Love monster movies but interested in reading a book for a change? How about a book about monster movies? In fact, how about two?

If this sounds appealing, check out athese reviews:

• EIJI TSUBURAYA - MASTER OF MONSTERS:

  Tsuburaya’s life and career are the subject of Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters, which carries the lengthy subtitle Defending the Earth with Ultraman, Godzilla and Friends in the Golden Age of Japanese Science Fiction Film. This is an impressively extensive coffee table book, loaded with countless colorful photographs of monster mayhem and behind-the-scenes wizardry. Fans will find it a delight just to leaf through it, and even hardcore collectors are likely to find more on view here than ever met they eye before.

• THE HAMMER STORY:

  Much has been written about the “Studio That Dripped Blood,” but even fans who have read it all before will want to pick up The Hammer Story by Marcus Hearn and Alan Barnes. It is a beautiful, glossy coffee table book, loaded with lovely stills, including many behind-the-scenes shots. The text tries to provide a definitive history, tracing the company from its early inauspicious debut in the 1930s through its heady heydays in the ’50s and ’60s.