Bookshelf: Naked Women for the Holidays 

Uwe Ommer: Do It Yourself
Photographer Uwe Ommer once spied his babysitter taking photos of herself in the mirror, and it inspired this 200-page collection of erotic self-portraits he’s curated here. Each woman in Uwe Ommer: Do It Yourself ($11, Taschen) was given a camera and basic technical instructions but nothing else, thus removing the male gaze (or really any voyeuristic statements from the artist) from the shots, which makes for a fascinating collection of real women making beautiful, empowering, and sometimes erotic images of themselves. Many women still seem hidden, though, by mirrors or angles, a fascinating reminder of how hard it is, even in the age of Kardashian sex tapes, to step out completely nude, without prop or cover, and represent your full erotic power — cameras or no.