I’m a hunter of visual books—call them coffee-table books if you must, but I mean large-format, image-driven volumes that are easy to get lost in and that drop you somewhere different from where you started. I draw ideas from them—for travel, for storytelling, for thinking about our country and cultures in a different way. This year, having spent so much time at home—and in proximity to my actual coffee table—these are the books that have been on my shelf and in my sights, from favorite classics to new releases. (I’m ordering only from independent bookstores, which badly need our support.) They all represent how I’m thinking about the world right now, whether it’s returning to my perennial inspirations, actively trying to understand the complex beauty of the United States, finding other ways to visit Italy or peeking at the interiors of other people’s homes for more than just decorating inspiration, but as an alternative way to travel.

The Grand Tour

By Sabine Arqué

There’s rarely been a day during these last few months that I haven’t flicked through this vividly remastered compilation of images and maps from the golden age of travel and felt my synapses start to fire. Arranged by regions—from Europe to the Far East—it’s full of hundreds of rare photochromes, posters, menus and other transporting ephemera from when the world was starting to open up to global travel.

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National Anthem

By Luke Gilford

My friend Luke Gilford has become one of my generation’s instantly recognizable photographers for his portraits of the contrarian and marginalized, whose cultural influence is often magnified by his lens. In these richly personal pages, the Colorado-born photographer explores his almost paradoxical love of the American West and queer culture. (Its forebear is another personal fave, the spectacular multi-hyphenate Lisa Eisner’s Rodeo Girls.)

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Italian Shoes: A Tribute to an Iconic Object

By Giovanni Gastel