Is anyone else a fan of David Eddings? It's very rare that one author has as strong an impact on somebody's life as his work had on mine. He's penned the 5 part series the Belgeraid, and its 5 parts sequel the Mallorian as well as two stand alone prequil novels, Belgarath the Sorcerer and Polgara the Sorceress.
When I was 13 I wasn't much of a reader and as shallow as many people my own age were at that time. We went on a road trip and I knew that I would be bored out of my skull so my dad took me to the book store. I don't know WHAT drew me to his books but I bought the first five part series, and since then I was hooked.