2019: This makes me so happysad. I feel a greater thrill returning to characters of my childhood, while also suffering a greater loss at the understanding of just exactly what Lyra and Will went through. The entire trilogy becomes deeper the more I revisit it.

2014: I reread this book to prep for a paper in which I described my view of heaven, or at least describing what happens to ourselves when we die. It still perfectly encapsulates what I hope to occur: every particle of me returning to the earth and becoming part of the world around me.

2006: This book blew my mind, but it was mostly because it was the end of an amazing trilogy full of characters that I had fallen in love with. The religious components were understandable and helped the story along without getting in the way - or perhaps because I was raised in the Catholic tradition, it did not distract.