So, I have seen on a few of the blogs that I read that people are participating in Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop. Basically, the idea is that she posts a set of prompts and people pick one or more to write about and then post their links on her site. It has been something that I have thought about trying, and just have not got around to it. So, now I am getting around to it and I think it will be fun, plus it will also give anyone reading my blog a little more insight into me. So, from this weeks prompts, I chose number two: “What book captured your heart? Write about why the first book you loved is the first book you loved.”
I think the book that captured my heart was The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. It is the first part of the His Dark Materials trilogy, which is also my favorite series of books ever. I first picked up the original hard cover edition of The Golden Compass after reading a review that had been cut out of the newspaper and was posted on the end of a shelf at the Borders in the Atrium Mall in Newton, MA. I think that it is amazing that I remember that much detail, but i can’t remember who I was at the bookstore with, though I think that it was my grandmother. Needless to say, I picked up the book very close to when it was released in 1995.
I remember the first time that I opened up the book to start reading it. I felt like I was a little over my head and only a few pages in I was lost and couldn’t figure out what was going on. I mean, I was only 11 at the time. So, I put the book down for a while. however, when I came back to it later on I was completely sucked into the story. I have always been a fan of sci-fi/fantasy books and this story was no exception.
I am not even really sure what it is about the book that really sucked me in. This is one of those stories that I really let take over my world. This was a story that I could see all of the events unfolding in my head like they were real or a movie in my mind. I would read into the night, lying in bed and then I would fall asleep thinking of all the things going on in the world of the story. Sometimes I would even fall asleep making up my own stories that included me in the story.
Then, while I was in college, there was a fire at my parent’s house. The biggest loss (aside from the back of the house) was books. I think I lost the entire series. So, my girlfriend at the time bought me a new set of the entire series as a birthday gift the year after the fire. So of course I had to re-read the entire series. I also picked up the audio books of the series to listen to. Every time I re-read or listen to these books I get more out of the story or I uncover something that I haven’t noticed before.
These stories touch on so many different themes and ideas. Pullman creates such an amazing world and characters that I think both children and adults can relate to. Whenever people ask me for a book to read, The Golden Compass is the first one that I suggest. Most of the time I don’t even really tell people what the book is about. Some of the themes in the books may be a little edgy for some people, but I hope that people can can get over that and really enjoy the adventure.
This is a book that I go back to whenever I can’t find something new to read. It sits in a prominent place on my shelf, and probably will always be my favorite book and one of the only books that I can really say that I love.
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