The Ultimate Book Lover’s Gift Guide
The Ultimate Book Lover’s Gift Guide: A Gift Guide for the Reader in Your Life
To steal a thought from the Grinch, I’ve always agreed that there is more to the holidays than what can be purchased from a store. However, as someone who loves giving gifts, I can’t help but look forward to every Christmas morning sitting around the tree passing presents among family.
Nothing quite compares to the excitement of having purchased a gift you think someone will love and the anticipation of waiting to watch them open it. The smile or hug they give in return is as good as any gift wrapped under the tree.
This Christmas, don’t wonder if the reader in your life will love the gift you give. Check out the gift guide below for presents that are sure to put a smile on their face.
Book Box Subscriptions
I hear it often from my mom and sister how difficult it is for them to pick out a book they’ll know I love. My mom is especially familiar with the titles I choose to read because I usually pass them off to her once I’ve finished, but even so, I can understand the pressure that comes with wanting to gift the exact book you know someone will swoon over.
If you’re at a loss about how to choose, consider gifting a book subscription instead! Book of the Month is a great subscription that allows readers to choose one of five book titles each month. Their selection is mailed and simple as that, they have a new favourite to add to their collection. Readers even have the option to skip and choose from a later month’s selection if they don’t care for the current month’s choices. Book of the Month offers a good variety of subscriptions — three-month, six-month, and twelve-month — so this truly is the gift that keeps on giving!
Image via Book of the Month @ Instagram
If you have young readers in your life, there are also children’s book subscriptions like Amazon Book Box. Each box offers four board books and allows you to choose the subscription length you’d like — one-month, two-month, or three-month. Kids will love not only the book choices but receiving mail sent directly to them!
Everything Books
My love for reading bleeds from book pages and finds its mark throughout my life on the graphic t-shirts or socks I wear, the coffee mugs I drink from, and the wall art I display above my bookshelves. If you have a fellow quirky reader in your life, these gifts are sure to impress.
Book Mug: Most readers I know, myself included, enjoy a book even more when it’s paired with a warm drink — coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. Gift them a personalized reading mug complete with their name and hair colour or a funny one with a relatable quote.
Image via SweetPegasusFinds on Etsy
Book Socks: I love sporting my pair of reading socks wherever I go. They’re a subtle and fun way to incorporate my love of reading into my wardrobe, and I can’t help but smile when someone asks about them, giving me the chance to bring books into any conversation and discuss my current reading choice. Your friend or family member will thank you for the same opportunity.
Image via crazysocks.com
Book Wall Art: My opinion has always been that book-packed shelves are as decorative as they are useful. However, as if they don’t make enough of a statement themselves, I also like to add book wall art for good measure.
Make the gift personalized if you happen to know your loved one’s favourite quote. Printed in black text on a simple white background, this quote art is sure to stand out in any room. Don’t worry if you’re unsure of their favourite book or quote. There are still plenty of other options to artistically display a love of reading such as this colourful poster of a girl reading in a tree of books.
Image via Mibansa on Etsy
Reading Made Simple
The thing about book lovers is we’ll find the opportunity to read almost anywhere at any time. This doesn’t exclude dark bedrooms while our partners or roommates are trying to sleep or while multitasking when at least one of our hands is preoccupied with grocery bags, pets, or children.
For the late-night reader, this neck book light offers three different light settings and keeps both hands free. Other book lights often clip onto the book itself and can be a great option, too. Either make for an affordable and easy-to-pick-out gift. For the multitasker who usually only has one hand free to hold a book, this page holder will make a world of difference. It’s tiny enough to cart around and can be stored almost anywhere, including a Christmas stocking.
Image via Amazon
Personal Library Must-Haves
There are readers, and then there are people who dedicate whole portions of their houses to books neatly lined up on shelves or stacked in corners, on coffee tables, or any flat surface. For the book lovers in your life who essentially have their own library, you’ll want to choose one of these gifts!
Using a book stamp or book embosser is such a cute way for readers to claim their books. Etsy offers many personalized options — ones that read “From the library of” or “This book belongs to.” Usually, those of us who own so many books love nothing more than to lend them out so friends and family can fall in love with them too. Stamping or embossing books helps ensure they make their way back home to their original owner.
Image via Typii on Esty
While some of the books lying around my house are classified as “to be read”, many I’ve already enjoyed. While those I especially loved are easy to recall, remembering all of the books’ plots and characters is a little more difficult. I own this exact reading journal, and it is, by far, one of the best things I’ve ever gifted myself (it should be noted now that it’s acceptable and encouraged to use this guide for Merry-Christmas-to-me gift giving).
After I finish a book, I fill out a page in the journal which allows me to include the book title and author, favourite characters of mine, how I felt when I finished the book, general notes or comments, and much more. If it’s been a while since I read a certain book or if someone asks me to recommend a title, the journal helps remind me of the different ones I own and which I particularly enjoyed.
Bookstore Gift Cards
The simplest and best gift to give the book lover in your life is…you guessed it, books. But as I mentioned before, it can be tough to pick out a book to gift someone if they haven’t specifically provided you with a title and author. If all else fails, there is nothing wrong with giving a bookstore gift card. While gift cards can get a bad rap for coming across as impersonal, I think of them less as a gift of money and more as the gift of a whole afternoon perusing aisles in a bookstore or reading book descriptions online to select ones I’m sure will become my new favourites.
Barnes & Noble offers a wide selection of books, and it’s a safe bet they have a store location near you though, of course, they offer online shopping as well. Thriftbooks is an online store that sells both new and used books. I love that for the same price I might spend at a chain bookstore, I can steal away with sometimes twice the bounty from Thriftbooks since they sell lightly used books that are often half the price!
You can double your gift-giving by opting to buy from local stores: a gift card for your friend or family member and support for an independent bookseller. Even if you don’t have a local bookstore, you can still support independent sellers by purchasing e-gift cards through Bookshop which allows you to support local bookstores even from a distance. You can feel good about your gift and your decision to support independent booksellers.
Christmas shopping for the book lover in your life has never been easier. This guide offers a variety of options that can make a perfect gift for the reader in your life. Do you have other suggestions to gift book lovers this Christmas? Let us know here.
Taylor Stawecki is a 20-something Michigander with a love for the great outdoors and written word. She spends her weekdays working for a digital marketing company and as a freelance copywriter. In her free time, you can find her reading, writing poetry, running, watching a Grey’s Anatomy rerun, or spending time with her family and friends. As an old soul, she enjoys collecting salt and pepper shakers and cuddling up in oversized sweaters.
