weltschmerz

I've finished His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman; it took little over a week. It's not often that I can't put a book down, and I hope I haven't done any permanent damage to my vision.

I can't recommend the trilogy highly enough. "Epic" is tossed about terribly freely as a soundbite description nowadays, but I think HDM deserves it fully. The last book I felt so profoundly moved by was The Lord of the Rings trilogy, many years ago, or possibly The Great Gatsby and some of Douglas Coupland's works, more recently. HDM and LotR are alike in some ways, and different in so many others. It's also evident that Pullman and Coupland have a similar Weltanschauung; it would be rather interesting to sit them together at a dinner party.

I have no wish to dissect the text in minute detail, nor is it possible for me to do justice to Pullman's astonishing achievement with a review. But please do read HDM if you haven't already. And the next time I'm in Oxford, I may even pop by the Botanical Garden...