I read a comment recently that “books are making a comeback.” The English major book lover in me was a little defensive at first, like “uh, when did they ever go away?” But I have to admit there might be some truth to that statement. There was such a race to make everything digital, and now that we’re basically there, maybe the pendulum has started to swing the other way just a little.

For the person that appreciates the weight of an actual book in their hands, the smell of that first crack open, the sound it makes when you quickly thumb through the pages, here are the best new(ish) giftable books of the 2021 holiday season.

Cooking & Entertaining Books

Best New Cookbook

Mister Jiu’s in Chinatown: Recipes and Stories from the Birthplace of Chinese American Food by Brandon Jew is much more than another Chinese food cookbook. This beautifully designed book interweaves recipes and cooking techniques with stories about Jew’s life growing up and starting a restaurant (now Michelin-starred!) in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

It features 90 recipes that are influenced by the melding of Chinese and American cultures, including Orange Chicken Wings, Sizzling Rice Soup, Spicy Crispy Peanuts, and Dutch Crunch BBQ Pork Buns.

MSRP: $40 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Cookbook That Doubles as a Coffee Table Book

Black Food: Stories, Art, and Recipes from Across the African Diaspora by Bryant Terry is another cookbook that aims (and brilliantly succeeds at!) being much more than just a collection of recipes. Over 100 Black “cultural luminaires” from all over the world have contributed original poetry, essays, and yes, recipes for this visually stunning 320-pager.

As Bon Appétit writes in a review, “it’s almost hard to call it a cookbook, because you’ll be gaining more than a few recipes from it.”

MSRP: $40 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Cookbook for Entertainers

Charcuterie (I still don’t know how to actually pronounce that) is having a moment right now. The kids who grew up begging their parents for Lunchables are real grown up adults now, but there’s still a part of us that desires to eat cheese and crackers for every meal.

Beautiful Boards: 50 Amazing Snack Boards for Any Occasion is cheese and crackers, but make it fancy. Okay, there’s a bit more than that here–it includes dinner boards, breakfast/brunch boards, dessert boards and even holiday themed boards. A fun one to have around now that in-person hangouts are a thing again!

MSRP: $25 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Quirky Cookbook

Let’s Make Ramen!: A Comic Book Cookbook is described as a “hybrid cookbook/graphic novel” with 40 illustrated recipes/stories. A unique take on the standard cookbook format that reinforces that idea that cooking (and eating) should be fun. Also a great way to subtly “encourage” your teenager to start making their own gosh darn food!

The follow-up, Let’s Make Dumplings! was also released this year.

MSRP: $20 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Cocktail Book

I mean, you’re gonna need drinks to go along with your The Batman viewing (out March 2022), and Gotham City Cocktails: Official Handcrafted Food & Drinks From the World of Batman is here to “save the day”.

It includes 70 drink and appetizer recipes based on characters and places from the Batman universe, including the Dark Nightcap (inspired by Batman) and The Full Deck (inspired by The Joker).

The runner-up in this category is clearly Can I Mix You a Drink? by T-Pain.

MSRP: $25 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Travel, Pop Culture & Other Giftable Books for Adults

Best Travel Book

The Art of the National Parks is described by one Amazon reviewer as “The most beautiful thing I own.” It includes write-ups and really awesome art posters for 59 parks like Death Valley, Big Bend, and Grand Teton.

The Rainbow Atlas: A Guide to the World’s 500 Most Colorful Places also looks really cool.

MSRP: $45 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Actual Coffee Table Book

Father/son duo Dan Levy and Eugene Levy are so wonderfully wholesome and adorable that I’d blindly buy whatever they decided to sell me. Thank goodness Best Wishes, Warmest Regards: The Story of Schitt’s Creek actually looks like it’s “simply the best”! This massive (368 page) book includes multiple pages of behind the scenes stories and commentary for every single episode.

If you somehow haven’t watched Schitt’s Creek yet, go do it now and don’t come back until you’ve finished. Then immediately watch it again with this book in hand. I love this journey for you.

MSRP: $40 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best New Memoir

Dave Grohl has done everything else, so he might as well write a book. In The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music, the self-proclaimed “guy from Nirvana” turned leader of the Foo Fighters turned Emmy-winning director, shares the lessons he’s learned from 30 years in the entertainment business.

I’m really hoping he also shares what was going through his mind when he went against Animal from the Muppets in this epic drum-off!

