Amergin, are you reading the Cooper books for the first time? If so, I envy you. I read them as they were being published, waited eagerly for each new one to come out and felt such a let-down as I closed the last book for the first time, knowing there would be no more new ones. Cooper's subsequent books are charming, especially her newest one (King of Shadows) but I'll never forget my first delight in the Dark is Rising series. And my two children now love them and re-read them- that's fun!
I'm slogging through Kathleen Norris' Amazing Grace, waiting for something else better to come along.