CONTENTS Battle of the Box Sets Entertainment Gadgets Gear Style Interiors Furniture Kids Books Revel in Relics Kitchen Food and Drink Body Frivolous

BY SUSAN WICKSTROM Hog Heaven Small children love pop-up books, and so, apparently, do Hog riders. When they aren't out on their choppers, Harley Davidson motorcycle owners are famous for their ability to play. Here's a harmless toy that may even help them improve their reading skills. Harley Davidson: A Three-Dimensional Tribute to an American Icon ($40, Pop-Up Press, Annie Bloom's Books, 7834 SW Capitol Highway, 246-0053) is a fun and easy-to-follow look at America's favorite motorcycle. Press the eagle emblem for an authentic Harley Davidson sound! Customize your own Harley Davidson with pop-out parts! The possibilities are endless, and you don't even need to wear a helmet. Words by the Pound There is a cultish group of people who revere the Oxford English Dictionary, the world's preeminent collection of words and their definitions. Some folks Xerox a page at a time at the library, then take that sheet home to study for days. Now the 20-volume British version of the Oxford English Dictionary ($995, Looking Glass Bookstore, 318 SW Taylor St., 227-4760) is available at a third of its regular $3,000 price tag. That means a word lover can purchase 151 pounds of dictionary for a mere $6.41 per pound. Keep on Truckin' The Pacific Northwest boasts a slew of companies that started with humble beginnings years ago only to grow into industry giants today. Seattle truck manufacturer Kenworth is one example. The first Kenworth truck hauled city freight in 1923, but the company soon sent trucks off to work for logging operations, Hawaiian sugar-cane fields and the Middle-Eastern petroleum industry. The manufacturer's history is now documented in Kenworth: The First 75 Years, by Doug Siefkes ($39.95, Documentary Book Publishers, Tower Books, 1307 NE 102nd Ave., 253-3116), which includes color photos of the big, bad trucks in action. It's the perfect gift for that motorhead on your list. Eastern Eats Here's a new challenge for the cook who seems to be an expert in every cuisine. Introduce a culinary whiz to Cambodian fare--less salty than Vietnamese and less sweet than Thai. Chef Longteine De Monteiro, a Cambodian refugee, shares recipes from her Boston restaurants in a new cookbook, The Elephant Walk Cookbook: Cambodian Cuisine from the Nationally Acclaimed Restaurant ($35, Houghton Mifflin, Powell's Books for Cooks and Gardeners, 3739 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 235-3802). With any luck, Portland will have its own Cambodian restaurant before too long. Until then, share De Monteiro's secret cuisine with friends and mothers. Say Cheesecake Nostalgia can be very sexy. Beginning in the 1930s, American illustrator Gil Elvgren established himself as the "Norman Rockwell of cheesecake" with titillating drawings of beautiful women in provocative poses. Plenty of GIs gazed at his pin-up posters during World War II, and his NAPA Auto Parts calendars are legendary. Now his marvelous work is collected into a book, Elvgren: His Life and Art, by Max Allan Collins and Drake Elvgren ($39.95, Collectors Press, Borders­Tigard, 16920 SW 72nd Ave., 968-7576). This volume is a perfect gift for anyone who recalls the pin-up days with fondness or simply appreciates the female form in all its pre-Jane Fonda glory. Natural Beauty We live in one of the most gorgeous places on earth. Share the beauty with those less fortunate by giving Pacific Northwest: Land of Light and Water, by Art Wolfe ($35 hardcover, Sasquatch Books, Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, 284-1726), a collection of his breathtaking photographs from around the region. The color pictures of landscapes and wildlife are accompanied by nature writer Brenda Peterson's thoughtful text. It's the next best thing to being here. The book also lists 85 environmental organizations that work to help preserve the Pacific Northwest's natural beauty. Can You Dig It? Since gardeners can't be out in the yard every minute, give a book that will keep yardbirds green during down time. Taylor's Master Guide to Gardening ($60, Houghton Mifflin, Waldenbooks, Lloyd Center, Northeast Multnomah Street and 9th Avenue, 284-9144) is a hefty reference volume that lists over 3,000 plant species for American gardeners. The 1,000 photographs will keep any green thumb turning the pages, and the useful tips will surely help every garden grow. The weighty book will also come in handy when pressing flowers or leaves for a scrapbook. Show Me the Monet Portland's gone Monet crazy since the Marmottan exhibit arrived at the Portland Art Museum. One popular coffee-table art book riding the impressionist bandwagon is Monet Water Lilies ($35, Beaux Arts Editions, Annie Bloom's Books, 7834 SW Capitol Highway, 246-0053), a collection of his most beloved paintings. The book regularly sells for $60, but Annie Bloom's has it marked down. If all the Monet books have been gobbled up by the time you get there, the store has plenty of other gorgeous art books at affordable prices. You Can Judge a Book by Its Cover Before television, people quenched their thirst for mindless entertainment with pulp-fiction magazines filled with tales of mystery, adventure, crime and love. Glorious technicolor covers invited the reader to partake of the riches within their steamy pages. These brilliant illustrations are now collected in a fascinating book, Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines, by Frank M. Robinson and Lawrence Davidson ($39.95, Collectors Press, Powell's, 1005 W Burnside St., 228-4651). Examples of pulp-fiction magazine covers from the 1920s and 1930s are supplemented with text that tells the stories behind the stories. Art and kitsch lovers alike will adore this book. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Willamette Week | originally published December 2, 1998