Are you ready for some nonfiction?

At holiday time, nonfiction books often make easier gifts than novels. Not everyone knows which authors gift recipients prefer, but they can generally hone in on a topic that said recipient would enjoy.

Even from our small sampling of new nonfiction, we can spot plenty of good gifts. Dog lovers will laugh and cry over "Marley and Me," one owner's tale of a much-loved and goofy Labrador retriever. Football fans will curl up and read the off-season away with "Next Man Up," which takes readers behind the scenes with the NFL's Baltimore Ravens for one terrible, glorious season. And teachers and students alike, as well as just plain fans of human nature, are likely to enjoy "Teacher Man," in which "Angela's Ashes" author Frank McCourt tells of his 30 years teaching English in New York City schools.

Getting more specific, left-handers should get a kick out of "A Left-Hand Turn Around The World," vintage-clothing fans may appreciate "Alligators, Old Mink, and New Money," and those who can put down their Xbox 360 controllers long enough to rest their thumbs might enjoy "Smartbomb," which takes a look at the video-game industry.

Tales out of school
If Frank McCourt could make his poverty-stricken childhood in Limerick hilarious and inspiring, imagine what he does for his 30 years of teaching English in New York City. McCourt's new book, "Teacher Man" (Scribner, $26), is a long-awaited follow-up to "Angela's Ashes" and "Tis," and ye auld man's still got it. On his first two days of teaching, he's dressed down by the principal twice — once for eating a sandwich that a kid tossed in a fight.

McCourt was clearly the kind of teacher kids treasure. He's easy to get off track, always willing to spin yarns of his life in Ireland, and yet there's no question that he loves the kids and lives to teach them. His assignments — write an excuse note from a famous villain, read a recipe aloud and set it to music — have even the most bored kids clamoring to learn. If the book ever drags, it's in its middle section, when McCourt returns to Ireland to pursue a doctorate at Dublin's Trinity College. Away from his students (and his wife, who's a shadowy figure at best in the book), McCourt's vibrant voice drags a bit.

The book sometimes feels structureless, as if the reader is just sitting in a pub with McCourt letting him relate tales of students he's known and classes he's taught. But somehow it works: The tales are fresh and funny, and it would be easy to pull up a stool, quaff a Guinness or two, and let him talk all night.     —Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

Gone to the dogs
Books extolling the wonder of pets and children should be approached warily — many run to clichés, and few attack the subject with any new wisdom. John Grogan's "Marley & Me: Life With the World's Worst Dog" (Morrow, $22) would seem ripe for cliche-dom: Marley is a gorgeous, incorrigible Labrador retriever who comes to Grogan and his wife, Jenny, as a puppy and stays with them as they start a family.

Morrow

Yet the book rises above some others of its topic thanks to Grogan's healthy dose of self-deprecating humor. He knows his dog is a handful, yet can't help smirking as Marley yanks around the snooty dog trainer. He spends days raking through Marley's droppings after the pup eats Jenny's birthday necklace. When Marley gets a role in a movie, Grogan's Hollywood dreams are smashed when the dog eats his leash, slimes costumes, and almost destroys a camera.

This isn't purely a book about a dog, it's more a memoir of the Grogans, with dog worked in throughout. When Jenny miscarries their first child, Marley can't alleviate their sorrow, but he's there when they rise from grief. And as with all pets, there is another loss waiting at the book's end, but as all animal-lovers know, the joys make it all worthwhile.     —G.F.C.

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