It is that time of year where we know Spring is just waiting to pop, but the chill of winter is still hanging on. It you’re feeling trapped in the cold, here are three random books to warm up for the sheer joy of reading:

The Breaker Vol. 1 Omnibus by Jeon Geuk-Jin (story) and Park Jin-Hwan (art)

I’ll start out with my manga/manhwa choice for this book drop, and it’s a comedy action romp. If I were to describe this poorly, I would say The Breaker as “John Wick (without the stoicism) dropped into a high school setting 21 Jump Street style, who the lead of an American Pie style raunchy teen comedy under his wing.” You would be surprised how fully entertaining this is. The action hero in this story, a badass martial arts expert and a bit of a horn dog named Han Chun-Woo. He is masquerading as a substitute teacher at a high school while hiding from baddies in a secret society. He encounters a student named Si-Woon, who is his polar opposite. Shy and weak, he’s the constant subject of bullying, and has no family life to speak of. He’s also prone to some inappropriate racy fantasies, because of course he is. This reminds me of the days when political correctness was still not mainstream, and you could still just be over-the-top in the action comedy world.The story goes from action to goof-ball atbreakneck speed, so don’t take it too seriously. Lord knows the creators don’t, and that’s a great thing.

James May’s Magnificent Machines by James May and Phil Dolling

I have considered former Top Gear and Grand Tour host James May to be my creative muse for years. I have never seen a man so genuinely fascinated by the creations of artists, architects, mechanics, techies and innovators of all kinds. His curiosity of how things work and where they came from is contagious. May, with the help of BBC science and history producer Phil Dolling, give us a look at the “men in sheds” who helped bring us transportation advances, medical miracles, groundbreaking communication methods and war machines. It is fun and page-turning This book was written in 2008, and one of the things it hits on is the future of space travel. Living in a world with innovators like Elon Musk and Richard Branson in the limelight, it is cool to see the love of this type of space travel have been around for a long time. One of the things I admire about May is he knows there is more out there to learn than he could ever teach you. Ergo, he includes a wonderful list of further reading. I am already putting some of these recommendations on my reading list. There are plenty of paperback versions of this available online, but if you run across the old hardback James May’s 20th Century, it is the same book, just retitled.

Three Assassins by Kotaro Isaka

The 2022 movie Bullet Train I think was underrated and exceptionally fun, but the book was much better…of course! However, if you want to dive into Kotaro Isaka’s adventures, start with the first in his Assassins series, Three Assassins.There is a familiar trope of a man living nice, normal life until tragedy pushes him into the underworld of assassins. In this case, a math teacher’s wife is murdered and he is out for revenge. One standout of Isaka’s novels is the characters are just so weirdly different and unusually. One assassin’s specialty, “The Whale” uses a dark power of suggestion to get targets to off themselves, and “The Pusher” who is more straightforward, pushes his targets into traffic. The cool action thriller format set in a backdrop of big city Tokyo, is always fun, and Isaka’s style is very high-energy. This novel is less than 300 pages and you’ll sail though it quickly..and want more.

Don’t get Spring fever quite yet. Enjoy the rest of winter with a good book, either these recommendations or one of your own. Either way, always find some time to read just for fun, even is the side effects including learning something new.