The Bottoms ? Joe R. Lansdale
    So this is Lansdale's Edgar award winner (theoretically the making it the best movie of the year).  Personally, I'm a little let down after the hype.  I don't think this is his best work, I think that all his Hap & Leonard novels are better.  This is about a serial killer in the 1920's or 1930's.  It's also about racism.  It's also a coming of age novel.  In the end I guess it's hard to pigeon hole & is just Lansdale & pretty good.

Fight Club ? Chuck Palahniuk
    So I saw the movie & it was really amazing to me.  Now I read the book & it's really amazing to me.  The only other book/movie combos I've liked as well are Leaving Las Vegas & On the Beach; all three of these function well alone, but a little better if you have the film & book.  So I've talked to a few people about the differences between the book & the movie; so here are some points from the book that are different: (1) The sex & violence are usually referred to in the past rather than actually being accounted in any extremely vivid way.  (2) The Paper Street Soap Company is started with the fat liposuctioned from Marla's mother.  (3) It appears that Marla quite possibly does have cancer & that's why she started going to the groups.  (4) The support group stuff is a little more important in the book than the movie.  (5) The ending isn't as happy.  Buy the book & the movie & talk to people about it.

Four Women #2 -- Sam Keith
    So I guess maybe a couple of people reading this still know who Sam Keith is (remember The Maxx?).  Well there's been a little bit of a debate lately among Maxx-heads about "are you a fan of The Maxx or Sam Keith?"  Well, I think after reading this I can say The Maxx, I don't have aclue what's going on in this thing, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to go to the trouble to find out.

High Cotton ? Joe R. Lansdale
    Another collection of Joe R. Lansdale stories.  Cool stuff, but I think I'd already read most of it in other collections & anthologies.  Lansdale writes stuff somewhere between splatterpunk & film noir & John Steinbeck.  To me his style is really cinematographic & immediate, but I can't explain it.

Kafka's Dick ? Alan Bennett
    So this guy wrote a play about Kafka coming back to life from being a turtle & confronting his father & Max Brod in the apartment of a light weight Kafka scholar.  So if this sounds good you might like it.  If it sounds like crap you might be right too.

Optic Nerve #8 -- Adrian Tomine
    A lot of people seem to think this comic once was awesome, but isn't any more.  I don't understand these people.  This is slice of life type stuff.  The plot here is there's one geek guy who has one friend in school that everybody thinks is gay so that guy ditches him.  Simultaneously there's a girl who gets drunk all the time & has sex with boys.  The party girl & the geek become friends because they work together.  Giving a plot line doesn't do anything to explain what this is about.  There's a reason this is the only comic book I have a t-shirt for.  Though I must admit I could deal with more than one issue a year.

Outlaw Nation #15 -- Jamie Delano
    Once this comic stops, I'll probably go into comic stores once a year instead of every two months.  What's it about?  Trying to be a writer, trying to not be a writer, trying to stay alive, trying not to hurt anyone, trying to save the people you love, & the violence that naturally ensues.

Radio: An Illustrated Guide ? Jessica Abel & Ira Glass
    Wow, a comic book about my favorite NPR program.  They show you the making of an episode & tell you the tricks to learn to sneak your way into NPR & the art of doing an interview.  Plus you get to see NPR hotties like Sarah Vowell & Ira Glass.

X-Force #120 ? Peter Milligan
    So X-Force evidentally is the teen group under X-Men or something.  So this is a mainstream book theoretically, but then it's written by Peter Milligan.  So what's that mean?  Well, the characters who were probably harmless until now are screwed up in the head.  One of the main character's powers comes from her substance abuse & she made it onto the team by sleeping around.  Another main character plays russian roulette everyday & he is the team leader & his only power seems to be having purple acned skin.  Remember how Alpha Flight & The New Mutants just started turning into weird comics with people constantly dying?  I think it might happen again....