And now, for this week’s Wishlist Wednesday…

The concept is to post about one book from our wish lists that we can’t wait to read. Want to play? Here’s how:

• Follow Pen to Paper as host of the meme.
• Please consider adding the blog hop button to your blog somewhere, so others can find it easily and join in too! Help spread the word! The code will be at the bottom of the post under the linky.
• Pick a book from your wishlist that you are dying to get to put on your shelves.
• Do a post telling your readers about the book and why it’s on your wishlist.
• Add your blog to the linky at the bottom of the post at Pen to Paper.
• Put a link back to pen to paper (http://vogue-pentopaper.blogspot.com) somewhere in your post.
• Visit the other blogs and enjoy!

My Wishlist Wednesday book is:

Paperback cover from 2009

Original hardcover design from 2003

Tooth And Claw by Jo Walton

From Amazon:

Here is a tale of a family dealing with the death of their father, a son who goes to court for his inheritance, a son who agonizes over his father’s deathbed confession, a daughter who falls in love, a daughter who becomes involved in the abolition movement, and a daughter sacrificing herself for her husband.Here is what sounds for all the world like an enjoyable Victorian novel, perhaps by Anthony Trollope…except that everyone in the story is a dragon, red in tooth and claw.Here are politics and train stations, churchmen and family retainers, courtship, and country houses…in which, on the death of an elder, family members gather to eat the body of the deceased. In which society’s high and mighty members avail themselves of the privilege of killing and eating the weaker children, which they do with ceremony and relish, growing stronger thereby.You have never read a novel like Tooth and Claw.

This may be one of my oddest wishlist selections yet. So why do I want to read this?

I’ve heard this book described as “Jane Austen with dragons”, which is probably an oversimplification — but still tickles my somewhat warped funny bone. It sounds just weird enough to appeal to my dark side, and yet is very much a story about social structure, family dynamics, class struggles… with dragons!

Definitely not your run-of-the-mill storyline! And I have absolute faith that the very talented Jo Walton can pull it off. Her Among Others was one of the most glorious books I read last year, combining science fiction, fantasy, and fairy tale into a powerful story of sisters, magic, and not incidentally, life as a book lover.

Tooth and Claw has been on my to-read list ever since I finished Among Others. I think it may be about time to bump Tooth and Claw to the top of the pile.

Has anyone read it yet? What did you think?

Quick note to Wishlist Wednesday bloggers: Come on back to Bookshelf Fantasies for Flashback Friday! Join me in celebrating the older gems hidden away on our bookshelves. See the introductory post for more details, and come back this Friday to add your flashback favorites!