Time magazine, you know the one, has put out its list of the best books of 2005. There are five fiction titles, and one of them is Kelly’s Magic for Beginners!! O mi god!

According to a post from Farah Mendlesohn, Wesleyan University Press is set to publish The Collected Stories of Joanna Russ. I don’t know what the schedule is, but I’d guess late 2006, if they’re in the midst of proofreading / copyediting. If so, a major book for next year.

And, for those interested, you can download all three volumes of Sufjan Stevens’ Hark! Songs for Christmas. Having really liked Come on Feel the Illinoise, I’m enjoying these.

The New Yorker has a good article, “Becoming Mary Poppins” about P.L Travers, her creation and the Disney movie. I only found out a couple years ago that Travers was Australian and am yet to read her novels (so I didn’t know things like Mary Poppins was a shapeshifter, not a nanny), but they sound interesting. I resist claiming her as some kind of beginning of Australian fantasy, or Australian YA literature, if only because she so firmly resisted being Australian. It seems disrespectful somehow.

I don’t work freelance, really. I have a day job that keeps me busy eight hours a day (from 7am to 3pm), and more if I can do it. I then have a regular/irregular job that keeps me busy another eight hours or so per week. The work from it flows consistently, and on a schedule, so it to is predictable. And then there’s the freelance-ish stuff, where it all happens on a schedule that is pretty much entirely up to me. This is the schedule that ensure the clerical stuff associated with working on books is done, that sets out reading time, that covers planning and developing new projects, and so on and so forth.

As sometimes happens, it’s in this area that I’ve fallen into a terrible muddle. There’s lots to do, but it pops up all over the place, like some kind of weed. There’s nothing consistently sitting there as THE thing to do, so I become indecisive. Even though I should be reading up a storm (somehow, given the holiday season, though I don’t know when), I find myself indecisively and desultorily drifting from one thing to read to another. The real effect of this is that I end up feeling disinterested in reading anything, I get nothing done, AND I feel stressed about it. Heh.

Lists, lists, lists. This time of the year drives me to lists and listing. Herewith, some gift ideas, small press books you can love and give those that you love.

In the US: go buy Magic for Beginners and give it to someone you know who doesn’t have enough magic in their lives but who, you’ve always thought, might secretly love to know what contingency plans you need, should zombies knock on the door. Add chocolate.

In the UK: go buy 20th Century Ghosts and give it to someone who likes to stay in on cold, wintry nights, staying up late reading tales that move and horrify. Add single malt scotch.

In Australia: it’s summer. You’re not reading, you’re off watching the cricket or going to the beach. Reading is for winter. But, if you must, then it’s the earthy, sometimes bittersweet A Tour Guide in Utopia. It may not be in a shop near you, but you can probably get it here. Add a good cabernet.