I said it before and I shall say it again, the hardest part of moving is having too many books. My rate of buying new books is exceeding my rate of getting rid of old books (the latter something I don’t like to do but must at times…)

Know what else is hard? Backpacking across the globe and picking up endless amounts of books. It is not easy on the shoulders. But, I mean, I’m in an English-speaking country and there are used bookstores and I can use Amazon in America at my friends place and I need all this stuff.

Here is what I speak of:

Not going to be easy to transport on my LAX to HKG flight tomorrow…

For more information. Firstly, let me share my comics. Always been very important to me.

I was always a fan on Simon Furman’s Marvel Comics period of Transformers and when I heard about Regeneration One several years ago, I had to have them. Now I am caught up. Can’t wait to read, it will be the end of an era. I know the Transformers franchise is complex mess, and I haven’t even read the other comics, and suffice to say as an old school fan I HATE the movies. Yet, I will always have a soft spot for the classics and I must know what happens next to Hot Rod and Optimus and Grimlock!

 

 

I’m a nerd, I know. One of the only comics series I still buy and keep up with is One Piece, and I’ve been invested in the books since the beginning. I’d argue it’s a subversive series, kids all over the world (including notably China) are being taught that the government is the bad guy. So much imagination, humor, and positive messages therein. It’s the New World, and Luffy is gonna be the king of the pirates.

 

I can be literary too, even if not especially with comics. Much has been written about Alan Moore’s League of Extraordinary Gentlemen — and if you mention the movie I might just disown you. The genius author barely produces any work these days, but whenever he does I must purchase it. Now there are but the stand-alone League graphic novels, this one about Nemo’s daughter in Berlin fighting Germanic literary characters, and after I read this I will have more reading to do to catch all the references…

 

 

Let me get to the ‘real books.’ Irvine Welsh is one of my top writers, an inspiration, and I love his universe of scumbags which began in the iconic Trainspotting. Crime is the sequel to Filth, which they just made a movie of. I planned to reread Filth, watch the movie, and then read Crime to carry on seeing more of the police chief character. Not to mention it takes place in Florida and I was just there. Also, I was at the Long Beach mega used bookstore (formally a Borders, but at least they put the space to good use) and saw a Vonnegut novel for a dollar and sorry I haven’t read this one yet so I bought it.

 

 

Here are some others. While at the used bookstore, I picked up Tolkein’s The Silmarillion to complement watching the Hobbit movies; Siddhartha by Hesse which I already recently reread but I got this one for a friend; a Hong Kong book; and chakras. Ommmmmm.

 

 

I’m not terribly familiar with this series by Gene Wolfe. It’s not mine, I ordered it for a friend. No doubt it’s great, but I wouldn’t know.

 

 

And some black power books from my favorite militant friend. Huey P. Newton, the great founder the Black Panthers (the original ones not the new party poseurs) as well as the story of Assata Shakur. Remember her during the issue with Common?

 

Lastly but not leastly, I’ve learned a lot from Cracked.com and I intended to read their de-textbook to learn more. Iconoclastic, myth-busting, and hilarious. I’ll get a lot of this tome.

 

Well then. That should cover me reading-wise for the next few months. For more for anyone who cares about my reading habits, here’s this My bookshelf lately and my profile on Goodreads: Ray H

 

Keep reading! Oh, and tell me what books you’re into these days…