The 13 Best Coffee Table Books To Elevate Your Living Room Decor

Best Overall: Gray Malin: The Essential Collection

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To woo your guests with a coffee table book sure to delight and entertain, look no further than "Gray Malin: The Essential Collection." Selected as our best overall, this book is made of high-quality materials and displays stunning and playful photography that will bring a smile to your face.

If you’ve yet to discover Gray Malin, let us be the first to introduce you. Malin is an incredible photographer with a knack for whimsical imagery using animals and people in scenic locations around the world. Covering a decade of Malin’s work, this book features his most iconic photoshoots as well as stories about each locale and subject.

This large hardback book is sleek with black binding and white lettering on the exterior—perfect for a neutral or colorful living space, and easy to clean with a simple dust rag. The paper is thick and glossy, making it easy to turn each page and appreciate what awaits on the next.

With colorful scenes of llamas and balloons in the desert and dogs at the Beverly Hills Hotel, you and your visitors are sure to have fun flipping through this lively book. Though somewhat expensive, this book is a collector’s item so the price isn’t unreasonable. If you fall in love with any one of Gray’s photographs, you can also purchase the images to display as wall art.

Best Budget: The Art of the Cheese Plate: Pairings, Recipes, Style, Attitude

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Just because a coffee table book is less expensive doesn’t mean it has to look that way, and "The Art of the Cheese Plate" is both elegant and gourmet. The stunning cover features a minimalist cheese spread and navy blue background to blend in with any modern or traditional coffee table. Inside, you’ll find a wealth of delicious recipes and pairings to create numerous magazine-worthy cheese plates.

While most of the recipes only need between four to five ingredients, these aren’t your typical cheese plate pairings—the author creates a thoughtful plate with unique food items like tequila-braised rhubarb, pickled raisins, and olives paired with white chocolate. The gorgeous photography will have you in awe as you flip through each gourmet spread. Overall, this coffee table book is affordable, useful, and enjoyable to look at.

Best Art: Wild Things Are Happening: The Art of Maurice Sendak

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Adults and children alike will delight in "Wild Things are Happening," a comprehensive exploration of Maurice Sendak's work. Inside you'll find never-before-seen illustrations, sketches, storyboards, and paintings that highlight Sendak's process and inspiration.

This book was released in conjunction with a traveling art exhibit by the same name that's available across the United States and in Europe through 2024. You'll also be able to learn about Sendak's personal collection and how it influenced his own work. It also includes an extended essay by Thomas Crow analyzes Sendak's most famous work, "Where the Wild Things Are," and interviews with some of his key collaborators such as Spike Jonze and Carroll Ballard.

Best for Cocktails: The Bartender's Manifesto: How to Think, Drink, and Create Cocktails Like a Pro

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In this complete guide to creating cocktails and learning how to properly enjoy them, James Beard Award-winning bartender Toby Maloney leaves no stone unturned in sharing the world of mixology. He partnered with Emma Janzen, a journalist, editor, and photographer who specializes in drinks and design, and his team at The Violet Hour to share their most-loved recipes, step-by-step illustrations, and expert tips for crafting delicious cocktails.

Aside from detailed step-by-step guides, you'll also find essays that offer more information on how to add complexity to your mixology skills and perfect your hosting techniques. We love that this large coffee table book has a minimalist cover, so that it can blend into any bar cart or table decor. However, this book is not completely beginner friendly, so if you're looking for a more basic cocktail recipe book, this may not be the best pick for you.

Best Photography: Wonderland

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Annie Leibovitz is an industry giant among photographers, so it’s no surprise that her coffee table book "Wonderland" appears on our list. Her captivating photography is famous for a reason—having decorated magazines like Vogue and Vanity Fair for decades. This book includes famous photographs as well as previously unpublished gems that you’ll only find in these storied pages. 

With photos highlighting the pinnacle of fashion and countless celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Keira Knightley, "Wonderland" provides beautiful photography that will capture your attention—and keep it. Its simple beige cover pairs well with different design schemes, and will only elevate your aesthetic. Despite the impressive collection of photographs, this book is not as expensive as others on our list, making it a great deal.

Best Interior Design: Homebody: A Guide to Creating Spaces You Never Want to Leave

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Joanna Gaines and home design are basically synonymous at this point, and her coffee table book "Homebody" not only inspires beautiful decor ideas but also provides guidance in navigating how to create your own design style. This comprehensive book has lovely photography of different design schemes, mostly in a neutral color palette of whites, beiges, grays, and blacks. It’s also organized by room, so if you’d like to focus on a particular space in your home, you can skip to that section.

