Boozy Book Club No. 11

Pull up a chair and pour yourself a soothing beverage because it's story time. Better weather always brings about a lull in my reading, but I've been slowly plodding through my stack of library books and comics.

Civil War Reading List
The Civil War books are on the way, way back burner, but I'm sure I'll get back to it later this year. Unfortunately, a freak accident resulted in my bookmark falling out of the big ass Battle Cry of Freedom, but hopefully I'll find my spot when I return to it again.

Unlisted Reading List
I finished Call of the Wild, but have yet to start White Fang in the Jack London collection I got from the library. Call was a good story and quick read. I was surprised to learn that the book is told from the perspective of the dog, Buck. I'm taking a break from London's writing right now, but I'm looking forward to reading White Fang, as I remember really liking the 1991 movie with Ethan Hawke.

In the meantime, I'm reading Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, an alternate reality set in the West during the 1950s, after the Axis powers defeated the Allies in World War II, and Germany and Japan have split control of the United States. The story centers on six (or so) interconnected characters and an author who has written a popular but subversive novel about a world where the Allies won.

There are three other novels in this collection, but I don't think I'll have time to read them before the book is due back at the library, but I'm hoping to also read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which was the basis for Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.

Comic Book Pull List
Not a lot to get excited about since last report. DC just announced the cancellation of Dial H, a kooky riff on superheroes by science fiction writer China Mieville, and Batman writer Scott Snyder ended his run on Swamp Thing and has been replaced by Charles Soule, who has returned the character to his roots (pun intended).

Until now, I had not heard of Soule, but his original graphic novel Strange Attractors came out yesterday, and I'm tempted to pick it up. The story focuses on a young graduate student who discovers that his aging professor has been saving New York City from collapse by a series of "adjustments." I've requested my library buy it and then reserve it for me. We'll see how that goes.

That's everything I'm reading. Now, how about you? What's keeping your nose inside a book these days?