His Dark Materials

I feel like I can't write properly about HDM because I didn't take notes as I read, but I do want to get to talk about it. I'll start with some random thoughts--please chime in!

I summed up the trilogy when recommending it to a friend by saying it was as if CS Lewis and Madeleine L'Engle had a love child called Philip Pullman. Yes?

We've already talked about daemons, so I'll leave that out.

I cried--and I don't mean I teared up--I bawled so much that I used several tissues and had to clean the explosion of tears off my glasses, when Lyra had to leave Pan. I can't remember EVER reading of a young character going through so much pain. Can you?

Mrs. Coulter: I would have been happier if she hadn't redeemed herself. I despise that monkey.

Iorek Byrnison: Is it wrong that I was attracted to a polar bear?

Mary Malone: I love her. I love the mulefa. I wish I could live in that world.

Will: I nearly stopped reading when the gost of John Parry mentioned that everyone has to live in his or her own world, because I knew that Will and Lyra were going to have to separate. I cried at their separation, of course, but not like I did when Lyra left Pan. (Because I knew it was coming? Because a part of me knows they're "just kids"?) How I love this boy. I love him more than I love Calvin O'Keefe. I hope Teddy grows up to be like Will.

I like the idea of Dust, and I cried when when Lyra and Will led the ghosts out of the land of the dead; that whole notion of your essential energy being released back into nature has always been the one I'm most comfortable with. And I like the idea of building the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth.

I'm fascinated with the idea of God's being just as much an oppressor as organized religion.

Okay, I've gotten us started. I have to work on my fake library project.