Wow, lots of people here like the same books as I do
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, and George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire ... both are excellent. I also liked Harry Potter and the Belgariad series.
Something that might be kind of funny to Wheel of Time fans who are a little disappointed about the pace of the last two books:
http://rinkworks.com/bookaminute/b/jordan.winters.shtml