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Sometimes our eyes are bigger than our baking skills. Reviewer T. Susan Chang recommends three cookbooks with pictures that indulge our senses while sparing our waistlines. Do you have a favorite cookbook? Let us know in the comments.

No one's perfect, especially in literature. Author Julie Wu's favorite protagonists are of sound mind and questionable morals. Do you have a favorite character who lacks, well, character? Tell us in the comments.

No fiction? No problem! Annalisa Quinn shares five summer reads that look at art in a few stranger-than-fiction ways. Classic mythology and Spider-Man? An antlered hat with feathers? Have your Dutch minimalist-inspired cake and eat it too!

In fiction, Nathan Englander's short stories, Amanda Coplin's Pacific Northwest drama and Anthony Giardina's tale of miscalculated suburban escape arrive in paperback. In softcover nonfiction, Rachel Maddow takes stock of America's perpetual wars and Lauren F. Winner reflects on her crisis of faith.

In softcover nonfiction, Cheryl Strayed recounts her solo trek on the Pacific Crest Trail, Blaine Harden unlocks the secrets of a North Korean prison camp, and Leymah Gbowee reflects on becoming a Liberian peace activist. In fiction, Rachel Joyce's tale of an unexpected journey arrives in paperback.

Writer Eloisa James gathers the best of 2012's romance subgenres. Expect lots of heat, in the most unexpected places and with some unlikely people: From the military to the paranormal, and from Shakespeare to steampunk, James' picks for the year skip across oceans and genres.

Novelist Jodi Picoult explores life and death, while oncologist David Agus models new health practices, virologist Nathan Wolfe tracks emerging diseases, Dava Sobel reflects on Copernicus, and Charles Shields looks at novelist Kurt Vonnegut.

Gift books should be special: arrestingly visual, deeply felt, quirky, comprehensive, important. We've combed the shelves to bring you several such suggestions, guaranteed to put a sparkle in the eyes of any big reader.

If the conspiracy theorists are right, we only have a few more days before the end of the world. Author Ben H. Winters describes his favorite pre-apocalyptic works of fiction. Do you have a favorite doomsday masterpiece? Tell us in the comments.

Femmes fatales and their crafty female creators dominate this year's mystery and thriller picks. Critic Maureen Corrigan wonders whether it takes a woman to capture the evil that can hide behind a lip-glossed smile and pair of shining eyes.