Table-top treats

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Earth (The Book)

A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race

By Jon Stewart

Grand Central Publishing, 246 pages, $31.99

TV host Jon Stewart and his Daily Show staff believe the world is doomed and have taken on the ginourmous task of leaving behind a book for aliens, describing what life was like in the day. It details how the life cycle, society, commerce, religion, science and culture all worked with plenty of illustrations, photos and graphs to get its points across.

Nothing is safe from the barbs thrown by the writers, whose trademark humour skewers everyone and everything. Fans of political satire and pop culture will find plenty to laugh at, but those of a religious persuasion might find it blasphemous.

Fun fact: Winnipeg's Old Spaghetti Factory gets a mention in the young adulthood section on courtship, as an example of where a first date could occur.

-- Rob Williams

My Passion for Design

By Barbra Streisand

Penguin, 295 pages, $69

"I don't like yellow ... unless it's the colour of sweet buttah," Babs states in typically diva-esque fashion at the beginning of this weighty tome (well, she writes "butter," but you'll hear it the other way).

It's filled with lovely photos (taken by the performer) of her California estate and shows the progress of and inspirations behind her renovations. But it's really all about Babs -- her life, her style, her career, her opinion ... and it's actually kind of fascinating. An egotist she may be, but the passion of the title is not an exaggeration.

-- Jill Wilson

Tessa & Scott

Our Journey from Childhood Dream to Gold

By Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir as told to Steve Milton

Anansi, 191 pages, $35

The lives of the Canadian Olympic-winning ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir is a fun story in both words and pictures. Now in their early 20s, they were an off-ice item when they "dated" for eight months when they were eight and 10.

Their on-ice relationship is still going strong, and this book is a fitting and visually beautiful tribute to their winning careers together.

-- Brenlee Carrington

First Step 2 Forever

My Story

By Justin Bieber

HarperCollins, 240 pages, $25

At 16, Canada's newest pop sensation already has a life story worth telling.

It takes us inside Justin's life, and shows everyone that maybe he's not just a superficial, lady-loving teenage boy. We find out that even Justin Bieber sometimes has those moments when he just wants out.

And as must as the girls like him, it seems Justin just can't get enough of those teenage girls, either. He expresses his love for the ladies, and his Xbox, not to mention his music and his job.

-- Issy Dahl

The Golden Jet

A Spectacular Career in Stunning Photographs

By Bobby Hull with Bob Verdi

Triumph Books, 200 pages, $35

This pictorial history follows the Golden Jet, arguably hockey's greatest left-winger, from his beginnings in Pointe Anne, Ont., to the bright lights and big cities of the NHL.

The text is written by Chicago Blackhawks team historian and Chicago Tribune sports columnist Bob Verdi, but it's the hundreds of fantastic pictures from Hull's personal archive, all captioned with vivid detail by Hull himself, that make the book read more like a family photo album than a hockey history book.

Jets fans, be forewarned: This book covers only the pre-Jets portion of Hull's career. Winnipeg is only mentioned in passing and there are hardly any references to the WHA franchise that lured him away from Chicago.

-- Ben Kahler

The Top 100 Canadian Singles

By Bob Mersereau

Goose Lane Editions, 217 pages, $35

While the rankings and omissions (no Burton Cummings or Shania Twain?) on the list are guaranteed to generate plenty of heated discussion, the real treasures in this fun book are the stories of the artists and their recordings.

Mersereau, a veteran CBC New Brunswick music critic has conducted all new interviews and even draws on a few unlikely sources (Bubbles, Stuart McLean) for their own favourites. American Woman at No. 1? Right on! Was there any doubt?

-- John Einarson

Love Your Life!

O's Handbook for Your Best Today -- and Tomorrow

By the editors of Oprah Magazine

Oxmoor House, 320 pages, $33

"I want exactly the same thing for your life that I've always wanted for my own: a journey filled with purpose," writes Oprah to introduce this compilation of 106 short articles meant to help you on your way. There's advice on diet, exercise and health, dating, mating and relating and a section on giving back to our communities.