The exterior and interior of this book reflect the high quality of most of Gaines’ brands and products. The pages are sleek but with a matte finish to reduce unnecessary glare like glossy pages tend to produce. The outer binding is sturdy and displays the Fixer Upper star sitting in her own home as an example of what you can accomplish with solid interior design. Homebody is a high-quality book that can guide you to the best design options for your home, and for a low price.

Best Fashion: Tom Ford

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From iconic fashion features to stunning photography by many of the industry’s best, the "Tom Ford" coffee table book is a fashion lover’s must-have item. This large classic showpiece features many of Tom Ford’s most notable fashion collections at Gucci and YSL. 

While there is some nudity that may not be suitable for younger audiences, this is a high fashion book and Tom Ford is known for tasteful but sometimes risqué campaigns. Despite the occasional controversy, these images are a historical part of fashion and are celebrated art forms. The book itself wears a black exterior with stark white lettering—sure to pair well with any living space.

Best for Travel: The Bucket List: 1000 Adventures Big & Small

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If you have a case of wanderlust, "The Bucket List: 1000 Adventures Big & Small" can inspire your next trip while also entertaining guests. This interactive coffee table book provides 1000 activities, suggestions, and more, in destinations all around the globe.

In addition to the beautiful photography, you’ll find adventure recommendations like wildlife encounters, ancestral sites, dining hot spots, and hiking trails—just to name a few. The book is organized by latitude and longitude, but there’s also a country index if you’re planning a visit to a particular location. It's in the middle of the pack in terms of price, so it would make a great gift for yourself or the person in your life who loves planning vacations.

Best Architecture: Architectural Digest at 100: A Century of Style

4.5

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If you’re a fan of architecture, "Architectural Digest: A Century of Style" is a great pick for your coffee table. This large book is filled with bright photography of historic and modern homes in a range of architectural styles—so there’s something for everyone. Peek into the homes of celebrities like Michael Kors, the Obamas, Truman Capote, and more, while getting a glimpse of work by famous architects and designers like Frank Lloyd Wright and Elsie de Wolfe.

Though some of the photos are dated, the photography stands out with its rich colors and prints—quite the opposite from its minimalist cover, which is neutral enough to blend into any surroundings. Alongside each photo series, you’ll find a brief history of the space and other fun tidbits that might pique your interest.

Best for Portraits: Andy Gotts: The Photograph

4.5

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If you love celebrities, then "Andy Gotts: The Photograph" might just be your new favorite book. Featuring a wide range of portraits of figures like Julia Roberts, Anthony Hopkins, Clint Eastwood, Dolly Parton, and Nicole Kidman, it provides a useful overview of Gotts' 30-year career in photography.

In addition to stunning portraits, what sets this book apart is the inclusion of call sheets (or unfiltered photo sets) from each shoot that show each person without any touch-ups or photoshopping—raw, unfiltered photos that really capture the essence of each person, as well as the photography process as a whole. Accompanying these photos are short stories by Gotts himself, explaining the happenings behind each photograph. This is a highly popular book and is available for a surprisingly low price.

Best Empowering: 200 Women: Who Will Change The Way You See The World

4.9

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"200 Women: Who Will Change the Way You See the World" is a nod to female empowerment, but also a fascinating read of 200 women answering the same five questions. Featuring prominent women like Alicia Garza, Jane Goodall, Margaret Atwood, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, this book gives the reader insights from powerful females across the world, looking at life and womanhood from different perspectives. 

One critique is perhaps there aren’t quite enough diverse perspectives in terms of socioeconomic class, race, and profession of each subject. That being said, this book certainly contains many inspiring stories and would serve as educational entertainment for both you and any guests who find themselves perusing this coffee table book. The cover and quality of the binding are top-notch, and this book is easy to clean with just a basic dust cloth.

Best for History: History as They Saw It: Iconic Moments from the Past in Color

4.6

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For the history buff in your life, whether you or someone else, "History as They Saw It" is a glimpse into the past through photographs capturing the most chilling and amazing moments of history. Though at the time these photographs would have been black and white, this book adds color to these historic photos to make them seem modern, as though you could have been there yourself. Though it may seem like just colorized black and white photos to some, a trained eye can see the coloring has been done with such care as to reflect what the image would have looked like, taken in color, during the era of 1839 to 1949, with the tools available at that time.

Featuring photographs from the Titanic, the first plane flying overhead, and the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge, this book spotlights some of the biggest moments throughout history, bringing the past right into your living room. There are added notes to explain the context of different photographs, which helps the reader understand the gravity of each.