The New York Times has a gossipy piece this morning on the filming of Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. Trouble with the actors, special effects more difficult to manipulate, big budget, nervous studio....blah, blah, blah.

What really got me was the acknowledgement that the studio and the movie’s writers had greatly toned down the philosophical and religious content of the book. Well, that’s not quite right. What I should say, is they toned down Pullman’s diatribe against the Church and the harm misguided leaders can cause.

If you’ve been in one of my classes you know what a fan I am of Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. I mean what can you say about a book with a main character named, “Lyra Silvertongue” who travels with her “daemon” and has a machine that helps her determine the truth. Yet, even armed with what is true and what is not, Lyra still struggles to determine who the good guys are.

Pullman is infamous for his lack of love of the Church and it would have been easy for him to write the antithesis of Narnia. But instead, Pullman creates the most fanciful worlds with animals and machines and the unknowable “dust” that far outreaches the likes of Harry Potter and Diagon Alley. I fell in love with the books, but after I read a New Yorker piece on him, I was hopelessly in awe.

My recommendation? Read the trilogy way before the movies comes out later this year. And then tell me what you hope your Daemon is!

And while you’re at it, what books do you wish were never turned into movies? (HINT: if you register, you can leave comments and participate in the discussion!)