This last section contains a moving essay written by Susan Klebold, the mother of one of the Columbine killers, and a chatty Oprah interview with Michelle Obama. There's a reason that O has 16 million readers.

-- Gail Marchessault

40

A Doonesbury Retrospective

By Garry Trudeau

Andrews McMeel, 694 pages, $115

Doonesbury has always been the weightiest of daily panel cartoons -- Garry Trudeau's pointed political satire was for years relocated to the op-ed pages -- and in celebration of its 40th birthday comes an oversized, near 700-page hardcover doorstopper. With close to 2,000 of the 14,000 published Doonesbury strips included, this impressive volume encapsulates the history of the boomer era as seen through the eyes of Mike, Zonker, Boopsie, Duke, Jimmy Thudpucker, Toggle and friends.

-- Kevin Prokosh

The Hockey Book

Sports Illustrated Books

256 pages, $33

Sports Illustrated brings hockey fans from the cheap seats to rinkside and delivers hundreds of glossy and grainy pictures from the game's past and present.

They've sprinkled historical information and tidbits about how the game used to be to add context to the photographs. But it's the snapshots of the slapshots that are the stars.

-- Alan Small

We Were Freedom

Canadian Stories of the Second World War

By the Historica-Dominion Institute

Key Porter, 228 pages, $35

A Métis soldier from Boissevain, Francis Godon, remembers storming Juno Beach, running and crawling over land that looked to him like ketchup -- "that's how blood red it was."

Godon's powerful recollections are among countless first-person accounts of the Second World War in this poignant and moving compilation. An extensive selection of archival photos and documents help breath life into the wide array of wartime experiences documented.

-- Lindsey Wiebe

Michael Jackson

The Making of Thriller

By Douglas Kirkland

Hachette, 192 pages, $34

Photographer Douglas Kirkland's record of four days in 1983 on the set of one of most groundbreaking videos of all time focuses mostly on the singer's time in the makeup chair as he was transformed into werewolf and a zombie by effects wizard Rick Baker and his team.

It's a tad over-exhaustive, but fans will appreciate the glimpses of the young singer looking relaxed and happy.

-- Jill Wilson

Fragments

Poems, Intimate Notes and Letters by Marilyn Monroe

Edited by Stanley Buchtal and Bernard Comment

HarperCollins, 239 pages, $32

Her eyes and those lips remain universally recognized. We know much about her marriages, her heartache and her death. We've even seen her nude in that famous Playboy centrefold.

But what is even more revealing is the intimacy that comes from thumbing through this unprecedented collection of artifacts -- notes on hotel letterhead, letters, recipes, even poems -- in Marilyn Monroe's own handwriting. Edited by Stanley Buchtal, an adviser to her estate, and screenwriter Bernard Comment, this book is not a diary, although it has much of the same flavour, as Monroe jots down her thoughts, her fears and her frustrations.

-- Paul Samyn

Finishing the Hat

Collected Lyrics (1954-1981)

By Stephen Sondheim

Knopf, 449 pages, $46

The first of two comprehensive volumes from this giant of American musical theatre collects all of Stephen Sondheim's lyrics (including West Side Story, A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd) together for the first time, making it a must-have for Broadway babies.

What stands out from the anecdotes and show commentary for the less rabid reader in Finishing the Hat -- a song from his 1984 musical Sunday in the Park With George -- is Sondheim's frank assessments of lyricists (including Frank Loesser, Cole Porter, Noel Coward and himself).

-- Kevin Prokosh

Music From Far and Wide

Celebrating 40 Years of the Juno Awards

By Karen Bliss, Nick Krewen, Larry Leblanc and Jason Schneider

Key Porter, 184 pages, $40

This year-by-year account of the Juno Awards show (including a full listing of every winner of every award), with text by a team of veteran Toronto music scribes, is full of photos of Canadian music greats captured live on the glitzy sets.

Shots include the likes of Anne Murray sporting a poncho, the Barenaked Ladies with dancing Mounties, the middle-aged Blue Rodeo guys and a young Celine Dion with a perm.

