Gordon Ramsay’s Fast Food

As TV chefs go, Gordon Ramsay is, as they say, a cut above. He doesn’t succumb to the catchphrase shtick of Emeril, nor the exceptional arrogance of Anthony Bourdain. The man has an ego, but it is as casually flaunted as it is well deserved. With new restaurants in London, Tokyo, Dubai, Prague, and New York and a handful of others slated to open later this year, he is one of the world’s most successful restaurateurs. The food has something to do with that, no doubt. His newest release, Fast Food, brings his streamlined approach to cooking — vibrant flavours, fresh ingredients — to its largest audience yet, with a book of simple, unusual recipes that can be prepared in minutes by any oaf with a spatula. Key Porter Books, $35.

Gil Elvgren: The Complete Pin-Ups

In the days before digital retouching and mass surgical enhancement, men everywhere were forced to make do with pictures of women in the regular, varied proportions that nature allotted them. That was, until Gil Elvgren came along. Known as the Norman Rockwell of pin-ups, Elvgren’s technicolour beauties, with their impossible legs, huge breasts and looks of playful surprise, revolutionized the notion of what girly pictures could be. This book represents his complete catalogue, hundreds of them coyly engaged in all manner of domestic and leisure activities. Sixty-plus years later they stand as some of the sexiest renderings of the female form ever put to paper. Taschen, $15.

My View From the Corner:

A Life in Boxing

You can pretty much stick a fork in the sport of professional boxing now – it’s done. There was a time, though, when it was all haymakers, hullabaloo and glamour, and Angelo Dundee was there for it all. This memoir, written by the man who trained Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard and George Foreman, among many, many others, is an unapologetic journal of that glory. Written with the help of Bert Sugar (boxing’s journalistic equivalent of Don Cherry), Dundee recalls tales of the last century’s biggest title bouts. A must-read for every fight fan. McGraw-Hill, $25.