The Believer is an amiable yet rigorous forum for book criticism, providing an alternative to the plot summary squib that has become synonymous with "book review." Each issue includes interviews with philosophers, politicians, poets, and ninjas. Nick Hornby has a widely celebrated books column, and Amy Sedaris (as well as well-known guest-columnists) offers hilariously bad advice. The celebrated graphic novelist Charles Burns illustrates the cover each month, and the magazine is packaged with a tactile and varying bonus item — a CD, DVD, temporary tattoos, and so on.