The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass is about a young girl named Lyra.  The story is set in a world where people's souls exist outside the body and are referred to as daemons.  The story revolves around a rumor about the Gobblers. These Gobblers are believed to be kidnapping children.  These Gobblers end up taking her best friend Roger and ends up going on a quest.  It was a pretty interesting story that reminds me a little bit of the Narnia books.

The Hobbit

Written by J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit is a classic heroes journey epic fantasy adventure.  The story follows a Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins who has no desires to go exploring or have any crazy adventures.  This all changes once he gets bombarded with visits from several dwarves and a wizard named Gandalf.  The mood of the story is an overall light-hearted adventure consisting of several challenges that they magically escape from.  I really enjoyed the sense of exploration and discovery of the unknown.  This is by far one of my favorite books and the only one of Tolkien's that I can actually bare to read.