Gotta Love Your Controversy Every Once in a While: Phillip Pullman's "The Golden Compass"

Last semester I had the opportunity to take a Young Adult Fiction class. We had to read a total of 25 books by the end of the semester and we had to cover certain categories. For my fantasy choice, I chose to read the controversial "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman. You can read a little bit about the book and its being banned here.

I decided to read the book for a couple reasons. I saw the movie in theaters and that generally encourages me to read the book if I haven't already. Also I must admit that the controversy is part of what enticed me to read it. After seeing the movie, I couldn't really see what the big deal was. I knew there was apparently meant to be Atheist theology embedded in the story but I couldn't see it (most likely because they appear more in the book than the movie :) go figure). So I decided I couldn't judge the story for myself until I actually read it.

Here's a little background for those of you who don't know already. The book is set in a world much like our own. However, each person has a daemon, which is essentially a person's soul that follows them around in animal form. The protagonists are a young orphan girl by the name of Lyra and her daemon, Pan. It's one of your innocent embarking on a journey type of stories. There are a group of people known as Gobblers who capture children that they think won't be missed such as orphans. Lyra's quest first starts when her best friend, Roger, is captured by the Gobblers. To make this summary very, very brief, Lyra must travel to the north to save her friend and disrupt the work of an organization called the Magisterium. Where does the golden compass fit in? The compass, known as the Aletheomiter if I remember correctly, will answer any question as long as you know how to read it. It was given to Lyra, but she soon finds that there are people who would do anything to get it from her hands and keep her from fulfilling the destiny that she doesn't even know she is meant to be a part of.

At first I didn’t think I was going to like the book. It was okay, but it didn’t pull me in from the start. I also found the beginning a bit confusing. In one aspect that works with the story as we view the story through Lyra’s eyes, and she knows very little of the world outside of Oxford where she grew up. However, it took a long time for Pullman to explain what daemons are and the sort of laws or taboos that come with them. When he finally does describe them, we only get small bits at a time, so a complete picture isn’t created until at least halfway through the book.

I really began to enjoy the book from about the time Lyra meets an armored bear, Iorek Byrnison, to the end. She meets Iorek halfway through the book FYI. That is where I began to feel connected to the characters and that drive to finish just so I could know what happened. That alone makes me want to read the rest of the series. As far as the controversy is concerned (most of it actually stems from the third book in the series), Pullman doesn’t hide the fact that the Magisterium is essentially a branch of the Catholic Church. The Magisterium also conducts experiments on children which may also be open to controversy. Neither of these things bothered me when I read the book. I was a little bothered by the children experimentation when I saw the movie since slthough we don't see them being probed or tortured or anything, we see the aftermath when Lyra finds one of the children who has escaped.

I suggest that you don't judge this book by it's controversy before you try to read it for yourself. There are plenty of banned/challenged books that are wonderful. Have a look for yourself! Or even a second glance! Now I understand that some books have been banned reasonably, so be wise in your choices. But there are challenged books Madeliene L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time" that I just have to stand up for!

There are two more books that follow "The Golden Compass" which are "The Subtle Knife" and "The Amber Spyglass".

Decadent Biscuits

I got this recipe from my next door neighbor. I made them two days in a row, and my roommate could not stop telling me how "decadent" they were. They are super easy, super fast, and super delicious.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 Tbs baking soda
2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine ingredients in a medium sized bowl and stir until just mixed. Drop onto cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until biscuits just start to turn a golden brown.

These will puff up quite a bit. I didn't realize this the first time I made them, so I ended up with rather large biscuits.

Peanut Butter Cookies

I stole this recipe from my lovely sister-in-law, Laura. The first time I ate one I couldn't stop eating them. There were at least two dozen and I, with the help of my brother Stuart, ate pretty much all of them in one night. Laura wasn't very happy... But that's how good they are!! When Megan and I made them, they turned out a little differently for reasons unknown to me. But they were still very good!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 egg
1-2 cups chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Mix Peanut butter, brown sugar, baking soda and egg.
Add chocolate chips and mix well.Drop onto greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350’ for 9 minutes.
Be sure to cool for 5 minutes before moving to cooling rack - they're crumbly soft.

And then, of course, the only thing left to do is eat them!!! Just don't eat them like I do...

