The top of List would have to include
Godzilla On My Mind by Bill Tsutsui, which to this day remains one of the most ground-breaking G books ever published...
....said no one in the history of mankind.
Anyways, time to get serious. In regards to Essential American Godzilla books, I've never been all that fond of David Kalat's book and found it highly overrated (alot of his views/insights, such as his hilarious rant on the lack of strong female characters in a film such as
Godzilla vs Megalon, are eye-roll inducing and laughable
). To his credit, as least he has updated it to cover the Millenium series as well, which sadly makes it one of the few up to date English G books as most were written in the mid-late 90s. Otherwise, if I want to read silly, pompous reviews on films of the genre, then I'll pick up G-Fan and read film reviews by the likes of Peter H. Brothers and co. (though in fairness to Kalat, he's not near as bad as Brothers in that regard).
My unofficial list to English Godzilla books (not much to choose from):
Steve Ryfle's
Japan's Favorite Mon-star (which is in dire need of an updated edition)
Ed G's
The Illustrated Encylopedia of Godzilla - Good luck finding it for a decent price. As much as I like it, I might consider selling mine someday considering the insane prices I often see this go for, but until something better comes along, it stays
Guy Tucker's
Age of the Gods - Don't own it, but have met several acquintences who had and let me look through it...it is indeed worth the hype.
August Ragone's
Eiji Tsuburaya: Master of Monsters, which focuses on the man's entire career work and not just Godzilla/Ultraman.
Godzilla: The Art of Destruction that goes along with the most recent film.
Honorable Mention:Stuart Galbraith's
Monsters are Attacking Tokyo - A very solid book, though like Kalat's, I find it just a tad overrated.
I know it gets picked on alot (and rightfully so in some cases), but the
Godzilla Compendium is not all that bad if found at a low price.
Any edition of
Japanese Giants or early issues of
G-Fan.
Hopefully Ed G and Ryfle's upcomong Honda book can be added to the list someday...if it ever comes out that is.
If only there were English translations of some of the Shogakukan Japanese books.....