Hit the books.

How do you love them? Let them count the words. Herewith, an assorted sampler of gift books for lovers, friends, and family. * You don't have to like opera to love Cinderella & Company: Backstage at the Opera with Cecilia Bartoli (Random House, $25) by longtime Wall Street Journal critic Manuela Hoelterhoff. Deliciously dishy and fun to read, it's a gift that can't miss. If you want to show undying devotion, spring for The American Century (Knopf, $60), Harold Evan's opulently produced valentine to the American spirit. To bestow an earthier satisfaction, give Tom of Finland: The Art of Pleasure, edited by Burkhard Riemschneider (Taschen, $69.69), a paean to the great erotic artist that's, well, huge. * It's always fun to cook for the holidays, and this year a new edition of The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook (Lyons, $14.95) will take you back to 1920s Paris, where Alice served lots of second helpings to her paramour, Gertrude Stein. After dinner you can do the dishes and invite your Significant O. to sit back with some of the intriguing fiction we never get to read during the year. The Long Falling by Keith Ridgway (Houghton Mifflin, $22), eloquently recounts the struggle between a gay man and his mother in an Ireland where differences can be fatal. * In This Never Happened by E.W. Summers (Random House, $23), a forthright gay brother acts as his siblings' conscience when a killing uncovers a nest of family secrets. On the lighter side, try Mackerel by Moonlight (Simon and Schuster, $23), a savvy political farce by the famously gay-friendly former governor of Massachusetts, William F. Weld. * Any animal lover will appreciate Dog in the Dunes (Andrews McMeel, $8.95), a slim but evocative volume of paintings by artist Barbara E. Cohen in memory of her beloved Labrador. But for sheer guilty pleasure, nothing's going to beat But Darling, I'm Your Auntie Mame by Richard Tyler Jordan (Capra, $26), which serves up everything you could possibly want to know about one of gaydom's favorite fictional characters.