Music isn’t only for the ears anymore.

Books about music, from heavy memoirs to weighty coffee table photo tomes, continue to proliferate, with the past few months bringing a wealth of intriguing volumes. As we near Christmas, when you may have some time to read and may still be looking for some gift ideas, here are two dozen of the most notable titles.

“The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present” by Paul McCartney (Liveright/W.W. Norton): The closest McCartney says he’ll ever come to a memoir is, well … fab. Throughout this handsome, weighty package he tells his story through the words to 154 of his Beatles and solo songs, adding commentary, artwork and other adjunct memorabilia that’s illuminating and makes a case for their place in poetry and literature as well as popular music.

“Band of Gold: A Memoir” by Freda Payne with Mark Bego (Yorkshire Publishing): If you only know about Payne via the hit single that gives this book its title, you’ll learn a great deal in its 372 pages. The Detroit-born singer has had a Forrest Gump kind of life in music and entertainment, up to and including a brief affair with Motown founder Berry Gordy Jr., and experiences with some of the greatest musicmakers of her time — all of which makes for a golden memory lane.

“The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music” by Dave Grohl (Dey St.): Speaking of Forrest Gumps, few musicians are more ubiquitous than Dave Grohl. Being in Fear, Nirvana and Foo Fighters would be more than enough, but he’s cultivated friendships and collaborations (casual dinners with Paul McCartney, anyone?) that just make you chuckle and shake your head with every turn of a page.

“Unrequited Infatuations” by Stevie Van Zant (Hachette): Van Zandt is another one of those characters that’s been there, done that and, by his own telling, was responsible for it, too. He fills these pages with an array of marvelous adventures, even beyond Bruce Springsteen and “The Sopranos,” and the dizzying parade of encounters leaves the reader incredulous and enormously entertained.

“Led Zeppelin: The Biography” by Bob Spitz (Penguin Press); “Beast: John Bonham and the Rise of Led Zeppelin” by C.M. Kushins (Hachette): Led Zeppelin hasn’t quite been exhausted as a book subject, it seems. Spitz’s latest is perhaps the most definitive of the band biographies, exhaustively researched and sourced to present a wealth of research that still reads with the energy of the band in full flight. “Beast,” meanwhile, is a welcome dig into the complicated life of the band’s drummer, a Mount Rushmore figure as both a player and a rock ‘n’ roll personality.

“Eruptions: Conversations with Eddie Van Halen” by Brad Tolinski and Chris Gill (Hachette); “Unchained: The Eddie Van Halen Story” by Paul Brannigan (Permuted Press): A year after his death we get two in-depth and illuminating takes on what made Eddie Van Halen such a legendary figure. Guitar mavens Tolinski and Gill converse not just with him but also with those around him for a probing three-dimensional portrait, while Brannigan’s British point of view yields some different perspectives on Van Halen’s playing on stature.

“The Beatles: Get Back” by The Beatles (Callaway Arts & Entertainment): A companion to the Peter Jackson docuseries and the recent “Let It Be” album reissue offers a trove of photos by Ethan Russell and transcriptions from key moments of the film, a worthwhile souvenir from an essential project.

“Renegades Born in the USA: Dreams, Myths Music” by Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen (Crown Books): It’s more fun to listen to the podcast than reading the transcriptions, but the wisdom and wit, and not a little bit of music, of these conversations still translate well on the page.

“Set the Night On Fire: Living, Dying, and Playing Guitar with the Doors,” by Robbie Krieger with Jeff Alulis (Little, Brown): The youngest member of the Doors does something his bandmates didn’t in their previous memoirs — make it sound like it was fun to be in the band. Krieger doesn’t skip the dark side, but he balances that with the joy of the Doors’ achievements and some revealing insights into the musical and personal inner-workings of the band.

“The First 21: How I Became Nikki Sixx” by Nikki Sixx (Hachette): Before “The Dirt” and “The Heroin Diaries,” Frank Feranna Jr. was a misplaced youth looking for identity and community — which he eventually found as a rock ‘n’ roller and co-founder of Motley Crue. This is Sixx’s origin story, filled with adventures and misadventures as well as a surprising amount of warmth that puts flesh and heart into the miscreant image he cultivated.

