Julie Birmant and Clément Ouebrerie (Aya) have created a beautiful graphic biography that pays tribute to one of the 20th century's most prolific and best-loved artists. Told from the point of view of Fernande Olivier, Picasso's former lover and muse, Pablo chronicles Picasso's early career as a struggling artist in 1900s Paris, living among a group of colorful characters, whose friendships and rivalries (particularly with Henri Matisse) helped shape his art.

Birmant's Picasso is a man obsessed with his own appetites, whose artistic vision is little appreciated until American writer and benefactress Gertrude Stein steps in as his champion. Birmant makes clear the debt Picasso owes to his Bateau-Lavoir network, and Oubrerie's panels are spun in a visually dreamy palate that highlights the stages of Picasso's work, from the erotica that dominated his earliest paintings, to his later forays into Cubism and modern art. Pablo is brilliant and engaging, and a worthy addition to any Picasso canon. --Nancy Powell, freelance writer and technical consultant

It is nearly impossible to pack World War II history into one volume, but Richard Overy's WWII Remembered makes a valiant effort to do so. From the war's roots in the post-World War I settlements of 1919 to its final days, this book covers every aspect of "the largest and costliest war in human history." Across full-color pages decked with primary photographs and images of original period documents, Overy details every major battle, blitz, operation and meeting of the Second World War--in every theater of the war--in chronological order.

Overy's text is accompanied by a removable dossier containing some 30 pieces of memorabilia--including document facsimiles, combat reports, telegrams and photographs--and an audio CD with veterans' firsthand accounts of the war. Because of its breadth, WWII Remembered is not a particularly detailed history of any one aspect of World War II--but it is an impressive history of the war in its entirety, sure to appeal to any armchair general. --Kerry McHugh, blogger at Entomology of a Bookworm

Pope Francis is a pope of firsts: "First Latin American pope... first Jesuit... first non-European-born pope in more than a thousand years... first pope to take the moniker of St. Francis of Assisi, champion of the poor." Therefore, it is fitting that this refreshingly approachable Bishop of Rome would agree to be intimately profiled inside the Vatican.

Images of the Vatican's ornate, breathtaking beauty enhance insightful commentaries about the city and its historical traditions. Moving, candid photographs of Pope Francis reflect his humble mission of mercy, his life and how his papal presence has re-energized the Catholic Church and faith. Together, Draper and Yoder have captured the "intersection between place and culture." Catholics and non-Catholics will be intrigued viewing what the international press calls a "reformer... radical... revolutionary" pope at the helm of a religious institution in transition. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines

Self-titled "gonzovationists," Ralph Steadman and Ceri Levy (Extinct Boids) pick up pens, paint and keyboards for a stunning art book devoted to the "nextinct"--critically endangered birds that will vanish forever without conservation. The cheery, chatty duo describes their project as one of hope for these rare species.

Steadman's bold, vibrant illustrations take center stage. His real-life subjects, like the Sociable Lapwing, are presented in natural palettes and dignified poses, but the true fun comes not from the birds but the "boids"--imaginary, cartoonish birds, like the Teeny Spint (Eencius weencius), that seem to emerge autonomously from ink blobs and slashes. Levy's notes on each species, real and imagined, sit alongside e-mails and transcripts of phone and Skype chats the authors shared while working on the project, giving insight into their rapport.

Ideal for the birder or art enthusiast, this vibrant collection is perfect for holiday giving and even contains a portrait of two turtledoves. --Jaclyn Fulwood, blogger at Infinite Reads

Skateboarding photographer Jonathan Mehring's coffee table book is filled with photos of famous skaters conquering physics-defying tricks around the world. The adrenaline-fueled photography, from Mehring and others, soars across every page, framed by deep, reverent quotes, and essays about the sport from the artists and performers portrayed. However, it's the smaller victories that give this volume its warm heart: young boys in Warsaw, working on their first trick with faces furrowed in concentration; a line of Native American teens waiting their turn to run the pipe at Wounded Knee, a skatepark built for them by Pearl Jam's bass player Jeff Ament and the Vitology Foundation.

Skating, as superstar Tony Hawk says in the introduction, transcends race, religion, language and economic barriers to bring life lessons of perseverance to everyone who falls in love with the sport. Skate the World provides a visual treat that readers will want to spend some serious time with. --Rob LeFebvre, freelance writer and editor

Josh Leventhal traces the evolution of baseball via relics and artifacts from the game. Equipment is included--bats and balls, uniforms and gloves--but Leventhal also features other, sometimes unexpected material. An illustration of ball players from a medieval calendar (1300s) suggests an early form of the pastime. A ball-strike umpire's counter (1887) is the lead-in for a commentary on how the sport went "pro." A hot dog vendor's bucket (1900s) symbolizes commercialism of the game. Each object is paired with specific eras: Jackie Robinson's Brooklyn Dodgers jersey (1947) celebrates the breaking of the color barrier; a Reggie! candy bar illuminates the 1970s "Bronx Zoo" of the New York Yankees; and Barry Bonds's 756th home run helmet (2007) probes the influence of steroids. These, and a wide range of additional items, launch entertaining insights into the history of America's favorite pastime. Leventhal's distinctive presentation is like visiting a well-conceived museum exhibit between the covers of a book. --Kathleen Gerard, blogger at Reading Between the Lines

In 1968, Sir Wally Herbert set out from Point Barrow, Alaska, in an attempt to travel across the Arctic Ocean's longest axis (and pass over the geographic North Pole in the process). Sixteen months later, he and his three companions struck land again, in Spitsbergen, Norway, marking the conclusion of one of the greatest expeditions of all time.

