a word

Yes, it really is used. It refers to large books - art, design, architecture, etc. - that you might place on a coffee-table for people to browse through.

thanks

Kramer on the 90s situation comedy Seinfeld put together a coffee table book on the subject of coffee tables, making it doubly a coffee table book. Beyond that, there were fold-out legs built into the back cover so that the book could double as a coffee table.

A coffee table is a low table typically placed in front of a couch in a living room/sitting room.

aehm, i know what a coffee table is..........

Good for you.

Sometimes the phrase can have a critical, dismissive connotation - it can imply that a book is full of pretty images but lacking in intelligent substance.

coffee table books are always very heavy on pictures and low on text, they're generally given as presents.

I've read reviews describing music as "coffee table". I used to wonder if it meant the CD was so impressive you'd display it on your coffee table (as you do) or so bad that you'd use it as a coaster. Also, I think I've worked out that "MOR" in music reviews stands for "middle of the road", but I'm not too sure about "lounge" or "AOR". I've gone off topic again, sorry.

I think there is also implicit in the term that it is a display item, that is, that it is intended to reflect the aspirational persona of the owner. An example being big glossy cookery books in a house where ready meals are the norm, or one of those travel photo books that often belong to people who think that staying at Butlins makes them travelled.