Lyra led him through the maze of stacks to the row near the back that seemed to have much newer bindings than most of the other books. All the wizard books looked ancient, even ones that weren't, but half of the muggle books looked like actual muggle books which baffled quite a few students.
She pulled at once that had an older binding, though, and turned to face him.
"The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," and then she went down the row a bit further and pulled out another older looking book.
"And the Count of Monte Cristo, perfect. If you don't like them let me know right away because some books just aren't for everyone and we mustn't force ourselves to read what we don't like, even if they are classics. As for leaving the castle during the week.."
Lyra pursed her lips for a moment.
"I'm twenty-three, if I don't get the chance to spend a few evenings out of this place I'm going to go mad. Surely you don't want to stay cooped up here for the remainder of your teaching career?"