For those 16 months they never touched dry land, traveling across shifting ice floes, always at risk of losing their way and vanishing into the ocean. Their accomplishment was overshadowed by the moon landing, but Across the Arctic Ocean brings new life to this nearly forgotten journey. With hundreds of stunning photographs, entries from Herbert's journals, an introduction from explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, and original documents from the Herbert collection, Across the Arctic Ocean is perfect for the adventurous and travel-minded. With the future of the Arctic threatened by climate change and development, Across the Arctic Ocean is a timely reminder of its austere glory. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm

"It is no surprise that Ireland, with its favourable climate, a range of plants that runs from the subtropical to the subarctic, and a landscape that varies from gently pastoral to savagely rugged, possesses some of the most interesting gardens in the world," writes Jane Powers in her introduction to The Irish Garden. With the help of lush, full-color photographs by Jonathan Hession, Powers takes readers on an extensive tour of the gardens throughout the Emerald Isle, from formal estates that cover hundreds of acres, first planted hundreds of years ago, to backyard plots that provide food and flowers for modern schools, restaurants and local villagers. Powers skillfully blends exquisite descriptions of nearly 60 gardens with the history behind each, providing readers with a mini-course on the cultural, social and economic developments that have influenced Ireland since before the 1600s. The Irish Garden is a lovely meander through a vast and colorful network of trees and plants that truly pays homage to the unusual climate and diversity found in Ireland. --Lee E. Cart, freelance writer and book reviewer

Comedian Terry Gilliam could measure his life in reels, from Monty Python skits to turns behind the lens directing such films as Brazil and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In Gilliamesque, he chronicles his outlandish and enchanted life with insight, insouciance and whimsy in dense, color-saturated pages.

Told in a first person, off-the-cuff style, each chapter ferries the reader through distinct phases of Gilliam's life--childhood in the wilds of Minnesota, a move to California, falling in love, the onset of the Vietnam War and the formation of what would become the Pythons. Gilliam's easy way with words and one-liners shines in every seemingly extemporaneous paragraph, like sitting down to tea with your funniest friend.

Like the brushes with fame it describes, the book is splashy and colorful, but the hand-scribbled notes, photographs and errant dribbles of paint make this a coffee-table book for those who take their brew with a dash of irreverence. --Linnie Greene, freelance writer

Arriving more than 30 years after the original Ghostbusters movie made its debut in theaters and several months before the 2016 reboot with an all-female cast, Daniel Wallace's Ghostbusters: The Ultimate Visual History is an entertaining collection of behind-the-scenes anecdotes about the origin and production of the 1984 movie and its sequel. The book is generous with on-set pictures and recollections from the cast and crew, though many of the quotes are from previously published or broadcast sources. It also contains pullout memorabilia, such as storyboards, concept art and Peter Venkman's business card.

Though it doesn't explain why several key original crew members--including visual effects designer Richard Edlund and production designer John DeCuir--didn't return for the sequel, this compendium is a must-have for fans who fondly remember the hit movie and are eagerly awaiting the remake. --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, blogger at Pop Culture Nerd

Besides Edith Head, how many influential costume designers could most cineastes name? Jay Jorgensen and Donald L. Scoggins's Creating the Illusion should help raise that number. This encyclopedic compilation contains profiles of--and interviews with--costume designers who've left indelible impressions on film throughout the last century.

For the adaptation of Frank L. Baum's The Wizard of Oz, costume designer Adrian (a one-name wonder long before Cher's and Madonna's time) feared the silver slippers from the book wouldn't pop on screen, so he made them ruby--and created movie history. While Oscar-winner Gloria Wakeling moonlighted in TV, she designed Barbara Eden's pink costume on I Dream of Jeannie. The intimidating Irene Sharaff created larger-than-life gowns for The King and I and Cleopatra, among others. Marilyn Monroe's white, billowing dress? Designed by William Travilla. Who's responsible for Neo's black duster in The Matrix? Kym Barrett. They're all here, along with many more, receiving rightful credit for helping shape iconic characters and sartorial moments in pop culture. --Elyse Dinh-McCrillis, blogger at Pop Culture Nerd

In the 1980s, artist Mike Wells set out to paint as many objects as possible in 26 images--each representing a letter of the alphabet. The surreal, carefully detailed paintings are crammed with items: for example, the E page has 261--including an ensign, an enchained escapologist, an escarpment, eels, eyes, eunuchs, excavators, elk, emeralds, an elf, an easy chair, etc.

