panserbjorn!
once upon a time in the north by phillip pullman.
oh la! pleasure, pleasure, pleasure. i have to say, i'm not a short story guy but mister pullman has convinced me of the merits of the novella. this is the "blue book," which along with the "red book" lyra's oxford & the upcoming "green book" are pullman's breadcrumbs, laid out for the reader to follow. the plot is a charming tale about lee scoresby (lee scarsby) & iorek byrnison (york burningson) in their callow youth, but the book is full of little odds & ends-- a whiskey label, newspaper clippings, bills of lading, that sort of thing. really it made this fabulist's black heart flutter-- armored bears! airships! & in the back, a board game to play! i tried to get jenny to take a go at it with me, but she didn't really want to. i still punched out the pieces & played around with it though. i'm very happy with these tiny little prestige books. plus, knopf publishes them, & we spell our names alike!