 The Golden Compass |
|
The Golden Compass is the best book I've read this year.
It's also the only book I've read this year, but that's beside the point.
There are a lot of reading moments that I love. I love how flat the covers lie before I open a book for the first time. I love bending back the corners of pages I want to remember. I love the first time I reach for the pen to underline a passage that strikes me.
And I love, love, love that feeling of knowing I won't sleep until I finish a book. That even if I attempt to turn off the light and curl up under the blanket, I will toss and turn and imagine until I just break down, reach for the light, and devour the pages until there are no more to turn. That feeling hasn't hit me for a while, but it did last night as I got into The Golden Compass. I don't remember exactly where I was when I realized I was not putting the book down until I finished, but I literally felt my heart start to beat a little bit faster. Jeannie walked into the room because I hollered, "NO. WAY!"
So I just kept reading, unaware of the clock ticking, ignoring that it was set for bright and early the next morning, lost in my own time. Lost in time with Lyra. And Iorek Byrnison and the gyptians and the witches and the children.
I know at least a couple of you have read this book, so you'll understand what it meant to me to read it as Daisy lay curled up beside me. What it felt to read of the dæmons Pan and Ratter as I felt her heart thumping in a steady beat with my own breath. To feel that close to this animal whose spirit is so intertwined with my own. I realize how gag-inducing this might sound to anyone who doesn't have a pet. I don't care. If you do, you know. If you've read this book with your bird sitting on your shoulder or your cat curled up in your lap or your dog lying beside you, then you know. If you haven't, you should. You should.
It took my breath away.
Not just because of how closely I identified to how close Lyra felt to Pan because I love my damn dog, but because of the story. The wonderful, wild, whimsical story that was so complex that I had to actually slow myself down from hurrying to the end so I wouldn't misunderstand anything. This isn't a book that can be skimmed. You'll want to rush because you'll be dying to figure out what's happening, what the Dust really is, what Gobblers really do, what in the holy hell the word panserbjørne means, what went on between Farder Coram and Serafina Pekkala, what happened to Iorek Byrnison's armor, what exactly that light is in the sky ... the list goes ever on and on.
I loved Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series, so much so that I spent money I didn't have to buy all five books for Shelley at Books of Wonder because I wanted her to read them like I did and love them like I did. I mean, I really loved those books.
The Golden Compass blew those books out of the water. Or should I say the snow.
I don't know what it was about this book. Maybe it was knowing that with every sentence I finished, I could see myself in the future going back to read it all over again and finding something I was missing at the moment. I never knew it was possible to fall in love with an armored bear.
If you like Tolkien, Lewis, L'Engle, bloody Harry Potter -- just go ahead and read this book. Trust me. I know what I'm talking about. It's brilliant. Get off your ass and start the new year right.
journal archive
© Copyright 2001 words diminish |
The Subtle Knife, the sequel to The Golden Compass Hearing Bob Dylan, Nashville Skyline Journal Quote du Jour I should have named my polar bear Iorek Byrnison, not Pokey (except I had Pokey in 1976, 20 years too early to know the other name). Ainsley has been superseded as a name for my hypothetical child by Lyra. I want a new stuffed animal I can call Pantalaimon. --Week in Review, from Lisa's Speaking Confidentially Lisa, look what I found out about the name of your hypothetical child. It seems fitting that our Lyra should be named for a constellation. Okay, I am about to weep. Inspiration du Jour "Why do dæmons have to settle?" Lyra said. "I want Pantalaimon to be able to change forever. So does he." "Ah, they have always settled, and they always will. That's part of growing up. There'll come a time when you'll be tired of his changing about, and you'll want a settled kind of form for him." "I never will!" "Oh, you will. You'll want to grow up like all the other girls. Anyway, there's compensations for a settled form." "What are they?" "Knowing what kind of person you are..." --Philip Pullman, The Golden Compass
|
