Reading Material

They say the week of Thanksgiving is the busiest travel week of the year. Everyone traveling to get a taste of mom's mashed potatoes or Aunt Helen's special cranberry relish...and it's more the merrier, so everyone congregates somewhere, where ever it may be for you and yours. I thought that since many of you might be traveling I'd post about some good reading materials to pick up for your plane rides or bus rides or various waiting for things that will be done over the next few days. Here are a few magazines worth picking up to keep you entertained and educated on your journeys:

• Magnet Magazine: This is an indie rock magazine based out of Philadelphia, but sold nationally (and probably Canada as well). They have great features on some of the blogosphere's favorite bands as well as some great little columns including one I love called "Where's the Street Team?" which basically takes a cynical perspective on about anything music you can imagine and has often made me laugh out loud. I recommend getting a subscription even because it is very reasonably priced (about $14 for a year subscription, that's 6 issues) and each comes with a sampler CD and when you subscribe you also get to pick from a choice of 6 or 7 albums they are offering that month and they'll send that as well...so a year subscription, an album, and 6 samplers for $14? That's a darn good deal. On the cover this month? The Shins.

• Paste Magazine: Paste is my favorite magazine, I can't deny it. The sub-title of the mag is "Signs of Life in Music and Culture" and specializes in slow-core and folkesque music as well as rock. They also do reviews and articles on indie movies and novels that are all worth a read. This is often a magazine I can read cover to cover, it's a great read. It has recently become monthly and each issue comes with an extraordinary sampler, one I often feel like a friend could have made for me, great stuff. This month features Zach Braff on the cover and also has articles about The Killers and The Decemberists. I read it on my flight, and it was quite nice. It is more expensive, but worth every penny.

• Venus: Venus started as a personal zine in the 90s and has since become a great glossy magazine for women. It is a great source for music reviews and articles, especially about indie female musicians, but isn't exclusively female. It also has artists about feminist celebrities and interesting D.I.Y ideas. Always a fun read.

• Eve: I haven't gotten to read this magazine in a while, so forgive me if what I say is no longer the case. I used to pick up issues of Eve from my local Barnes & Noble and loved them. It is a British women's magazine that is not unlike American women's magazine in that it is based around fashion and celebrities, but it is written so much less superficially and I actually found articles in it that I wanted to read from beginning to end and had real useful and helpful information for women in it. It was a pleasure to read.

I hope if you decide to pick up some reading materials before your trip (and for those of us interested in indie type things, we know that the magazine stands at the airport are of no use to us) that you stop by your local independent book seller or Borders or Barnes and Noble, as these are where you're more likely to find the above publications, and that you like them as much as I do.