Not just for coffee tables

(CNN) -- They look beautiful.

They often make use of the best paper, the richest photography, the most elegant typesetting. Yet coffee-table books all too often sit unread, as if their beauty (or heft) is reason enough for their existence.

That need not be the case.

Even if your home isn't ready for Architectural Digest, there are a number of oversized books that succeed in function as well as form.

Indeed, with the rise of CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs and other technology, the book doesn't even stop at the coffee table, but is right at home on your computer.

This year's selection includes the complete run of Rolling Stone magazine and the '50s run of Playboy; a stunning, close-up take on the art of Chuck Close; and an atlas from some people who know the world, the satiric publication the Onion.

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