Albans, Clare. The Modern Embroidery Handbook. White Owl. ISBN 9781399041324. CRAFTS

For readers looking to learn or build upon their embroidery skills, Albans’s book is the one to get. This guide stands out with its easy-to-follow instructions, close-up color images, and the 70 stitches and 20 projects that show readers how to create and customize everything from frames to bookmarks.

Andrés, José. Zaytinya: Delicious Mediterranean Dishes from Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon. Ecco. ISBN 9780063327900. COOKING

The cuisine of the Washington, DC, eatery Zaytinya (now with branches in other cities too) forms the basis of this restaurant cookbook, which showcases eastern Mediterranean meze made for sharing with a crowd of family and friends. Andrés, founder of the food relief organization World Central Kitchen, highlights the ancient foodways that inspired the menu but shakes them up in modern dishes, like garlicky chilled yogurt soup with cucumber and raisins. The flavors are deep and lingering but also enlivening and celebratory.

Bennett, Leslie & Julie Chai. Garden Wonderland: Create Life-Changing Outdoor Spaces for Beauty, Harvest, Meaning, and Joy. Ten Speed. ISBN 9781984861382. GARDENING

This significant guide to garden design stresses that gardens are wonderlands, places where gardeners can experience awe and find a sense of fullness, identity, and belonging. Featuring examples of gardens designed and owned by an inclusive range of people, each chapter highlights a different design direction or garden purpose—edible, floral, healing, gathering, cultural space—with tips and examples to help readers realize their own green plots.

Boyle, Erin & Rose Pearlman. Making Things: Finding Use, Meaning, and Satisfaction in Crafting Everyday Objects. Hardie Grant. ISBN 9781958417270. CRAFTS

Boyle and Pearlman deliver a one-of-a-kind book that doesn’t just show readers how to become experts at repurposing materials; it compels them to view every object in a whole new light, making this not merely a craft guide but a manifesto for a movement. There are more than 100 projects for making nearly every craft imaginable—dog leashes, curtain tiebacks, kitchen hangers for herbs—all from common materials that might already be to hand.

Brûlé, Tyler & others. France: The Monocle Handbook. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 9780500978696. TRAVEL

This travel guide is part of a yearly series inspiring daydreamers who will not only venture to the featured country but might even think of living there one day. This year, the focus is on France, whose best food, hotels, artisans, and fashion designers are enticingly spotlighted.

Burkeman, Oliver. Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks To Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts. Farrar. ISBN 9780374611996. SELF-HELP

Burkeman, the author of Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals and The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking, offers a four-week course on dealing with stress, desire, and overwhelm. The advice, offered in clear, short, and easily digestible chapters, is as subtle as it is hard-hitting and actionable.

Carter, Hilton. The Propagation Handbook: A Guide to Propagating Houseplants. Ryland Peters & Small. ISBN 9781800653108. GARDENING

Page after page, this stunning book features images of vividly green, lush indoor plants, all cut and grown from existing ones. Beyond being an indoor gardener with years of expertise, Carter is also a highly creative designer whose displays will compel readers to put their indoor plants in unorthodox containers, such as test tubes.

Chuck D. & Kathy Lopez. RAPilates: Body and Mind Conditioning in the Digital Age. Enemy Bks.: Akashic. ISBN 9781636141749. FITNESS & WELLNESS

Readers will be hard-pressed to say what they like most about this book. Perhaps it’s the phenomenal illustrations by hip-hop legend Chuck D. Or maybe it’s the easy-to-follow Pilates exercises designed for everyone, especially those 40 and older. All this makes it a fabulous work of art that will motivate readers to get up and move.

Illustrations by Chuck D

Damrosch, Barbara. A Life in the Garden: Tales and Tips for Growing Food in Every Season. Timber. ISBN 9781643261812. GARDENING

This is a must for readers who want to grow vegetables, herbs, and fruits. Maine-based Damrosch’s decades of home gardening experience shine through in her book, organized by season and written in a conversational style. Beyond her guidance on tools and soil nutrients, she dispels doubts and widespread myths around the difficulty of growing one’s own food.

