Book Quote of the Day

“I’ll be looking for you, Will, every moment, every single moment. And when we do find each other again, we’ll cling together so tight that nothing and no one’ll ever tear us apart. Every atom of me and every atom of you… We’ll live in birds and flowers and dragonflies and pine trees and in clouds and in those little specks of light you see floating in sunbeams… And when they use our atoms to make new lives, they wont’ just be able to take one, they’ll have to take two, one of you and one of me, we’ll be joined so tight…”
― Lyra, His Dark Materials Trilogy: The Amber Spyglass, Philip Pullman

Book Quote of the Day

“You are so young, Lyra, too young to understand this, but I shall tell you anyway and you’ll understand it later: men pass in front of our eyes like butterflies, creatures of a brief season. We love them; they are brave, proud, beautiful, clever; and they die almost at once. They die so soon that our hearts are continually racked with pain. We bear their children, who are witches if they are female, human if not; and then in the blink of an eye they are gone, felled, slain, lost. Our sons, too. When a little boy is growing, he thinks he is immortal. His mother knows he isn’t. Each time becomes more painful, until finally your heart is broken. Perhaps that is when Yambe-Akka comes for you. She is older than the tundra. Perhaps, for her, witches’ lives are as brief as men’s are to us.”
― Serafina Pekkala,  Northern Lights, Philip Pullman,

Book quote of the day

“And she looked back again at the foul and dismal shore, so bleak and blasted with disease and poison, and thought of her dear Pan waiting there alone, her heart’s companion, watching her disappear into the mist, and she fell into a storm of weeping. Her passionate sobs didn’t echo, because the mist muffled them, but all along the shore in innumerable ponds and shallows, in wretched broken tree stumps, the damaged creatures that lurked there heard her full-hearted cry and drew themselves a little closer to the ground, afraid of such passion.”

“His Dark Materials: The Amber Spyglass” – Philip Pullman

February Book Challenge – DAY 10

Book that changed your life

It is hard to pinpoint such a book, but i think the obvious one for me was His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, purely because of the ending where Lyra and Will have to go back to their own worlds and be separated forever after only having just realised their love for each other. That made me thankful that i will never have to go through that, but it taught me that sometimes wanting the best for someone means making a big sacrifice. I was only about 12 when i read the trilogy and it made me want to love like they did, and it opened my mind to different ideas.

February Book Challenge – DAY 6

Favourite young adult book

I have a few of these as i have read many great ones! Should i be boring and go with the obvious? Yeah, i’m afraid it’s a close tie between the Harry Potter series and His Dark Materials trilogy! Because i’ve read the former more times though, i’m choosing Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows as my favourite! (Does it count as YA though? Not sure)

February Book Challenge – DAY 5

Book you wish you could live in

I always wanted to live in Lyra’s world in His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman because i always wanted a dæmon because it seemed nice to have that constant companion. I also quite liked the idea of being friends with witches and armoured bears. I just love fantasy worlds where anything is possible!

“His Dark Materials”

Image via Wikipedia

I have been re-reading His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman recently.

Having not read it since i was a teenager (and a young one at that), i was intrigued to see how it would affect me this time around.

It’s still as magical and as engrossing a read as it was when i first read it, and it feels pretty much the same. But of course, i now know how controversial the content is, and i understand it more than before.

When i got to that bit in The Amber Spyglass where Lyra and Will start to realise they are in love with each other, i had to stop reading for a while. Having experienced these feelings myself in the time since i last read the series, it feels all the more potent to me. I felt profoundly moved by the description of the feelings and the emotions and the beauty of it. As i also know the feelings on heartbreak, this bit is difficult for me to read.

However, these books are simply awesome and i still love them as much as i did the first time i read them!

June Book Challenge – Day 8

Image by Beppie K via Flickr

Today’s question: What is your favourite book genre?

Fantasy

- I have always loved fantasy novels, i guess it’s the escapism aspect. Forgetting the real world for a few hours is the main reason i read books, and it’s even better when i delve into some strange imaginary world! I loved “Harry Potter” from the moment i read the first book, but i also love the “Wicca” series by Cate Tiernan, “His Dark Materials” by Philip Pullman and many others.