, but still on the mystery/crime theme, I am currently hooked on Agatha Christie books.

Absolute fave : DARK TOWER SERIES by Steven King. Waiting for book five.... will the time ever come????? Roland the weary traveler by way of the beam, traveling to fulfill ka.

Also enjoy: Left Behind series... Intriguing... Will this really be the way it is in the end times? An intersting look at how the unknown my not be as mysterious as we make it out to be.

I am a Harry Potter fanatic. I too resisted until finally I humored my husband and read one. Now I am a collector of books, toys, anything Harry Potter. Totally fantastic series...Neglected child gets to explore a world of fantasy where he finally is recognized as somebody, not a nobody. It's a book for anybody who has ever felt alone and wished for somebody to notice them and care for them.

I loved Narnia, too. There's a thread about which Narnia book is your favorite, that I think all Narnia fans would like. I have my own boxed set, and I still enjoy reading them.

If the Hobbit and LOTR is a series, then that's a favorite of mine, also.

I really enjoy Hercule Poirot, and the Miss Jane Marple mysteries. The Inspector Allen novels I enjoy, too.

I read Trixie Belden mysteries I was a child, but I think they are no longer published.

The books on Dune by Frank Herbert are great, and the Florida shaped fantasy world of Xanth by Piers Anthony is really fun.

I would definitly have to say "The Mediator" series by Jenny Carroll. It's fairly new and it's young adult fiction. She has other series,like 1-800-Where-R-U? and I like them both. But The Mediator is my fave!

TRIXIE BELDEN!! Oh, I completely forgot about that one. I've read every single one my aunt collected as a kid and loved them all. You're right though, I don't think they've been in print for ages.

What about Robert Jordon's "Wheel of Time", or Jennifer Robinton's "Cheysuli Cronicles"? I have also enjoyed the "Narnia Cronicles", reading them to my youngest will ever be one of my most cherished experiences. He loved them! Also, Jean M. Auel's "Earth Children" series is one of my favourites, but I have lost faith in the next book ever coming out...