The Joy of Watching, Reading, and Feeling

Bibliophilia

How to Watch a Movie

by David Thomson, 256 pp., $24.95
Thomson is one of the most widely read film critics, but he is also the funniest and the least forgiving. So it's no surprise that his new book – his second this year alone, not to mention last year's sixth edition of The New Biographical Dictionary of Film – defies the trope of a bespectacled fuddy-duddy praising the classics of yore. Instead, Thomson, whose lovely prose bridges the gap between approachably populist and annoyingly esoteric, pulls and nips at the complex artistry in movies from the earliest historical moment to more modern films, like J.C. Chandor's All Is Lost and the 2013 insta-classic 12 Years a Slave. As always with Thomson, this is a required reading for any cineaste. – Sean L. Malin

LEGO Star Wars: Small Scenes From a Big Galaxy

by Vesa Lehtimäki, 176 pp., $24.99
A long time ago, in a much smaller galaxy .... Sometimes moody, sometimes playful, photographer Vesa Lehtimäki goes planet-by-planet across the Star Wars galaxy, re-creating famous scenes (and just off-camera moments) in the epic film franchise using just LEGO mini-figures. Not just beautiful, but filled with handy tips on how to create your own miniature photography. – Richard Whittaker

Cocktails of the Movies: An Illustrated Guide to Cinematic Mixology

by Will Francis and Stacey Marsh, 160 pp., $19.95
"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she had to walk into mine." Cinematic booze! It's what unites Nazis and anti-fascist partisans, hapless Ray Milland and horrific Jack Nicholson, early-era Tom Cruise, W.C. Fields, and the ever-abiding Dude, man. Long before Bogie declared his nationality as a drunkard in seminal saucepot classic Casablanca, the movies were awash in seas of the good stuff, the bad stuff, and the stuff dreams are made of. Packed with stills and film notations, Cocktails gives you 64 recipes and then some. Here's drinking at you, kid. – Marc Savlov