Dang Yankee

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
By Mark Twain
c. 1889
pp. 336

I recently finished reading A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain for my American Lit class, and I was glad when it was over. It's difficult to give even a synopsis of the story as there is not a solid plot, but I'll give it a whirl. The main character is Hank, who, after being struck by one of his employees, finds himself back in medieval times--in Camelot, no less. Hank is to be hanged the next morning, but luck is with him, and he remembers learning about a solar eclipse that happens to occur that very next day. He claims to be a magician and "prophecies" the darkness that was to occur and thus escapes death. He becomes second only to King Arthur, who is too ignorant to figure out anything on his own anyway, so Hank becomes known far and wide as "The Boss."

The remainder of the novel jumps all over the place with random people, random adventures, and random rambling. Hank is constantly referring to the ignorance of the people at that time and introduces nineteenth century technology to help keep up his magician status. The book has its moments and was amusing at times, but as I mentioned before, there isn't a solid plot--fifteen mini plots, maybe. It was a tolerable book, but I will most likely not read it again.

World's Best Chili

I absolutely love this chili! I hope you enjoy it too!

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1/2 c chopped onion

1/8 tsp garlic powder

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can kidney beans

1/2 c water

1 (6 oz) can tomato paste

2 to 3 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp basil

1 tsp salt

Directions:

Brown beef. Add onion and garlic powder. Drain and add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.

I like to top it of with cheese and sour cream. And it's great with cornbread! I would recommend Krusteaz honey corn bread.

Some other things I've discovered about this recipe is that you can substitute two small cans of tomato sauce and don't add water if you do not have tomato paste. It'll turn out a little different, but it's still good. Sometimes I had more of the spices than the recipe suggests as well.

The Tale of Desperaux: Movie Edition

I saw this movie on Tuesday, a rather stressful day. Part of me said I shouldn't go see it because of all the things I should be doing. But I gave in, and I have no regrets.

The movie is based of the book by Kate DiCamillo, author of "Because of Winn Dixie", "The Tiger Rising", and "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane". The characters are voiced by Emma Watson (perhaps you know her best as Hermoine Granger), Matthew Broderick, Sigourney Weaver, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Kline, and Christopher Lloyd to name a few.

I have not read the book so if you want any sort of comparison, you won't find it here at this time. The movie itself was entertaining. One of my roommates found it a little hard to follow as it does follow three different characters. However, I felt they did a good job of incorporating all the necessary stories into the whole. The characters were well created and believable, even if half of them were mice/rats. I even felt that the music was engaging and helped add to the story. They use a lot of narration which I am guessing is a lot like what is written in the book. I did begin to wonder if they had a little too much narration, but overall I liked the effect. It made it a little more enjoyable for me to hear some of that language. I guess that's an English major for you :) Overall, well done and I would recommend it.

The only thing you might have a problem with is a character formed of fruits and vegetables. That might be a little too much for some people. But give it a whirl! I hope you like it as much as I did!

Now I just need to read the book!

Curses

Don't you wish that there were times in your life when you could bless that special someone with a curse? For instance, wouldn't you like to force someone to speak in a french accent while simultaneously speaking with an imaginary golf ball in their mouth? I know I would, and now it is possible!! Welcome to the family friendly game of CURSES! I was first introduced to the game during play rehearsal in high school. At the time, I was an observer. I was glad that the first opportunity I had to play the game was with family only. It's easier to make a fool out of yourself in front of people who've known you long enough to know you are a fool already!!

So here's the gist of the game.

A player will first pick up a challenge card, read it outloud, and do whatever it says to do. For example, your card may say "You have just become president of the United States! Tell the other players what you would say in your inaugeration speech." After said player has fulfilled the requirements of the challenge card, they take a curse card and, with out looking at it, give it to the player of their choice. The person who has the curse will read the card to everyone and then they must continue doing whatever is on that card for the rest of the game or until they break the curse (not a good thing is this game!!).

The curse card will say something like "Whenever someone says the name of a food shout 'That sounds delicious'". So for the rest of the game, that person would have to say "that sounds delicious" whenever someone mentioned food. You no longer have to do that curse if it is broken. The way a curse is broken is if someone catches you not doing one of your curse cards. They would ring the bell and inform you of your mistake. You then turn that curse card over. If you turn over three curse cards, you are out of the game. The person who survives is the winner!

It was a fun game although sometimes frustrating when you start to get a whole bunch of curses. It becomes more fun if you intentially try to get the other people out though. Not to mention the joy of seeing everyone else look stupid.

If you get a good sized group and one that is willing to put their sane reputations on the line, this is a great game for all!!