-- Martin Cash

The Sexy Book of Sexy Sex

By Kristen Schaal and Rich Blomquist

Chronicle Books, 192 pages, $30

Written by a comedy power couple -- she played Mel on Flight of the Conchords, he's a writer on The Daily Show -- this sort-of advice book parodies a simultaneously intriguing and mortifying subject with wit and abandon.

It's loaded with charts, graphs, illustrations and sexual factoids, and includes erotic short stories and an excerpt from the diary of the first woman to experience an orgasm.

As you might have guessed, it's pretty raunchy, so unless all of your guests are like-minded, maybe think of it as more of an under-the-coffee table book.

-- Carolin Vesely

Harry Potter Film Wizardry

Collins Design, $45

Billed as having been written by "the creative team behind the celebrated movie series," this busy volume delves into the millions of details involved in transferring the Harry Potter books into films.

The book is a work of wizardry in itself, with dozens of 3-D bits and interactive aspects. And, course, there are hundreds of pictures of the actors who have brought J.K. Rowling's characters to life

-- Morley Walker

Arctic Eden

Journeys through the Changing High Arctic

By Jerry Kobalenko

Greystone/Suzuki Foundation, 208 pages, $45

After dozens of expeditions to the largely uninhabitable High Arctic, Alberta's Kobalenko shares 100-plus stunning photos that prove there's more to this visually rich landscape than iconic polar bears and icebergs.

He includes in his charmingly written narrative personal touches such as what happens when you take a new girlfriend on a date that involves wearing a parka in July and learning to fire a shotgun.

---- Helen Fallding

Ansel Adams in the National Parks

Edited by Andrea G. Stillman

Little, Brown and Co., 344 pages, $50

Ansel Adams' name is synonymous with wilderness photography, and this book provides a gorgeous overview of the great American's work. Offering page after page of his glorious sweeping vistas of North America's national parks -- more than 255 photos in total, 50 of them never before published -- the book also includes extensive commentary by and about Adams' photographic and darkroom techniques and the stories behind some of the photographs.

-- Wendy Sawatzky

The Peanuts Collection

Treasures From the World's Most Beloved Comic Strip

By Nat Gertler

Little, Brown and Co., 63 pages, $43

Pieced together by Southern California resident Gertler, a Peanuts fanatic and founder of a website devoted to the beloved strip, this eclectic, heart-felt love letter to Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the gang is a one-of-a-kind celebration of the pop-culture icon's 60th anniversary.

Best of all, it's light on history and heavy on rare and collectible treasures -- frameable prints, animation cels, stickers, booklets and draft sketches. There's even a cookbook featuring Snoopy's recipe for dog treats. Good grief, what more could a fan want?

-- Doug Speirs

For the Love of Italy

Rural Pleasures and Hotel Estates

By Marella Caracciolo and Oberto Gili Clarkson

Random House, 224 pages, $69

Rome-based Marella Caracciolo admits this picture-laden travel book is a labour of love, not at all objective, but she does offer solid information about planning a trip, right down to pages of recommended websites.

Winnipeggers familiar with Corydon Avenue's Civita restaurant, will be delighted at her stories of the Civita Caves, which sparked an entire tourist industry near the Stone Age city of Matera in the south of Italy.

-- Jane Carl

The Stokes Field Guide to the Birds of North America

By Donald and Lillian Stokes

Little, Brown and Co., 792 pages, $28

While backyard birders and seasoned twitchers alike will be amazed, even overwhelmed, by the sheer number of quality photos in this authoritative birding guide, its fresh approach to identification is what makes it unique.

"Shape should be the first step in most bird identification," claim well-known American birders Donald and Lillian Stokes in the introduction. Their quantitative descriptions "compare lengths of various portions of a bird's body with each other" and will surely tempt even the most experienced birder to look closely to see if the descriptions measure up.