MSRP: $30 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best New Humor Book

It seems you really love Seth Rogen or you really hate Seth Rogen. I happen to be in the first camp so sorry/not sorry, Yearbook has made the list. In his debut book, the writer of true masterpieces like Superbad and Pineapple Express shares a collection of personal essays sure to make you laugh.

And if don’t, no need to worry, it comes with a guarantee of sorts: “I hope you enjoy the book should you buy it, and if you don’t enjoy it, I’m sorry. If you ever see me on the street and explain the situation, I’ll do my best to make it up to you.”

MSRP: $28 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Gift for the Tolkien Fan

Pictures by J.R.R. Tolkien comes out on 12/14, right in time for gifting! Includes original watercolor paintings, sketches and drawings of places and events from The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. J.R.R. Tolkien’s son, Christopher Tolkien, selected the pieces that are included in this collection.

The Hobbit & The Lord of the Rings Boxed Set: Illustrated Edition is another gorgeous (and expensive) gift idea for the Tolkien lover in your life.

MSRP: $35 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Graphic Novel

2021 is not the first time Frank Herbert’s Dune has been adapted into movie form, but it is the first time the beloved sci-fi epic has been transformed into graphic novel format. DUNE: The Graphic Novel, Book 1: Dune: Deluxe Collector’s Edition is a nice (very lovely packaged) step between watching the new film and jumping right into the bazillion page original novel.

MSRP: $50 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Comic Book Collection

One of the biggest movies this holiday season will no doubt be Spider-Man: No Way Home. Instead of buying whatever book adaptation they come out with, why not go back to the beginning. Mighty Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 contains the original Amazing Spider-Man issues 1 through 10 (from 1963!) in one book–that’s 256 pages to discover what made the world fall in love with Spidey in the first place.

There are 54 other volumes waiting when you’re done!

MSRP: $16 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Special Edition Boxed Set

One of these days we will get Breath of the Wild 2, but in the meantime, Zelda fans can enjoy the The Legend of Zelda Legendary Edition Manga Box Set. It includes five volumes of the The Legend of Zelda manga series, an exclusive poster drawn by author Akira Himekawa and a super cool storage chest.

MSRP: $125 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Reference Book

Feeling overwhelmed and confused by the multiverses and variant timelines going on in all the latest Marvel shows and movies? Periodic Table of Marvel is available to help make sense of it all.

This new release profiles 130 characters from the MCU and promises to “reveal the properties that bind them, the catalysts that created them, the chain reactions that energize them, and the underlying structures and formulas that underpin the Marvel Universe.”

Sadly it doesn’t look like Alligator Loki is included, but hopefully he’s working out his own origin story book deal as we speak.

MSRP: $20 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Poetry Book

Call Us What We Carry: Poems by Amanda Gorman has to be the most highly anticipated poetry collection in a very long time. The presidential inaugural poet/rising star’s debut will be released on 12/7, and she already has a deal with Penguin Random House for two more books to follow. Her children’s book, Change Sings: A Children’s Anthem, also just came out in September.

The historic poem that started it all, The Hill We Climb : An Inaugural Poem is also available in gifable book form. Girl’s been busy!

MSRP: $25 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Kids & Babies Books

Best Pop Up Book

Jurassic World: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book  is Matthew Reinhart’s newest pop-up book, but literally everything he’s done is awesome.  Simply calling these books seems wrong–they are true works of art! Out 12/7, this new one includes scenes from all the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World films.

Keeping my fingers crossed for a pop-up of the T-Rex eating guy in porta potty scene.

MSRP: $73 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Book for New Babies (and their Parents)

O is for Old School: A Hip Hop Alphabet for B.I.G. Kids Who Used to be Dope is one that’s really for the moms and dads. Promises to make you “freshest parent in your playgroup while your kid learns their ABCs like a G.”.

ABCs for the little g’s The Remix is another funny alphabet book–for young sneaker heads in training!

MSRP: $16 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Kids’ Picture Book

A Pizza with Everything on It starts with a premise as mundane as choosing pizza toppings and culminates in the destruction of the universe! This silly and heartwarming debut from popular TikToker Kyle Scheele is getting wonderful reviews. Would be a cute one to gift along with a pizza place gift card and/or pizza making supplies.

I also can’t not mention The Office: A Day at Dunder Mifflin Elementary here. Looks like it would make a great present for a young Office fan, because as we all know, “Presents are the best way to show how much you care. It’s a tangible thing you can point at and say, ‘Hey man, I love you. This many dollars worth.’”

