Dear Santa, I Would Like ALL These Books....

I like this week's question from The Broke and The Bookish.  I love books.  I don’t think I could ever have enough.  My hubby (who loves books too) thinks I’m two steps away from becoming a book hoarder….  Even still, I can easily come up with ten (or more) books that I’d like Santa to bring.  So, in no particular order, my top ten books I’d like from Santa.

1.     The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger: The Battle of Tull, by Stephen King

2.     Kindred, by Octavia Butler

3.     The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks, by Max Brooks

4.     Fray, by Joss Whedon

5.     The Wind Through The Keyhole, by Stephen King

6.     At the Mouth of the River of Bees: Stories, by Kij Johnson

7.     Clockwork Prince, by Cassandra Clare

8.     A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness

9.     The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid

10.   The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

11.   Any of the Undead books I don’t own, by MaryJanice Davidson

12.   Out of Oz, by Gregory Maguire

13.   Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After, by Steve Hockensmith

14.   Moranthology, by Caitlin Moran

15.   Philosophy: A Discovery in Comics, by Margaret de Heer

16......

 Okay… like I said… book hoarder…. Ahh!

What books do you want for Xmas?

A Weekend For Sharing

I didn’t know if I’d have time participate in a Hop this weekend, but I couldn’t resist Jennifer’s prompt: “Share your favorite post from the last month and tell us why it’s close to your heart!”  There are two posts I want to share, not necessarily because they’re close to my heart. (If that were the case it would be The Dark Tower all the way!)

The first one I want to share is simply informative, Say It Right! I found a list at Literary Musings about how to properly pronounce many author’s names that are frequently said wrong. If you’re a fan of Salman Rushdie, Khaled Hosseini or Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, you should definitely take a look… and save a copy. Who knows when you might meet one of these excellent authors and you don’t want to be embarrassed.

The other post I want to share is a review I did of the short story, Ponies by Kij Johnson. This story won the Nebula Award this year. I’ve been sharing it with as many people as I can. It’s technically science fiction, but I think it definitely has literary merit. Ponies really highlights current issues in our culture, in a scary way. It’s only 3 pages when printed and you can get it for free online. I hope you enjoy the review and especially Johnson’s story.

What are you sharing this weekend?

** Update ** Sorry to all the blogs I couldn't comment on today (Saturday).  Blogger just kept kicking me off.  I couldn't even post anonymously!  Hope you had a  good Hop!

Ponies, by Kij Johnson

Kij Johnson’s Ponies recently won the Nebula Award for best short story (actually tying with some other story that isn’t available online to read). I first became interested in reading this story after Teddy Rose reviewed it earlier this month. It sounded really interesting and the review was favourable, so I saved it, then after hearing it won the award, I didn’t want to wait anymore.

After the end of the story, the first words that came to mind were, Holy Crap! and, What just happened? The story was fantastic. I couldn’t believe the ending for a minute. When they describe the Ponies, they’re all very much in the My Little Pony vein. They’re brightly coloured with sparkle and shine. That’s how I was inclined to picture them, with their little girl owners running around, both wanting to have friends. It’s just such a crazy, sad and shocking story.

I liked how this place (with little girls who can only be friends if they have a Pony and only if that Pony is like all the other Ponies) takes bits of our contemporary lives to make the story seem more real. They have Wiis, Rock Band, Coke Zero and diet Red Bull. They also don’t use names; they seem to have user names based on their position in the social group. Barbara, the main character, is the only one with a real name. The names make me question whether this is happening “in real life” or if it’s happening virtually.

I can see why Ponies won the Nebula Prize. It’s incredible. Kij Johnson draws on our lives now to create the lives of little girls then. It’s something I can almost see happening, though I hope it never does. It’s a short, short story, only three pages when I printed it out. Ponies packs a punch for just three pages. I think it’s worth the time to read. I’m also interested in seeing what else Kij Johnson has written.

Sidenote: The artwork is from Chris Buzelli. It goes very well with the story. Tor.com has a gallery of his work, with a link to his website and bio.

Thanks to John Mutford for hosting Short Story Monday at The Book Mine Set.