Holiday Gift Guide: The World of Ornament

A splurge gift for the designer, art lover, or book lover in your life. Featuring the most beautiful patterns in history, this book is a feast for the eyes. Maybe the best coffee table book gift out there.

$200 at Taschen

Holiday Gift Guide: Flipbooks

These ingenious flipbooks are great gifts for grandparents who haven't yet mastered youtube or even the world wide net. But it's not just for kid's videos, it's also perfect for wedding video footage, surprise parties, and any other moment you want to convert to print. All you have to do is upload a video, choose a book size, and you're done- the people at flipclips do all the rest.

$8.99 at flipclips.com

Porn for Women

I googled this title to find a better image for this book, and whoa, it's a world WIDE web out there. Anyway, one of the images in this book has this caption: "Look, the NFL playoffs are today. I bet we'll have no trouble parking at the crafts fair."

$10.36 on amazon

One of the best coffeetable books

Even if you've never stepped foot inside a church and never intend to, Church Signs across America will capture your attention. Hilarious and whimsical and sometimes even reverent, this big old book bypasses alot of the fire and brimstone for the funny and brainy. Did you know that 'seven days without prayer makes one weak'?

I've seen this book in action, and it's brought forth laughs from a certified agnostic, born-again believer, and a secular Jew. That should be enough to make it one of the best coffeetable books out there.

$13.57 on amazon.com

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Extraordinary Book of Facts: And Bizarre Information

Fun information for everyone's favorite reading room. All things weird and wonderful are covered in this volume of Uncle John's collection.

From Uncle John's daily calendar: You Are What You Eat, February 15, 2007

Fruit bat soup. This delicacy from Micronesia is made from the meat of a fruit bat (also called a flying fox), simmered in water, ginger, and onion and topped with scallions, soy sauce, and coconut cream.

Chia pet salad. This dish features the edible sprouts of Salvia columbariae- related to the sage plant. The "fur" the grows out of the ceramic cow, frog, hippo, puppy, or whatever is stripped from the pottery and tossed lightly with peppery nastutiums and beanlike tulip flowers.

$12.21 on amazon.com

Off the wall: Fashion from East Germany

The best coffee table books grab your attention AND look pretty. Off the wall: Fashion from East Germany 1964 to 1980 is both and more. A bit of camp, lots of orange, and some fashion history make this book hilarious, interesting, and show a slice of life from behind the Berlin Wall.

$12.95 on amazon.com

Book safe

Redemption lies within. This book safe is made from an actual book, although you won’t be able to choose the title yourself. But unless the thief or snoop is super observant, they shouldn’t notice the thriller among your romances or the fantasy within the classics. Not as sexy as a secret passageway, but still a little exciting.

$17.99 on amazon

Baby book for modern parents

I don’t know a single parent who dutifully filled in all the pages of their baby’s first year memory book. This baby book goes beyond the “first tooth” and “first steps” to the real parenting nitty gritty. First person baby peed on? Baby’s first tantrum? These memories may not be as celebrated, but they’re just as important. And this book is just the thing to lighten up the mood at those mind-numbing gift opening sessions at baby showers everywhere.

Baby’s first tatttoo is $10.36 on amazon.com