In which I just get even geekier

So apparently, the '00s are the time for making movies based on fantasy novels--often, young adult fantasy novels. We started the millennium with The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, and then we got, much to my surprise and delight, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe--and the promise of the other six books being made into films. The Golden Compass comes out in December; Stardust comes out on Friday; and Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising is coming out...some time soon. I want to see Stardust, but I need to read the book first. And before I read that I need to finish The Amber Spyglass, which I cannot recommend highly enough. People. Please, please read the His Dark Materials trilogy. It has shot up into my favorites, nestled with The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, and A Wrinkle in Time and its companions. (It is so much better than Harry Potter. And I love Harry Potter.) It's as rich and complex as The Lord of the Rings and as brilliant about incorporating science and spirituality as A Wrinkle in Time. And it deals with the other universes thing way better than The Chronicles of Narnia--and in a manner that kind of reminded me of A Wrinkle in Time. Also, I'm not done yet, and I totally love it. If they don't make the other two books into movies, I will cry bitter, bitter tears.