Christmas Book Porn

Eight books have arrived so far this week, including two that were gifts to me by my family (OK, so I placed the orders for them and OK, we have a tradition of opening our gifts on Christmas Eve before going to late night service. And yes, I'm writing this about 45 minutes before it goes live, as I'm leaving for Midnight Mass after I'm done here. Priorities.) One of these books will soon be accompanied by another when it arrives, apparently on Friday. Still others will be read over the coming weeks and months. None of them are speculative fictions, at least not in the sense that most here think of them. Man does not live by bread alone, nor should a reader feast solely upon epic fantasies or space operas. Variety is the spice of life and all. Oh, and here's a Merry Christmas wish to all reading this, regardless of personal attitudes towards this modified Saturnalia. Speaking of which, if only we could have a day of inversion where the servants order the bosses around...but I digress. On with the book listing!

Note on first picture: All three pictured here are part of Night Shade's promotional offer in regards to their newly-acquired distribution rights to John Klima's Electric Velocipede short fiction magazine.

Left: Adam Roberts, Swiftly (I've liked every Roberts story I've read to date, even if I disagree at times with his conclusions in his non-fiction!); John Joseph Adams (ed.), The Living Dead(reprint anthology on zombies, about which I'll say more in the next few days); John Klima (ed.), Electric Velocipede: Winter 2008 (start of my one year subscription to this bimonthly magazine).




Left: Carlos Fuentes, La región mas transparente (I'm beginning a Fuentes acquisition kick. You're forewarned); Elena Poniatowska, La noche de Tlatelolcho (narrative account of the 1968 student-led uprising in Mexico City that later turned violent).



Here are the two books I received as gifts from my family tonight.

Left: Matteo Maria Boiardo, Orlando Innamorato (Once I found this was available, it went straight to the top of my wish list. Didn't know until earlier this year that Ariosto's Orlando Furioso was in its origins merely the finishing off of Boiardo's epic poem. Another related Orlando/Roland work is due to arrive on Friday. Can you tell now how much I loved Renaissance Italian epic poetry?); Thomas Bernhard, The Loser (been meaning to read Bernhard for a while. Book's title led to some jokes tonight about my own state of affairs, but again, I digress).

Depending on when a few purchases arrive, there might be 1-2 more Book Porn entries before New Year's. Hopefully, some of these titles will intrigue readers, perhaps inspire them to raging book lust!