His Dark Materials - Who's read it?

[ivyagogo]

I am listening to The Subtle Knife right now and am almost done with it. I think I liked this book more than the first one and since there is so much more to cover, I think I will like Amber Spyglass most.

Opinions?

[GeordieLass]

I love those books.

I read them ages ago (need to read them again before the film comes out to remind myself what the story should be...) and from what I remember I prefered Northern Lights to the other two. The Amber Spyglass just makes me cry.

[ivyagogo]

I just finished. I see what you mean now. It was quite a tear-jerker. I will stand by what I said before, I liked the Amber Spyglass the best. Now I can't wait to see the movie! I want to see what they do with the armoured bears.

[iami]

I've read and loved all three books. It would be difficult to pick a favorite, although, yeah, the ending of the Amber Spyglass was a REAL tearjerker.

I related really well to the books because we've spent a lot of time in Oxford and many of the places are very familiar, especially Jericho and the University .... even though fictious place names were used, it was easy to imagine which "real" places were used as backdrops. And the real places are almost as magical as the book places. Doesn't the last scene take place in the botonical gardens? It's one of my favorite Oxford places.

And there really IS a Sunderland Ave... and it's right where it's described as being.

I love Pullman.

iami

[SekretReligion]

There's a movie coming out? Really? When? I must get my head out of the hole.

It's been a while but I loved them all. And I cried too at the end of The Amber Spyglass.

[GeordieLass]

I think the movie's out later this year. I know Daniel Craig is Lord Asriel and Nicole Kidman is Mrs Coulter.
I'm really curious about how they do the daemons.

IMDB page

[xrayspex]

Amazing books, probably in my top 5 of all time. Looking forward to the film - didn't know they had cast Daniel Craig - think that will be an excellent choice. Can see him and Nicole Kidman having fantastic on screen chemistry

[iami]

daemons, yes, that will be a challenge. I've seen a few pictures of stuffed ones.... god, I hope they don't just use inanimate furry fuzzballs. It would be nice if they could use real animals a la Babe.... even animated ones could be done cleverly.

iami

[ivyagogo]

I didn't actually read the books - I listened to them on my iPod. Every so often, I would have to duck into a book store and look up some of the names and words so I could see how they were spelled. I listen to the HP books all the time, but I have the benefit of having read them each a dozen times to start with.

[palomino-72]

I first read the series a couple of years ago. Absolutely brilliant stuff. I've spent a good bit of time in Oxford too, so like iami, I found that added to the enjoyment - though I guess you could say that of any book in which you're familar with the setting.

I hope the film is good. Not sure who's making it though - if it's an American production company, I'd have my doubts about the integrity of the storyline when the transition to film is made. The religious right in America loathes these books (for obvious reasons) so I imagine there will be plenty of condemnation when the film comes out - unless there are MAJOR changes to the storyline...