Rachel read Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link: Now out in paperback, this collection of short stories is totally spooky, clever and haunting. Even if you don't consider yourself a fan of fantasy or sci-fi, these stories will still charm you. Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it's not so much the vampire mythology that hooks you as it is the characters, the writing and how real it feels and yet, yeah, there's magic in it. Eric read Wax Poetics #19 : There's no better evidence that the hip-hop generation can age with dignity than Wax Poetics -- and after a few "themed" issues, with #19 they return to the variety that makes them such a great publication. The sumptuously detailed interviews dealing with such artists as Dr. Alimantado, Joe Bataan, and Azymuth are all lovingly conducted and rendered. As a Baltimorean, I wished the oral history of Baltimore club were a little more substantial, but as an introduction to the genre for the casually curious, it still wo