Books You'd Like to Live In by Lauren from A Blonde Librarian

Hi everyone. 

I'm Lauren and I blog over at A Blonde Librarian. When Simona invited me to take part in this little series, I jumped at the chance to tell you all about a book I would love to live in. I thought about this alot. I thought about beautiful, peaceful, magical worlds where everything is happy. I thought about the worlds that my book boyfriends lived in (swoonage), and there were plenty to take for the picking.....but eventually I decided on my favourite series of all time - I mean EVER! 

Whilst 'His Dark Materials' by Phillip Pullman may be marketed as a children's trilogy - anyone who has read these books will tell you that there is just so much more within these beautiful pages. The story is magical, dangerous, innocent and tragic all rolled up into three amazing books. 

The world itself isn't necessarily one that I would pick out of the crowd as the most blissful world to live in. It resembles our own in many ways (it is infact a parallel universe existing alongside ours). There is alot of beauty and magic, but also lots of danger, political/religious struggle and plenty of darkness. 

You may be wondering why I picked this world as one that I would like to live in - and the answer is this.......the daemons (apparently pronounced as 'demons' but I always read it as 'daymons' so that's they way I'd like to keep it thank you)

Every human in this world has a daemon. The daemon represents their soul, and is a separate entity in it's own right. They take on the form of animals, and are always present at the side of their human. A daemon can't go too far away or it will literally be like someone has ripped out your soul. You become zombie-like and meaningless (which is a huge plot point in the books)

I adore the idea of daemons. Imagine being able to speak to and see your own soul. It acts as your guide, your conscience and your one true friend - the only other being that truly knows you and is endlessly loyal. Children's daemons constantly shapeshift, to represent the growing and immaturity of youth, but once adulthood begins, the daemon takes on a fixed form that reflects who you are. A sneaky person may have a snake as a daemon etc. My personal favourite from the book is Lord Asriel's daemon - a beautiful, majestic snow leopard that reflects his strong and powerful character. 

I love the idea of always having someone there. No one is ever truly alone. Think of all those times you have felt lonely and just wished for someone to talk to who would understand without you needing to explain. Or those times when you are torn on a decision - what better way to solve it than talking it out with your own soul? I also think it would be extremely useful to see someone's daemon and use it as a judge of character. 

I am notoriously a bad judge of character and perhaps if I had seen a visual manifestation of the rats and snakes I have come into contact with in my time - maybe I would've walked away before any trouble started (I just got all deep on y'all) I definitely think it would be really useful. 

Overall, these are my favourite books, and I would love to live in this world to explore all of the places that only my imagination has been and see the characters who captured my heart. But most of all - I really want a daemon!!!! I'm a very loyal person, very gentle - but can also be fierce if I need to be, so I think that my daemon would probably be some form of dog to reflect that.

What do you think yours would be? 

I hope you enjoyed this post. It has been a pleasure to guest post here on Simona's beautiful blog. If you haven't read 'His Dark Materials' yet, I will ALWAYS recommend it - and please don't be put off by the shocking excuse of a movie adaptation that calls itself 'The Golden Compass' - the books are infinitely better in a thousand ways. 

Thanks for reading 

xx Lauren xx