Davin, Alison (text) & Lisa Romerein (photos). Live Natural: A Relaxed Approach to Creating Healthy Homes. Gibbs Smith. ISBN 9781423665823. INTERIOR DESIGN

This interior design title is unique for its focus on building (or remodeling) homes free of chemicals and vapors that can pose a danger to occupants. Davin conceived the idea for this book after an autoimmune disorder diagnosis, which made her want to help others stay healthy in their homes. As an interior designer, she doesn’t skimp on style recommendations either.

Photos by © Lisa Romerein

de Mayee, Matay. The Oldest Kitchen in the World: 4,000 Years of Middle Eastern Cooking Passed Down Through Generations. Tra Pub. ISBN 9781962098083. COOKING

This gorgeous book explores one of the oldest cuisines in the world, the cooking of the Assyrians, who first recorded their recipes in cuneiform. De Mayee’s modern but richly evocative collection is informed by his mother’s Assyrian (also called Suryoye) heritage, one of tradition and change and a deep connection to the foodways that would go on to influence the cuisine of the Middle East. Make the no-bake raha doe debis da hinwe, a caramelized pistachio-orange bar with grape molasses.

François, Zoë. Zoë Bakes Cookies: Everything You Need To Know To Make Your Favorite Cookies and Bars. Ten Speed. ISBN 9781984860804. COOKING

Known for her companionable approach, lovely aesthetic, and scientific rigor, François follows the award-winning Zoë Bakes Cakes with this delight focused on cookies. After giving a crash course on the skills, tricks, and key methods for achieving baking success, François offers recipes for a wide variety of delectable sweets, such as sprinkle-decorated mandelbrot and blueberry pie bars. Spend some time with her perfect chocolate chip cookie.

Inouye, Megumi Lorna. The Soul of Gift Wrapping: Creative Techniques for Expressing Gratitude, Inspired by the Japanese Art of Giving. Storey. ISBN 9781635865547. CRAFTS

Gift-wrapping artist Inouye offers a book so delightful that it’ll turn even the most reluctant gift wrappers into artisans eager to showcase the techniques found inside this special volume. Inouye shows readers how to make and customize materials like wrapping paper and bows without expensive, hard-to-find tools. It’s inspiration in book format, with a bonus in its exploration of the deeper meaning of the Japanese art of giving.

Lomax, Chianti. Evolving While Black: The Ultimate Guide to Happiness and Transformation on Your Own Terms. Sounds True. ISBN 9781649631442. SELF-HELP

Lomax’s book brilliantly shows how one skydiving experience helped propel her over metaphorical blocks and self-imposed limitations. Her life-changing journey will particularly empower readers of color to make their own transformative leaps. Candid, conversational, and crucial reading.

Lonely Planet Amazing Train Journeys. Lonely Planet. 2nd ed. ISBN 9781837581726. TRAVEL

This illustrated travel guide highlights 60 rail trips across the globe: classic, continent-traversing journeys as well as short hops on commuter rail. The itineraries include trains both lavishly extravagant (the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express) and humbly workaday (New York’s Metro-North Hudson Line), spanning Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Oceania; all the voyages in this detailed book offer delight. Perfect for armchair travelers and train buffs.

Martin, Melissa M. Bayou: Feasting Through the Seasons of a Cajun Life. Artisan. ISBN 9781648291401. COOKING

The James Beard Award–winning and IACP Best New Cookbook author of Mosquito Supper Club offers a new work equally worthy of praise. In this striking volume, elegant in its writing, design, and illustration, Martin thoughtfully explores the Cajun foodways of South Louisiana, with a focus on seasonality. Each chapter is inspired by a theme: abundance, simplicity, warmth, grace, tradition, love, resilience, roots. Churn up Martin’s buttermilk ice cream.

Nguyen, Nini, with Sarah Zorn. Dă∙c Biê∙t: An Extra-Special Vietnamese Cookbook. Knopf. ISBN 9780593535547. COOKING

Nguyen, a top contender on Top Chef, offers a vibrant and story-rich collection of recipes that draw from both her Vietnamese heritage and her life in New Orleans. Along with the brightly illustrated instructions for bánh mì and pho, Nguyen shows how to throw a spring-roll party or a Viet Cajun seafood boil. Recipes are hands-on with clear how-tos and hit flavor notes of salty, sour, bitter, and beyond. Make the tapioca pudding with bananas Foster.

