In my defense, I can only claim that I was in elementary school and I read anything that wasn't nailed down. But a few months ago, I sat down in Barnes & Noble and skimmed through the entire Belgariad, and I was amazed I hadn't taken physical damage from the first read-through.*

*Or the exchange halfway through the Mallorean where the characters all sit down and discuss why it is that the plot is a complete rip-off of the Belgariad. Yeah. That wasn't so good either.