Hmm... it was only a few years ago that I found WOT, to be honest. My dad's boss, knowing that I loved fantasy, loaned me the first three books. I started reading The Eye of the World, but dropped it after discovering that the first chapter was slow. A few weeks - okay, months - later, I was bored and picked it up again. And I was hooked
Pretty much the same thing happened to me today with A Game of Thrones (friend recommended it a few years back, I couldn't get into it, and I picked a copy up today and was hooked). I obviously should've taken a hint, given that was my initial reaction to WOT, now one of my favourite series...