MSRP: $18 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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Best Girl Power Kids’ Book

Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls 3-Book Gift Set contains the first three volumes of the Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls series–that’s 300 stories of extraordinary real-life women told in fairytale form. Volume 4: 100 Real-Life Tales of Black Girl Magic was just released this fall and can also be purchased on its own.

And finally, just because I really like Jane Austen, A Most Clever Girl: How Jane Austen Discovered Her Voice looks absolutely delightful.

MSRP: $72 / Lowest Price on Ben’s: N/A

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2021 Gift Guide: Best Giftable Books

In a year full of Zoom meetings, Google Hangouts, e-Learning and “virtual happy hours”, the last thing I want to do with my free time these days is stare at another screen.

Enter the book. I’m not talking about the kind you download onto your iPad or smartphone and read in the dark. No, I’m talking about the kind you hold in your hands, flip through with your fingers. The kind you can turn to when your eyes and your brain both need a break from the digital world we’re living in.

Books offer an escape, and what better gift is there than that right now? Here are some of the best gift-able titles for the 2020 holiday season.

Best Travel Book

Accidentally Wes Anderson ($35) looks, well, straight out of a Wes Anderson movie. Based on the super popular Instagram account of the same name, this quirky travel/photography book explores real-life places that have the same distinctive aesthetic as his films, and tells the stories behind them. Includes a forward written by Wes Anderson himself.

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Best Coffee Table Book

Humans ($35) is author/photographer Brandon Stanton’s 2020 follow-up to the mega bestseller Humans of New York. In Humans, Stanton shares photographs and stories of every day people from around the world. Over 40 countries are represented in this 448 page book that the Washington Post calls, “one of the most influential art projects of the decade.”

At a time when the world seems divided as ever, this book looks like a great reminder of the shared humanity that ties us all together.

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Best Cookbook for a Global Pandemic

Because going to watch sporting events in-person isn’t really a thing right now, Tailgreat: How to Crush It at Tailgating ($28) might seem like a weird pick. But even if you won’t be actually tailgating anytime soon, outdoor gatherings will likely be the “new normal” for awhile. Tailgreat includes 120 recipes from James Beard Award winner John Currence that will bring your socially distanced outdoor get togethers to a new level.

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Best Kids’ Baking Cookbook

When I saw that Christina Tosi had come out with a kids’ cookbook, Milk Bar: Kids Only ($23), I immediately bought it. I’m not even a big desert person, but her Momofuku Milk Bar Corn Cookies are one of the best things I have ever eaten in my entire life. Her new cookbook is absolutely delightful, too–great writing, great pictures, super fun recipes that appeal to both kids and kids at heart. So far my family has made the Rocky Road Cereal Squares and the Dreamsicle Blondies and both were delicious!

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Best Humor Book

God-Level Knowledge Darts: Life Lessons from the Bronx ($26) is the writing debut from Desus & Mero of the hilarious Bodega Boys podcast. They describe their new self-help book as “a sequel to the Bible, or maybe to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, depending on how big a nerd you are.” If that doesn’t convince you to pick this one up, I don’t know what will!

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Best Comic Book Collection

One of these days Wonder Woman 1984 will be released (maybe?). In the meantime, Wonder Woman: The Cheetah Comic Book Collection ($20) will get you acquainted with Cheetah, the villain played by Kristen Wiig in the new movie (that will hopefully, someday, actually come out). This 2020 release includes all of Cheetah’s appearances in various DC comics from 1943 to 2016.

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Best Pop-Up Book

Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Guide to Diagon Alley and Beyond ($75) is Matthew Reinhart’s newest pop-up book, but literally everything he’s done is awesome.  Simply calling these books seems wrong–they are true works of art! The coolest things about this new Harry Potter pop-up is that it can be opened up into a displayable 3D diorama of all the pages!

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Best Book That’s Not Really a Book

Star Wars Art: Ralph McQuarrie Postcard Book ($25) is an incredible value. For $25 you get 100(!) panoramic postcards plus storage box that doubles as a display frame. The postcards feature really beautiful concept art by Ralph McQuarrie, the artist who worked with George Lucas to establish the saga’s visual aesthetic in pre-production.

I was given this set for my birthday last year and totally thought someone spent a lot more money on me than they really did!

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Best Book Gift Set

The Umbrella Academy Volume 1: Apocalypse Suite Deluxe Edition ($80) is a cool gift idea for fans of the popular Umbrella Academy Netflix show (just renewed for a third season yesterday!). Includes a 216-page leatherette hardcover with the entire Umbrella Academy comic series, a 50-page “sketchbook”, plus lithograph and slipcase designed by illustrator Gabriel Bà.

