I love all of the books, but I agree 8, 9, and 10 are pretty slow. I really liked 9 though, but that is because Mat is my favourite character... I loved 11, but the past two by Brandon are simply amazing. I do have to say that some of the talk or characters bug me though. The lingo is just too modern for WoT, and Mat is off IMHO. He was a bit better in the last one, but he is still off to me.
I think I liked The Gathering Storm more than Towers of Midnight. Towers is almost like a bunch of wrap-ups for all the story lines. It was needed, and I thought the book totally rocked, but it flowed differently.
I would recommend Dragonmount.com for any WoT info, but I use Encyclopedia WOT as well (mind you I am partial since I kind of work for Dragonmount).
Mewmartigan, the ebook of Towers of Midnight was originally coming out much later, but Brandon talked Harriet into releasing it sooner. It is out now, so less than 3 months since the hardback release.