My interest in this trilogy was always high, but I was moved to read them all in a 2 week period after hearing Philip Pullman interviewed about it on CBC’s Writer’s and Company (I think that’s the show) late one night. He made clear that this was more of an adult book than a children’s book, especially after the first book. Like most people, I was amused by the objections to the book by the church and various school boards in the lead-up to the first movie release. Predictably, that was a blip probably fueled by media hype. Still , it resulted in getting to hear him speak, not only about the books, but about his opinions of CS Lewis, Tolkien, and a little about White.