Philip Pullman

Wow, I'm actually quite shocked that there's no Philip Pullman thread yet :D

Pullman is an amazing author, one of my favourites, and the two series that I really like are the His Dark Materials trilogy and the Sally Lockhart Quartet (which I tend to regard as a trilogy because the fourth one isn't brilliant).

His Dark Materials is amazing in terms of character, plot and scope - I love these books, and I hope the film does them justice.

The Sally Lockhart books are set in London during the Victorian era, and are mystery books. The characters in these books are so alive and captivating, and the plots are great (though Shadow in the North is sad )

Any other Pullman fans?

oh. I've been hearing this tossed about for awhile, everyone going on about what a great author he is, and I heard one of his series is gonna be a movie? anyway I decided to FINALLY read this books XD (I hadn't read them before cause when I skimmed through them they sounded boring) and anyway I took out all three of the series...*goes to check*...whew. took a while to find them in this messy disaster zone. anyway: his dark materials.

but I haven't read them yet. :D

I will, really soon. I have about 10 books sitting around waiting for me to read them XD.

They're definitely not boring! When you start reading Northern Lights (The Golden Compass), don't be put off by the first few chapters. I started Northern Lights at one point, got bored and put it down. A few months later, I started it again and got through the first few chapters, and honestly, persevering will be well worth it!

i love his dark materials!

its one of my favourite books...ever

i just convinced my brother to buy them so we'll see what he thinks

Duck the Duck wrote:

and honestly, persevering will be well worth it!

lol thanks for the tip! though I usually tend to stick it out with books...maybe three times in my life the book was soo boring that I stopped entirely, or I flipped through till the ending. hehee I'll come back here and post after I finish reading them, though.

ooo, I love his books! I've only read His Dark Materials because I'm not exactly a huge fan of mystery novels, but that trilogy is great! The whole plot and details and everything about them is so lush and vivid... I love the whole idea of having part of your soul as an animal that reflects who you are inside!

I can't wait for The Golden Compass movie

*grumbles* Which should be called The Northern Lights :D

Anyway...

Spoiler:

Has anyone read Lyra's Jordan, the little book that is a sort of 'sequel' to HDM? It's really small, and is cloth bound (best way I can describe it). There's a short story called "Lyra and the Birds", but also lots of little artifacts from her world, like a map, postcards etc. It's worth a read.

oh, that was a really sad part! I don't usually cry at books, but that was still really sad...

Quote :

*grumbles* Which should be called The Northern Lights

But then all of the Americans would be confused! :D

But where is the compass?? There is no compass! The alethiometer is a truth telling machine, not a compass!

Well, Lyra said in the book that it looked like a compass, when she first saw it! And I don't remember the characters using the term "Northern Lights" once to describe the Aurora Borealis :D

... did I spell that right? Hm....

omg amy! i cried at the end of amber spyglass

and yes it should be called northern lights

XD

Ah, but there was no denying that the Northern Lights were there, even if they were not described as such. And whilst Lyra may think it looked like a compass the first time she saw it, it wasn't a compass!

Philip Pullman never wanted it to be called The Golden Compass. I heard that when he was taking it to American publishers, that was one of the possible titles, but then when he decided it was to be called Northern Lights, they kept TGC.

I heard that it originally came out in Britain as Northern Lights, but BOTH the publishers and Pullman decided it wouldn't sell as much in that title in the US. They used The Golden Compass because it would appeal more to our audience.

Are the other two books differently named in England than here?

Nope, they're The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. But I think Northern Lights just fits the theme of the books a lot more than TGC...

I haven't read these in a while, I ought to re-read them.

Who's your favourite character? Mine's Will :D

Mine's either Lyra or Pan... but since they're basically the same person, I guess Lyra :D

Will's cool, but I also like Mrs. Coulter... is that weird, since she's supposedly evil and all? :D

Mrs. Coulter is fantastic! She is one of the characters I enjoyed the most, clearly.

Should be Northern Lights. When I first heard of the movie being made I was sooooo confused about why it was called TGC. Until I found out why. Doesnt change that it should be NL.

Ya know, when I first started reading NL I got bored of it quite quickly. I got the books for Christmas quite a number of years ago now, and I just couldn't get into it at all. After a couple of months when I was at a loss of something to read I picked NL up again and was soooooo glad I did :D. Then again, when I was a child I was the one who just couldn't get into the Hobbit at all (due to the whole plural business at the beginning lol). Took me a good few years before I gave that a chance .

Hmm so the first book was boring till around page 65, but Lord Asriel was interesting so I kept reading. Then I had to stop and the book didn't pull me to read it, so I didn't. But then I had to babysit...so I took it along and lol, then I got caught up in it.

Ha so now I really wanna read the second book...

Spoiler:

Ooh, I'm glad you persevered with it Streams. You'll like The Subtle Knife - Will is a great character.

I think I'm going to re-read these when I'm done with my current list of books.

I did like the subtle knife! And the way it ends makes you want to grab up the third book right away...

Spoiler:

So when I run to pick up the third book the guy starts off with a whole bunch of description AGAIN. why? why??? that always throws me off and now it'll take some time before I'm intrigued enough to pick it up again and start reading it lol.

I love His Dark Materials! It's such a great trilogy! I read in on german, and just as an interesting info, the first book is named "Der goldene Kompass" ("The golden compass" )

I would like to reread it though, but it might take some time cuz... *looks* there's a heap of books wating to be read XD But I would at least like to read TGC (or Northers Lights) before I see the movie. I've seen some pics from it in a magazine... ahh, Asriel will be the guy who played the last Bond ^^

I loooooooove 'His Dark Materials' [or 'The Golden Compass'], 'The Subtle Knife' and 'The Amber Spyglass'.

Enjoy. <3