If you don’t need the fancy details, the Umbrella Academy Library Edition Volume 1: Apocalypse Suite (Hardcover) on its own is much cheaper ($40).

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Best Read-Aloud Picture Book

Ironically enough, the best read-aloud book goes to No Reading Allowed: The WORST Read-Aloud Book Ever ($18). This kids’ book plays around with homophones, homonyms, and tricky punctuation, like “Man, a tea sounds great” vs “Manatee sounds great!”

Hopefully this November 2020 release will be as hilarious and awesome as its predecessor, P Is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever ($18). Seriously, it’s so good.

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Best Kids’ Fiction Series

The obvious choices here would be Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Dog Man or Captain Underpants (all good!), but my kids and I recently discovered a hidden gem of a series: The Unicorn Rescue Society. Before you roll your eyes, they’re not really about unicorns! And they are really well written! Mostly, I’m just stoked to have found a series that both my boys (8 and 4) and girl (6) all enjoy.

The Unicorn Rescue Society Series Set ($33) includes the first four books: The Creature of the Pines, The Basque Dragon, Sasquatch and the Muckleshoot, and The Chupacabras of the Rio Grande.

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Best Biography

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow ($22) is not a new release (2005), but it’s seeing a surge in popularity since Hamilton the musical debuted on Disney+ this summer. It’s said that Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda read Chernow’s Hamilton biography on vacation, was super inspired by the story of America’s lesser known founding father…and the rest is well, history.

Don’t let the length scare you–even at over 800 pages it’s a super fast read! Great gift for a Hamilton musical fan, or really anyone who enjoys a good story.

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Best Cocktail Book

Drink What You Want: The Subjective Guide to Making Objectively Delicious Cocktails ($25) goes beyond providing drink recipes. In this 2020 release, New York City bartender John deBary focuses more on the “science of mixology” and teaches you how to tweak any drink to your preferences and moods. Pair this with a nice shaker and you’ve got an awesome gift for just about anyone (over the age of 21 of course!).

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Best New Anthology

The Best of Me ($30) is a collection of writer David Sedaris’s favorite stories and essays over the last 25 years. If you want to introduce someone you love to the brilliance that is David Sedaris, he’s given you a great place to start.

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Best Book for Math Nerds

Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World ($27) is described as ‘The book-length answer to anyone who ever put their hand up in math class and asked, “When am I ever going to use this in the real world?”’ This 2020 bestseller includes math mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman Empire and more.

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Best Sports Book

Three-Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty ($30) would have been an interesting read either way, but the fact that Kobe Bryant died this year brings a new level of fascination to this story. Written by Sports Journalist Jeff Pearlman and covers the Lakers “dynasty” from 1996 through 2004.

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Most Highly Anticipated Memoir

The first volume of Barack Obama’s presidential memoirs, A Promised Land ($45) comes out today (11/17). No matter what political side you’re on, you have to admit Obama has always had a way with words. His historic rise to become the first Black president is a story I think a lot of people are looking forward to diving into this holiday season.

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Most Highly Anticipated Sequel

Ready Player Two: A Novel ($29) comes out on 11/24, right in time for holiday gifting. Fans of the first book, Ready Player One have been waiting for this one for nine years! Steven Spielberg’s film adaptation in 2018 only upped the level of anticipation. Let’s hope it was worth the wait!

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Best Book to Give Your Wife/Daughter/Niece

What Would Frida Do?: A Guide to Living Boldly ($25) is described as a “vibrant herstory-meets-self-help book”. Author Arianna Davis is getting a lot of praise for telling Frida Kahlo’s story in a fresh new way. Looks like an inspiring read for girls and women of all ages.

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Best Book for Car Lovers

A Man & His Car: Iconic Cars and Stories from the Men Who Love Them ($40) is a collection of 80 stories of men and their beloved cars. Includes Ed Burns talking about his 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, Jay Leno telling the story of his 1955 Buick Roadmaster, and Shaquille O’Neal nerding out over his love of trucks.

This is a follow up to 2017’s A Man & His Watch: Iconic Watches and Stories from the Men Who Wore Them (also a fun gift idea, especially paired with a watch!)

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20 Giftable Books for 2020

In this digital age we live in you might be thinking, “wait, a book guide? What is this ‘book’ thing you speak of?” To remind you, a book is a collection of words, printed on this other ancient thing called paper, that you hold in your hands and read.

