In the wake of all the tragedy and sadness that occurred in in Japan last week, we're going to attempt to kick off this week with a new feature here at The Cult.  So turn off CNN for ten minutes and read something that hopefully makes you a little happier for the hour.  

This idea is something that's been at the back of my mind on and off throughout the years, but it took Tina Estlin Page, one of our more reclusive journalists, to jolt it back into the forefront.  She put forth the idea of reviewing the 2010 adaptation of Allen Ginsberg's controversial writing piece Howl, which was directed by Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman and stars James Franco as Ginsberg. And thus, the idea for this feature was born.  

I'm going to call this new feature Book Vs. Film, but as you know, Howl is not a book at all, but a poem.  Now, I'd love to actually call this a column, but I don't know with what sort of frequency we'll be able to keep up with.  A lot of that will depend on you, the readers, and how well you respond to it.  So here we go! - Dennis read more »

For several years now, there has been an underground movement to get Invisible Monsters released in hardcover.  Believe it or not, this beloved book of Chuck's is the only novel of his that was never released in this format.  At the time, this was Chuck's specific wish. Invisible Monsters (originally titled Manifesto) was written before Fight Club but was never originally allowed to see the light of day because his publishers rejected it, due to its disturbing content.  Rather than let this news set him back, Chuck did the opposite of what everyone expected and amped things up even further with Fight Club, which then ironically got published and become his "first" novel.  

Three years later in 1999, the same year Chuck published Survivor, he got to finally see the release of Invisible Monsters, as a slightly revised edition.  He then insisted that this novel only be released in paperback, as he hated the idea of charging his fans too much for it.  

Little did Chuck know that this would turn out to be, perhaps, his most universally loved novel. So it will come as no surprise that a few years later, in the early days of this website, a movement began to get Invisible Monsters re-released in hardcover.  The fans were demanding it.  We even started an online petition. read more »

In keeping with our trend of profiling some of Chuck's international book covers, this week we look at Poland.  You decide: are these covers ugly, or works of art?  Click each image to be brought to its Gallery page, then rate them and leave your comments.

To see the rest of our Book Covers, check out our Gallery.  And if you have some that are not represented there, send them to submissions@ chuckpalahniuk. net.

Props to MrMarv for sending thse along.

You know the drill, folks.  Every month a new book is selected and a new moderator steps up to lead the discussion.  This month, we will be reading and discussing Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis. 

From the back cover:

Bret Easton Ellis’s debut, Less Than Zero, is one of the signal novels of the last thirty years, and he now follows those infamous teenagers into an even more desperate middle age. read more »

Courtesy of Random House, comes the official synopsis of Chuck Palahniuk's upcoming novel Damned.  What little we know about the book previously, told us that a young girl dies and goes to hell, and that Chuck was very influenced by the Young Adult novels of Judy Blume, while writing it.  Now, we have this official synopsis that was recently posted at RandomHouse.com: read more »

Great news today for all you e-readers.  After years of being absent from the iBookStore, Random House has finally released their catalog.  Yes, this means you can now find almost all of Chuck's books available on your iPad, iPhone or whatever Apple device you use to read books electronically.  The only two books still not available are Survivor and Invisible Monsters, since these are both WW Norton titles.   *Though both of these books are available as separate audiobook apps from Blackstone Audio.  Survivor here and Invisible Monsters here)

If you don't have the iBooks app yet, you can download it here for free.  The available books each start at about $9.99 (Fight Club) and range as high as $12.99 (Tell-All).

Read more about this developing story over at TUAW.

The original blogger said it perfectly: "Man, I wish my high school had been this cool." Really though, I grew up in an era where the most subversive book taught in school was The Catcher in the Rye.  Now don't get me wrong, I love that book.  But nowadays, we get at least an email a month from a college professor, high school teacher or student who informs us that Fight Club has joined their curriculum. 

This school seems to have taken that to the next level.  Check out those hallway quote from Tyler Durden!

Original Source: Reddit

What's the difference between an autobiography and a memoir? Setting aside textbook definitions, some would argue that an autobiography is a document of an interesting life led, whereas a memoir attempts to make a life more interesting. Jeff Klima, author of The Dead Janitors Club, itself a memoir, recently wrote a scathingly funny article for the Huffington Post wherein he compared memoirists to reality TV stars. He labels both as bottom feeders, career opportunists whose successive output offers only diminishing returns (IE: they suck.) read more »

Buy The Ticking Is The Bomb From Amazon.com

Here's a cool little gem from our Twitter feed via 'ThatDrunkViking.'  It's a helpful Tyler Durden, giving sage advice on dating and relationships.

Some of my favorites:

CALL SEX LINE.  ASK THE GIRL HOW HER DAY WAS, DON'T HANG UP.

HIT ON MARRIED WOMEN IN FRONT OF THEIR HUSBANDS.  YOUR BRUISES REKINDLED A DEAD ROMANCE.

START A FIGHT WITH LONELIEST GUY IN BAR.  INTENTIONALLY LOSE SO HE GETS LAID.

You can find this at this link: http://imgur.com/CofCd or just scroll down after the break to download it from our site. read more »

Continuing our trend from last week of showcasing some of the coolest international Chuck Palahniuk covers, let's take a look at some of the recent selections from Italy.  In my opinion, Italy has long had some of the more stylish and unique covers for Chuck's books.  Unlike a lot of other countries who just use a slight variation of the U.S. cover, Italy's usually stand out on their own.  I'll even forgive them for mucking up my dedication in Lullaby, seen here as 'Tennis Widmyer.'  Sighs.

Props to Michele Ponte for sending us some of these.

See more in our Book Covers Gallery.