The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass - Philip Pullman - I've been meaning to read this series for years, probably since before the movie came, yet I've never gotten around to it. This November while hubby was in Portland he stumbled into a fun little book store with shelves stuffed with both used and new books. Somehow he stumbled upon the series. He bought all three and presented them as early birthday gifts. I thoroughly enjoyed this first book. The movie follows the story almost exactly so if you've seen it you know the book. These books exist in an alternate history of the world where people carry their souls outside of their body in the form of animals. Lyra the young protagonist is an orphan growing up with little supervision in an all male college. One day she decides to spy on the master of the college and finds herself swept up in a political game. There have been some efforts to ban the this book because of negative references to "the church". Pullman probably is making some social commentary. For me it is a non issue. I did happen to find some issue with the basic "rules" of the story but I read it for entertainment, and entertaining is how I found it.