All joking aside, with so many eBooks and Audio books out there, gifting someone a physical book–something they can hold and flip through and display in their home–has become all the more special. Here are some of the best titles for the 2019 holiday season.

Best Massive Coffee Table Book

The NASA Archives. 60 Years in Space ($150) is huge (468 pages!) and gives a visual history of space exploration by way of 400 historic photographs and concept renderings from the last 60 years. The list price is high, but it’s already down to about $90 on Amazon.

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Best Not So Massive Coffee Table Book

In The Beatles from A to Zed: An Alphabetical Mystery Tour ($27), record producer Peter Asher (who knew the band personally) takes you on an “alphabetical journey” through the music and lives of the best music group the world has ever known (true fact). Just came out in a couple weeks ago and is getting great reviews.

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Best New Cookbook

Everyone likes tacos, which is why Ama: A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen ($30) is my pick for best new cookbook. In it, LA based chef and restaurant owner Josef Centeno shares over 100 regional Mexican dishes with German, Polish, and Moroccan influences. Honestly all the recipes sound good, but the Blood Orange Flan de Queso and Grandma Alice’s Chipotle Chorizo are at the top of my list to try. Oh and the Áma Margarita, of course.

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Best Classic Cookbook

For someone who is just getting into cooking, Jacques Pépin New Complete Techniques ($40) is considered by many to be the new standard for teaching general cooking skills. The late great Anthony Bourdain said of this 700+ pager, “This is the book that every aspiring cook should read before picking up a French knife. Concise, informative, indispensable.”

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Best New Travel Book

Wanderlust: A Traveler’s Guide to the Globe ($40) is 368 pages of pure bucket list inspiration. It includes themed lists of travel ideas like “50 wonders of the world”, “where to stargaze”, and “legendary bars and cafés”, plus tons of photographs and general travel tips. A dream come true for the dreamer on your list!

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Best Book for Over-Analyzers

Am I Overthinking This?: Over-answering life’s questions in 101 charts ($15) is a gem of a book based on graphic designer Michelle Rial’s popular Instagram account. Through hilarious hand-drawn charts and diagrams, Rial answers the most burning adult questions like, “should I have more coffee?”, “how long should this dish soak?” and “do I have too many plants?” Just read the reviews–they’re so good!

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Best Kids’ Picture Book

The irony of My Book with No Pictures ($10) landing in this spot is that it has no pictures at all! It’s a fill-in-the-blanks follow-up to BJ Novak’s super popular The Book with No Pictures (2014). I’m really excited for this one–the original was a favorite in our family! Note: release date is 11/19.

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Best Baby Board Book Set

Everyone likes to believe their baby is the smartest baby in existence, and you can help make that slightly more true with the Baby University Physics Board Book Set ($40). This new 2019 set includes Astrophysics for Babies, Statistical Physics for Babies, Nuclear Physics for Babies and Optical Physics for Babies, but they also make tons of other titles. They’re written by an actual working physicist so you might just find yourself learning something new, too!

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Best Pop-Up Book

Star Wars: The Ultimate Pop-Up Galaxy ($85) is Matthew Reinhart’s newest pop-up book, but literally everything he’s done is awesome.  Simply calling these books seems wrong–they are true works of art! This newest release covers all 11 Star Wars movies, including The Rise of Skywalker (out in December).

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Best Comic Style Book

Strange Planet ($15) is another one that comes from a super popular Instagram account (by Nathan W. Pyle). The highly anticipated book goes through the life cycle of Earth’s inhabitants (from the perspective of a couple adorable aliens) and includes milestones such as The Emergence Day, Being Gains a Sibling, Being Begins a Vocation, and The Being Reflects on Life While Watching the Planet Rotate. The Insta account is amazing, so there’s little question the book is going to be amazing too. Note: release date is 11/19.

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Best Boxed Set

The Harry Potter: The Illustrated Collection Books 1-3 Boxed Set ($120) is absolutely stunning. We have the first book from the Illustrated Collection and I was just blown away by the quality. This would make a great gift for younger kids getting into HP for the first time, as well as die-hard fans who have read the books a million times. The words haven’t changed a bit, but the reading experience feels totally new (and somehow even more magical!).

