flower76 just pointed out to me that they're in pre-production for His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (aka Northern Lights [UK]). Nicole Kidman is cast as Mrs. Coulter. When a book I love is going to be made into a movie, I feel the ambivalence of excitement and trepidation. Like the Lord of the Rings, this trilogy of books is epic in its scale, and I know that there will be parings down, but I have to hope that they do it justice. Like with the Harry Potter books, I have a very particular image in mind, and the movies need to pluck that from my mind and put it on screen or do it one up.
If you're local and want to borrow them for reading, I have the box-set of paperbacks, and I'm willing to loan them out.