Duets

Barry Manilow

CD ($11.59)

He once sang that he wrote “the songs that make the whole world sing.” Well, it sure seems like the whole world—or a good musical representation thereof—is singing on this roundup of 15 of Barry Manilow collaborations with friends and guest stars from all over the mellow-music map, from the 1980s to the present, including Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Reba McEntire, Mel Torme, Sheena Easton, Lily Tomlin and The Association.

—Neil Pond, American Profile

The Comics: The Complete Collection

By Brian Walker

Hardcover, 672 pages ($40)

Anyone who’s ever sought a daily dose of much-needed humor in the “funny pages” will find countless hours of fascinating pick-me-up in this coffee-table-busting compendium. The author, a founder and former director of the Museum of Cartoon Art, certainly knows his stuff, corralling Little Orphan Annie, Popeye, Dick Tracy, Blondie, Beetle Bailey, Snoopy, Garfield and dozens of other comic-strip icons, plus many of their creators, for this impressively informed, lavishly illustrated guided tour of more than a century of chuckles and social relevance.

—Neil Pond, American Profile

Stanley Kubrick: The Complete Films / Alfred Hitchcock: The Complete Films

By Paul Duncan

Hardcover, 192 pages ($14.99 each)

Want to feel like an expert on some of cinema’s most iconic movies and the men who made them? Fans of these two masterful filmmakers will feast on the delicious details, archival film stills and rare behind-the-scenes photos in each of these handsome, bargain-priced coffee-table collections. And even casual browsers will come away with a new appreciation for Kubrick, whose meticulous perfectionism created “Spartacus,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “The Shining” and “Dr. Strangelove,” among other masterpieces, and Hitchcock, the master of macabre whose classics include “The Birds,” “Psycho” and “Rear Window.”

—Neil Pond, American Profile