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Best Cocktail Book

Cocktail Codex: Fundamentals, Formulas, Evolutions ($40) goes through what the authors have determined to be the six “root” cocktails: the old-fashioned, martini, daiquiri, sidecar, whisky highball, and flip, and shows you how to use them as templates to create all the other cocktails out there (or invent new ones of your own). Universally praised with an impressive 4.7/5 average on GoodReads. Pair this with a nice shaker and you’ve got an awesome gift for just about anyone (well, anyone over the age of 21 that is!).

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Best Kids’ Fiction

If you need a cheap gift for an elementary school aged kid, you probably won’t go wrong with Dog Man: Fetch-22 ($13). This is number eight in the graphic novel style series by the Dav Pilkey (the guy who wrote Captain Underpants) and is scheduled for release on 12/10, just in time for the holidays. Every kid I know reads and loves these books!

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Best Book for Comic Book Nerds

Detective Comics: 80 Years of Batman Deluxe Edition ($30) is over 400 pages long and features all the iconic moments in Batman comic history: from the very first Batman story, to the debuts of sidekicks like Robin and Batgirl, to the first appearances of villains like Two-Face and the Riddler. Already down to $17 on Amazon (stocking stuffer priced!).

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Best Memoir

I’m from Minneapolis, so there’s no way Prince: The Beautiful Ones ($30) was not going to make this list. This newly released book not only includes the unfinished memoir Prince was in the middle of writing at the time of his death, but is also full of candid photos, handwritten journal entries and other personal reflections from the beloved musician. The USA Today review writes, “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Prince fanatic or if your interest is simply piqued by all things music or pop culture: The book is worth picking up. The Beautiful Ones is not a read, but an experience, an immersion inside the mind of a musical genius.”

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Holiday Gift Guide 2019: 15 Awesome Giftable Books

Look, it’s time to face facts; modern day movie posters are unbelievably lame.  Unless you just have a particular fetish for floating heads, you probably recognize that the occasional great movie deserves something better than just a collection of floating heads of the movie’s top-billed cast on its movie poster.  I know I think so, and by the looks of it, Matthew Chojnacki, author of more than one book about this kind of pop media art, thinks so as well.

He is so convinced, in fact, that he scoured the interwebz and put together more than two hundred independently created, unofficial movie posters for his upcoming book Alternative Movie Posters: Film Art from the Underground.  The biggest requirement for inclusion beyond being awesome was no official license from the subject studio—that is, the poster must come from the virtual underground of the internet.  And thanks to the The Verge, we have a few examples of some of the inclusions.

These examples favor some science fiction classics but have more than a few dramas in the mix.  The point is, that if you have not seen any one of these films, then you have a new homework assignment.   Put down your Miley Cyrus-Justin Beiber mash-up and sign up for a quick study on some of the more significant and enjoyable movies of modern times.

Now let’s start it off with Bambi, which understandably looks a lot like The Deer Hunter and understandably so.

Then we come to Beetlejuice, which does not read like home stereo instructions.  If only you could call in the ghostest with the mostest to fix Tim Burton…

Do you like the (artificial) owl?  If you can’t stay awake through one viewing of Blade Runner then you are (most) likely an empathy-lacking replicant and in need of retirement.

Chances are that you probably have seen at least one of The Avengers movies, and this poster makes Iron Man look like Master Mold.  Game. Set. Match.

Jennifer Connelly matches wits with David Bowie in a Jim Henson-powered near freak-out, make sure you channel your inner child so as to be properly warped by Labyrinth.

Jacque Cousteau has nothing on Steve Zissou, and this is your chance to become a junior member.

There is only one concept that knows no language barrier, and that is a dying Murphy turned RoboCop, so make sure that you don’t work for Dick Jones.

Awesome Movie Posters from the Underground are Awesome

With all of my favorite TV shows on summer break, I’m happily snatching up any Must-See TV crumbs I can find, whether it’s following celebs on twitter or checking out summer movies starring familiar faces. Parks and Recreation happens to be a favorite of mine, and I’m not ashamed to say I let out a little squeal when I came across Jen Lewis‘ interpretation of classic children’s books with Parks and Recreation characters over on Flavorwire. I got the giggles with every new title, from Where the Wyatt Things Are to Donna and the Giant Mimosa.

I feel like there must be a market for these books, and with such brilliant covers, most of the work is done. I’m officially asking someone to write about Chris Traeger’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Literally Bad Day. A break between season seems like a perfect time to get to writing fan fiction.

See all twelve Parks and Recreation childrens’ books over at Flavorwire.

Must Read TV: Parks and Recreation Kids Books