“My Life in Dire Straits” by John Illsley (Diversion): The inside story from the band’s bassist and co-founder, and the only one besides frontman Mark Knopfler (who wrote the forward) to be with the band its entire lifespan. Because little of reliable substance has been written about Dire Straits, Illsley’s plain-spoken tome is eye-opening from start to finish — up to and including the band’s seemingly random and offhanded ending.

“Nothin’ But a Good Time: The Uncensored History of the ’80s Hard Rock Explosion” by Tom Beajour and Richard Bienstock (St. Martin’s Press): The title comes from a Poison song, but is perfectly apt for the book, a 560-page oral history of what happened in Los Angeles from the late ’70s through the ’80s, right up until teens spirit began smelling like grunge. A treasure trove of anecdotes, presented at an energetic clip that reflects the scene it’s about.

“Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: My Life in the Music Business” by Miles A. Copeland III (Jawbone Press): Talent manager (including of brother Stewart Copeland’s band the Police) and record company executive, Copeland has played a part in getting a great deal of great music into the world. He has stories, and he tells them here, mixing deserved pride and self-deprecation as he takes us from the British pubs to the Hollywood Hills.

“It Ain’t Retro: Daptone Records and the 21st Century Soul Revolution” by Jessica Lipsky (Jawbone Press): There are some artists on the Daptone label, such as Sharon Jones and Charles Bradley, who merit books of their own. Lipsky weaves together the story of a little company that could — and did — and brought us some essential music that would not have otherwise made it through the machine.

“Rock Concert” by Marc Myers (Grove Press): Mark Myers attempts to construct an oral history of the concert industry, and he gets good memories from an assortment of performers, agents, promoters and others. Long passages from the same person makes this more of a slog than a flow at frequent points, but the topic is strong enough to make it worthwhile pushing through to find the gems.

“A Life in Focus: The Photography of Graham Nash” by Graham Nash (Insight Editions): The two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer was taking photos as a child, before he made music, and his highly developed eye is evident in this collection, which features priceless, often candid images of musical colleagues and friends he’s made throughout his long career.

“Made in Hollywood: All Access with the Go-Go’s” by Gina Schock (Black Dog and Leventhal): A coffee table photo book more than a memoir, this doesn’t probe as deep as bandmate Kathy Valentine’s “All I Ever Wanted” but its candid images taken by the drummer herself, as well as her remembrances, tell their own story and take us behind the scenes and closed doors in the band’s history-making career.

“Talking To Myself” By Chris Jagger (BMG): Mick’s kid brother doesn’t trade in tawdry secrets in this memoir and, in fact, establishes that he’s had quite a life of his own as a musician, actor and journalist. The book came out in tandem with a new album, “Mixing Up the Medicine,” for a concurrent earful and eyeful of Jagger.

“Immortal Axes: Guitars That Rock” by Lisa S. Johnson (Princeton Architectural Press): Guitar porn is the best phrase for this photographer’s eye-popping immersions into 160 instruments, complemented with text by former Guitar World editor (and Eddie Van Halen biographer) Brad Tolinski.

“Six-String Stories” by Eric Clapton (Genesis Press): The veteran guitar hero has become a polarizing figure of late, but reading stories about his instruments, many of which he’s auction off to benefit his Crossroads Centre rehabilitation facility in Antigua allows us to put other issues aside and appreciate one man’s passion for his chosen pursuit.

“Fender 75 Years” by Dave Hunter (Motorobooks): This sanctioned, lavishly packaged tome offers a comprehensive history of a company that changed the face of music, from its first lap steel guitars in 1946 to industry standard guitars, bassist, amplifiers and other devices.

“Twisted Business: Lessons From My Life in Rock ‘n’ Roll” by Jay Jay French and Jim Farber (Rosetta Books): Twisted Sister’s guitarist is now a business columnist and motivational speaker, but he spices this book with enough anecdotes to keep it from becoming just an academic exercise.

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