

What's with all the gift books this year about sexy, chesty women? (You mean you missed Taschen's 396-page Big Book of Breasts?). I fear arrest by the P.C. police just having them all on my desk.
But fear no offense from anyone if you give the gift of Mexican Calendar Girls. (I checked with some NPR resident Latinas just to be sure the book is kosher.) It's a kitsch-fest of dark-haired beauties from the 1930s through the '50s, but they're not pin-up girls, hot as the female bullfighter on page 105 may be. These are painted dreams of Old Mexico rendered by artists who pulled out all the stops (and serapes, sombreros, huaraches and lariats). Mexican calendar art is a hot collectible for reasons that are abundantly clear in this bilingual cultural homage.
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