This two-volume, slipcovered set contains The Ultimate Alphabet, with beautiful, full-color renderings of the 26 paintings, and The Annotated Ultimate Alphabet. The latter displays the outlines of each item numbered to correspond with a list on the opposing page that features all 277 H items or all 410 M items, and so forth.

Sure to please artists and wordsmiths alike, The Ultimate Alphabet is the perfect way to while away an hour or two, trying to name everything on a page, or simply flipping through and enjoying the whimsical artwork. --Jessica Howard, blogger at Quirky Bookworm

Startling and addictive, from its front cover shot of John Belushi to its back photo of Mick Jagger, photographer Marcia Resnick's Punks, Poets, & Provocateurs is a terrific overview of the underbelly of New York's arts scene, as the rowdy 1970s gave way to the Reagan '80s. With text by prolific '70s biographer Victor Bockris (e.g., Warhol, Richards, Reed, Burroughs, etc.), it captures, up close and all tricked out, the players who made those years a renaissance of the underground. Resnick (Re-visions) snaps both the old guard, like Burroughs, Ginsberg, Warhol, even Chuck Berry, and the new--including "bad boys" with last names like Hell, Pop, Rotten, Gunn and Thunders. As sax player for the Lounge Lizards John Lurie says: "We were so sure of ourselves, we never doubted anything. We were powerful, smart, energetic, confident, egocentric and astonishingly naïve. Nothing outside of our fourteen block radius mattered." Resnick and Bockris have created a true masterwork. --Bruce Jacobs, founding partner, Watermark Books & Cafe, Wichita, Kan.

In this expanded paperback version of Hal Buell's stunning collection of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs from 1942 to 2015, the vast array of subjects, techniques and even photographers underscores the ambiguity in what makes an image Pulitzer quality. Compassion, brutality, success and failure: they run the spectrum of experience.

Moments moves chronologically through the existence of the award, illustrating the advances in technology as well as the growing diversity of recipients. But more than anything it showcases the history captured in these gripping snapshots--Babe Ruth saying goodbye at Yankee Stadium, a woman crying over one of the dead students at Kent State, for example--instances that so powerfully capture not only the subject but also the height of emotion and richness of atmosphere. The short essays accompanying each image provide insight into the photographers' thoughts and the extreme dangers in which they often place themselves in order to achieve that perfect picture.

Each turn of the page steals the reader's breath. Photography and history fans alike are sure to cherish the impassioned world captured spectacularly in Moments. --Jen Forbus of Jen's Book Thoughts

Paul Koudounaris (The Empire of Death) presents phenomenal photographs and a fascinating survey of death across cultures and history with Memento Mori: The Dead Among Us. His text is concise but effective, allowing his photography to take the lead. Images are gorgeously rendered in large format and across full spreads. They feature ossuaries, charnel houses and intricate, artistic arrangements of bones, mummies and decorated skeletons from various cultures.

Koudounaris portrays the Torajans of Indonesia, who place their dead in caves, and after the coffins disintegrate, arrange the bones decoratively; the Aymara Indians of Bolivia, who keep treasured skulls in their homes and ask them for advice; and the elaborate, even decadent, Catholic ossuaries created in response to Protestant reforms. Buddhists gilded certain mummies; Rwandans set up memorial vaults. Wrapped in a blue satin cover, with more than 500 illustrations, Memento Mori offers a striking tribute to many ways of remembering and honoring death and the dead. --Julia Jenkins, librarian and blogger at pagesofjulia

Adrian Buckmaster's An Embarrassment of Riches is a stirring collection of portraits that will leave readers with the impression that they have stumbled upon a gothic, otherworldly carnival. This inspired and stunning book features 295 color and black-and-white photographs of people in costumes and settings that range from the mundane to the fantastic. Buckmaster's portraits reveal even the mundane as interesting via arrangements that form a deep and complicated emotional resonance.

While many of the portraits illuminate the subject's individuality, Buckmaster's interpretation of archetypes and mythology offers a deeper meaning. Readers with an eye for fine details will discover the multi-layered stories Buckmaster has composed in every shot. States of decorative undress reveal each character and create a charged tension between subject and photographer. An Embarrassment of Riches is one of the most interesting and playful collections of portraits released this year, in which humanity is explored in its splendor. --Justus Joseph, bookseller at Elliott Bay Book Company

Vampires, zombies, werewolves, psychos, aliens and ghosts--The Art of Horror compiles a phantasmagorical collection of images to terrify and excite in a beautifully made and gorgeously laid out coffee-table book. With an introduction by author Neil Gaiman and a respected researcher or writer in the genre covering each topical chapter, this collection does more than just show, it also tells, with detailed  information on the imagery, from the earliest film posters and book illustrations to more modern digital art pieces. The chapters tackle their specific topics with reverence and an appreciation of what the horror genre across all media does for its audience. As Gaiman says in the introduction, horror isn't just scary--it is--but it is also incredibly fun. This broad examination of powerful, vibrant, glorious reproductions from works of horror art is a treasure for any fan of the macabre. --Rob LeFebvre, freelance writer and editor