"50 Years of James Bond" (Life Books, $27.95) is something of a misnomer because while the Bond movies have been around for a half century, Ian Fleming's books date back 59 years. Rightly so, the book devotes the opening chapters to Fleming, his books and the intricacies of the British military intelligence agencies, which inspired many of Bond's storylines. The rest of the book focuses on the movies and the actors who played the tuxedo-clad hero.
Just in time for the Jan. 6 debut of Season 3, "The Chronicles of Downton Abbey" (St. Martin's Press, $29.99) offers a deeper dive into the PBS series about the inhabitants and employees of the Crawley estate. Each chapter is devoted to a key character and includes recaps of the story thus far, photos from the set and close-ups of the authentic props. For instance, you can get a gander at Mrs. Patmore's kitchen bible, a 1913 edition of "All About Cookery," featuring recipes for such delicacies as "Mayonnaise of Salmon."
Four pop icons are memorialized with worshipful photography books that will appeal to devoted fans. Cindy De La Hoz's "Elizabeth Taylor: A Shining Legacy on Film" (Running Press, $30) is chock-full of cast lists, plot summaries and snippets of reviews from all of Taylor's movies from "There's One Born Every Minute" (1942) to "These Old Broads" (2001). Except for a brief introduction by record executive Clive Davis and an equally brief afterword by manager Pat Houston, "Whitney: Tribute to an Icon" (Atria Books, $39.99) is just picture after picture of singing star Whitney Houston. It Books supplements its slick photos in "Marilyn Monroe: Metamorphosis" and "Audrey: The 60s" (as in Hepburn; $40 each) with short quotes from the actresses and people who worked with them.
For an entree into what makes a Hollywood movie star tick, "Fragments" (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $17) compiles poems, notes, lists, letters and diary entries by Marilyn Monroe. Each entry appears in the actress's own handwriting and is accompanied by a neatly typed copy that's easier to read. As one would expect, her writings run the gamut from saucy ("On Hospital Gowns: My bare derriere is out in the air when I'm not aware.) to despondent ("Alone!!!!!! I am alone — I am always alone no matter what."). Appropriate to the material, most of the photos capture the beauty in the act of reading.
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