Summer Reading

George Khoury’s great Pop! column over at CBR hit up some pros for some reading lists for the summer – so I thought I’d take a run through what I’ve got on my plate…

Iron Man #100-#305ish – I picked up a lot of these on ebay and the rest at the NYCC. There’s a few gaps in there (mainly early on) that I’ll be looking to plug in SDCC but meanwhile I’m making the most of what I’ve got. Right now I’m up to about #190; Tony Stark has a beard, James Rhodes is Iron Man, Stark International is now Stane International and everyone’s relocated to California. Fun stuff.

Captain Marvel #1-62 – Along with the Death of Captain Marvel GN, this is another ebay run, one that I’ve been after for a while. This is next on the list…

Starman Omnibus – I picked it up last week and haven’t even peeled the cellophane yet.

Jeremiah Harm, Jenny Finn: Doom Messiah and Stardust Kid – I’m a sucker for Boom!’s digest sized trades, and even more so when they’re less than $5 a piece on sale so I’ve picked these up over the past month or two.

Moving on to books, Moab is my Washpot, Hippopotamus and The Liar are all on the shelf – Stephen Fry is a comedic genius (and, actually, pretty much a genius all round) and I’m very ashamed that I haven’t taken these off the shelf and opened them yet.

The Cuba Diaries – I’m reading this at the moment; it’s a bit of a slog but its beginning to pay off. It just takes a while to get into; basically its the true story of a family who move to Cuba in the 90s and what they make of the country and its people. Interesting stuff. It was a gift from my brother-in-law and his wife (does that make her my sister-in-law-in-law?). She – because its definitely her that picks them – always gives me stuff to read that I normally wouldn’t which I really appreciate. Another one she’s given me that I need to read is the awesomely-titled Don’t Tell Mom I Work on the Rigs: She Thinks I’m a Piano Player in a Whorehouse.

Vicious Circle and Dead Men’s Boots – I picked up the next two in Mike Carey’s Felix Castor series while I was in the UK a while back but haven’t got to them yet. Loved the first one though.

Speaking of comics authors, I’ve also got Charlie Huston’s Already Dead on the wait list.

Lee Child has a new Jack Reacher out as well – Nothing to Lose – and its the one book I’ll buy this summer in spite of already having all these to get through.

Then there’s the crappy tie-in books that I (embarrassingly) read interspersed with the rest of the stuff: right now I’m reading Indiana Jones and the Seven Veils and I’ve got SW: The Approaching Storm, SW: Attack of the Clones and STTNG: Before Dishonor in the wardrobe aswell.

Actually, looking at that lot I have a lot to get through – and I’m not even going on a beach holiday…