Philip Gets His Groove Back

After his unusual demureness in face of the star-making machinery, I'm pleased to see Philip Pullman recovering his characteristic pugnacity to defend his dark materials from the interference of the interfering Faithful: "Religion grants its adherents malign, intoxicating and morally corrosive sensations. Destroying intellectual freedom is always evil, but only religion makes doing evil feel quite so good."

It ain't all Demi

Claire looks at Buddhism and Hinduism in her ongoing series of booklists on world religions.

A semi-related question: people who went to college a generation after I did swear that Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children is the greatest book they ever read. Is it hard?

At the Movies

Anita Burkam reviews Prince Caspian.

Good for the Jews

and good for you, too: Claire's latest booklist.

Reading religiously

Claire's been doing just that.