Yesterday, I finished reading Philip Pullman’s “The Golden Compass,” originally published in the U.K. as “Northern Lights” and the first book in the “His Dark Materials” series. Irish John recommended I read it and I’m very impressed with it. I read the entire book in one evening and part of the following morning.

The story presents a world where humans have daemons that take the shape of animals related to the human’s character. The daemons are variable in type until the child reaches puberty, after which they become fixed in form. The protagonist is a teenage girl raised as an orphan who goes through lots of adventures.

I’ve already reserved the second volume of the series at the public library.

I read Arundhati Roy’s “The God of Small Things” over the past couple of weeks. I enjoyed the sense of experiencing Kerala, where I traveled while in India. I appreciated the way Roy addressed the issue of class and caste distinctions even in the most communist part of India. Besides, it’s a great story masterfully and suspensefully woven.

When I told my housemate Vivek about it, he reminded me that I’d seen Roy speaking along with Noam Chomsky at a large stadium in Porto Alegre during the World Social Forum in January. Vivek said many Indians feel Roy’s political theories are not practical, yet the crowd in Brazil roared its approval as she spoke.