-- Brenda Schmidt

Best of the Decade

Reflections on Hockey's Past Ten Years

By Michael A. Berger

Greystone Books, 175 pages, $30

Think of this as a pictorial time capsule of the NHL decade that was. You get full-colour shots of stars from the start of the new millennium such as Mark Messier, Brian Leetch and Steve Yzerman, who skated off into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Michael A. Berger, a former NHL flack now based in Los Angeles, also allows you to get up close with the stars of today like Jonathan Toews and Sidney Crosby. And in between, the more than 150 photographs showcase everything from the outdoor winter classics to shots of the Stanley Cup in front of London's Tower Bridge.

-- Paul Samyn

Simple Times

Crafts for Poor People

By Amy Sedaris

Grand Central Publishing, 304 pages, $32

In this copiously illustrated, tongue-in-cheek tome, you will learn how to make some of the most affordable, creative and creepy homemade knick-knacks in recent history.

One project requires you to save the hair from your brush for six months. The book's wide-ranging chapters include Handicraftable (for disabled folk), Crafting for Jesus, and Sausages.

-- Carolin Vesely

Royal Tours 1786-2010

Home to Canada

By Arthur Bousfield and Garry Toffoli

Dundurn Press, 184 pages, $25

Rather than limiting the focus to Queen Elizabeth II and her frequent walkabouts to our country, this royal perspective tracks the trip of 11 monarchs, would-be monarchs, viceroys and commanders-in-chief of Canada.

So, yes, you get photos of last summer's royal tour, but also illustrations dating back to the pioneering visits of King William IV, King Edward VII and Princess Louise. There's loads of history and humour in this collection from Toronto-based monarchy experts Arthur Bousfield and Garry Toffoli. Even the Queen would be amused.

-- Paul Samyn

Planet Arctic

Life at the Top of the World

By Wayne Lynch

Firefly Books, 239 pages, $40

Calgary-based wildlife photographer Wayne Lynch focuses on the hundreds of animals and birds that make their living in this iciest of landscapes.

And because he was there in the spring and summer, he includes beautiful photos of the landscape and the unique terrain and fauna that the wildlife live in.

-- Kevin Rollason

Toronto Maple Leafs

Diary of a Dynasty, 1957-1967

By Kevin Shea

Firefly Books, 480 pages, $305

There was a time when the Toronto Maple Leafs lost many more games than they won, had gone years without making the playoffs, and despair was rampant in Leafs Nation -- but that was 1957, and four Stanley Cups weren't far away.

That team of Rudy Migay, Gary Aldcorn, Paul Masnick and Marc Reaume -- the latter to be traded for Red Kelly -- soon became the team of Tim Horton, George Armstrong, Dick Duff, Dave Keon, Carl Brewer, Bobby Baun, Frank Mahovlich, Johnny Bower, Bob Pulford and Bert Olmstead.

Canadian author Kevin Shea has compiled a game-by-game diary of that decade in which the Leafs -- like the current version? -- brought in a multitude of young talent and reigned as champions.

-- Nick Martin

A Room in the City

Photographs by Gabor Gasztonyi

Anvil Press, 156 pages, $40

Gabor Gasztonyi spent five years photographing the residents of a handful of single-room occupancy hotels in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, a neighbourhood infamous for its poverty. Captured in stark black and white, interspersed with Gasztonyi's own poetry and journal entries, the photographs provide an intimate window into little-seen lives, by turns touching, revealing, startling and disturbing.

-- Wendy Sawatzky

The Fashion File

Advice, Tips and Inspiration from the Costume Designer of Mad Men

By Janie Bryant with Monica Corcoran Harel

Grand Central, 175 pages, $30

If you love the clothes of the '60s, this is your book. Oh what the heck, if you like clothes, it's a book for you, too. It's more than the story of how Tennessee-born Janie Bryant dresses Betty, Joan and Peggy -- not to mention Jon Hamm -- on the popular TV series.

It's part history of clothing, part how-to manual. You'll learn, among other things, how an American, from New York's Tuxedo Park, bastardized a Savile Row smoking jacket and did the world, especially James Bond, a favour.

-- Julie Carl

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 4, 2010 H10