Ottolenghi, Yotam. Ottolenghi Comfort. Ten Speed. ISBN 9780399581779. COOKING

Ottolenghi, working with collaborators Helen Goh, Verena Lochmuller, and Tara Wigley, has crafted a book that makes sumptuous, sustaining comfort food accessible to home cooks. The recipes, like a Dutch baby pancake with roasted tomatoes, are full of the flavors for which Ottolenghi is known—vegetable-forward (although the book isn’t vegetarian), layered, and exquisitely nuanced. These dishes both nourish and gladden while making one a better cook.

Parkinson, Arthur. The Flower Yard in Containers & Pots: Creating Paradise Season by Season. Rizzoli. ISBN 9780847899852. GARDENING

Beautifully illustrated and arranged by season, Parkinson’s book explains how he creates abundant and creatively designed gardens for homes that don’t have their own plots of dirt; all the growing is done in containers and pots. Parkinson walks readers through the process of designing and caring for ingenious container gardens where plants both expected (simple bulbs; tricky sweet peas) and unexpected (grasses; crab apples) thrive.

Phu, Tu David & Soleil Ho. The Memory of Taste: Vietnamese American Recipes from Phú Quoc, Oakland, and the Spaces Between. 4 Color. ISBN 9781984861900. COOKING

Top Chef alumnus Phu and James Beard Award winner Ho offer a culinary narrative of the journey of Phu’s family from Vietnam to Oakland, CA, sharing both his heritage and the cooking lessons his mother imparted. It is a stunning, precise collection, rich in detail, with recipes (such as a beef-and-noodle salad flavored with lemongrass and chiles) that span from beginner-level to advanced cookery.

Raven, Sarah (text) & Jonathan Buckley (photos). A Year Full of Pots: Container Flowers for All Seasons. Bloomsbury. ISBN 9781526667472. GARDENING

Raven, one of Britain’s leading gardeners, views pots as part of the entire garden scheme, arguing that the right vessel is like an exclamation point on an expansive design. This lovely gardening guide spans the chronological year, starting with primulas and ending with amaryllis, providing advice on varieties and teaching key skills. The book is a feast for the eyes and blooming with inspiration. It will please armchair gardeners as well as readers crafting their own flower-filled landscapes.

Salazar, Marisel. Latin-ish: More Than 100 Recipes Celebrating American Latino Cuisines. Countryman. ISBN 9781682688267. COOKING

As a James Beard Award judge, Michelin Guide contributor, restaurant critic, and food writer, Salazar knows good food and smart recipe construction. She draws on that knowledge for a survey of Latino cuisine that spans Tex-Mex, Southwest, Cal-Mex, Floribbean, Latino-Southern, NYC Latino, and Midwest Latino dishes. Superbly designed and thoughtful, the collection offers numerous rewards, like an enriching breakfast of orange- cardamom masa pancakes.

Selengut, Becky (text) & Clare Barboza (photos). Misunderstood Vegetables: How To Fall in Love with Sunchokes, Rutabaga, Eggplant and More. Countryman. ISBN 9781682688038. COOKING

Challenging perceptions about complicated vegetables (those that take a bit more effort to prepare or seem to have limited uses), Selengut showcases artichokes, okra, beets, sunchokes, fennel, and more, helping readers understand the right ways to use them and the methods and seasonings that make them sing. Whip up her fava beans with pecorino, lemon, and olive oil.

Shah, Khushbu. Amrikan: 125 Recipes from the Indian American Diaspora. Norton. ISBN 9781324036258. COOKING

Offering dishes crafted from a global pantry, food critic and journalist Shah has penned a creative and fun cookbook highlighting Indian American cuisine, heavy on experimentation and joy. With humor, delicious descriptions, and an inviting sensibility, Shah offers food that is as fun to make as it is to read about. Try the spinach jeera rice.

Shanti, Ashleigh. Our South: Black Food Through My Lens. Union Square & Co. ISBN 9781454949121. COOKING

Gorgeously and abundantly illustrated, invitingly arranged, and expansive in scope, Shanti’s book is an intimate and expert exploration of ingredients, place, history, and what it means to cook while Black, in all its richness and complexity. Through resonant recipes from the Backcountry, Lowlands, Low Country, and Midlands of the United States, Shanti defines and redefines Southern food. Make the rice-custard brûlée, topped with strawberries.

Photos by © Johnny Autry

Sheehan, Jessie. Salty, Cheesy, Herby, Crispy Snackable Bakes: 100 Easy-Peasy, Savory Recipes for 24/7 Deliciousness. Countryman. ISBN 9781682688694. COOKING

Quick on time, big on flavor, endlessly snackable, Sheehan’s craveable recipes are delivered in a bright, cheerful, and playfully illustrated package. It begins with muffins, biscuits, scones, and breads before moving on to the delights of handhelds (Danishes, puffs, tarts, hand pies) and loading on even more goodness via crackers, bites, and snack mixes. The recipes are approachable and clearly detailed. Plan a party around Sheehan’s cheeziest biscotti.

Solomonov, Michael & Steven Cook. Zahav Home: Cooking for Friends & Family. Harvest. ISBN 9780358697367. COOKING

In a volume to pair with the James Beard Award–winning Zahav: A World of Israeli Cooking, Philadelphia restaurateurs Solomonov and Cook gather all they know about hospitality and feeding friends and family. Their accessible, welcoming recipes offer riffs, expansions, and modifications on learn-them-and-dine-well-for-a-lifetime dishes. Helpful illustrations guide readers through the processes, while the inviting text keeps them turning the pages. Preheat the oven for Solomonov and Cook’s phyllo quiche with summer squash.

van der Kloet, Jacqueline. Growing Bulbs in the Natural Garden: Innovative Techniques for Combining Bulbs and Perennials in Every Season. Timber. ISBN 9781643264028. GARDENING

This gorgeous book shows readers how to add some oomph to their gardens in the form of colorful bulbs, which aren’t a one-season option as many might think. Van der Kloet’s striking garden designs, captured in more than 200 color photographs, will make readers ooh and ah over nearly every page.

Velez, Paola. Bodega Bakes: Recipes for Sweets and Treats Inspired by My Corner Store. Union Square & Co. ISBN 9781454952374. COOKING

James Beard Award–nominated pastry chef Velez’s first book is a sparkler, full of fun and fancy sweet treats. Building on the Dominican flavors of her childhood and the food offered at NYC bodegas, she spins out unique flavor combinations. Recipes like two-ingredient creamy ice pops are explicated through hands-on, conversational directions that meet bakers where they are, resulting in a book that inspires and rewards all efforts.

Vikre, Emily. New Camp Cookbook: On the Trail; Easy-To-Pack Meals, Cocktails, and Snacks for Your Next Adventure. Harvard Common. ISBN 9780760385081. COOKING

It is perhaps unusual to think of the food one packs for the wilderness as worthy of culinary note, but Vikre has crafted a fun, well-designed cookbook for not only campers and hikers but anyone hoping to avoid highly processed foods, seeking inspiration for easy bulk meal prep, or trying to stock their pantry with staples to get dinner on the table fast. Mix up the apricot-cherry snack balls.

Weir, Ingrid. New Coastal: Inspiration for a Life by the Sea. Hardie Grant. ISBN 9781743799178. INTERIOR DESIGN

Interior designer and photographer Weir’s elegant book considers seaside living, showcases beach houses and communities in Australia and the U.S., and offers advice on designing for a coastal aesthetic. The book creates a sea of atmosphere with lavish and lovely images of homes, shorelines, and the ocean. Each page is a pleasure, flooded with a quiet, marine-tinted glow.

Photo by Ingrid Weir

Wilkinson, Crystal. Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks. Clarkson Potter. ISBN 9780593236512. CULINARY MEMOIR

NAACP Image Award and O. Henry Prize winner Wilkinson, former poet laureate of Kentucky, writes a luminous culinary memoir featuring recipes that translate the history of five generations of women in her family, enhanced by archival photographs and passed-down lore. Through regional ingredients and recipes spanning eras, she crafts a deeply rooted reflection of Black Appalachia. Bake the caramel cake.