Gifts for Booklovers
Dec
'07
Do you have a special bookseller in your life for whom you just don’t know what to get this year? Buying from a competing bookstore might be disrepsectful, you think, but you also don’t want to purchase her gift while she’s running the register. How about a librarian who spends more of her time renting books than shelving them on her home bookshelves? Last year you donated to literacy funds in her name, but this year you’d like to give her something more tangible. Or, quite simply, you have a buddy who reads non-stop and without hestitation, but it seems like he has every book known to man already piled around his apartment; you don’t want to buy him a double copy.
Here I’ve compiled a list of all the things I want for Christmas, and thus much of what some other book lovers might like. You’ll never again have to search alibris.com trying to find a first edition of his or her favorite book for less than $280.00 (although this also makes a memorable gift if you can afford it). Most of these are from Signals because, well, they have a lot of awesome book stuff, but you might be surprised what other cool things there are out there for book nerds!
For those of the visual nature who enjoy wall-hangings that say something, you can always try these bookseller related comics from cartoonstock.com. My favorite would have to be the picture of the clerk behind the desk responding to the irritated customer: “I’m sorry, Madam, that’s not much help - lots of books start ‘once upon a time!’” You may also consider any number of prints from the Unshelved comic strip, because although they are librarians, some situations are also so painfully true for booksellers.
Tote bags are always really wonderful gifts for those who tend to carry books with them. Most booklovers do; in fact, I will only purchase a purse if it is large enough to fit a hardcover book. These bags were made for teachers, but some are very brightly colored and clearly advertise the importance of reading, which is what presumably your booklover will be doing while sitting next to this beautiful bag you’ve purchased for her. You can also find a number of awesome prints on Cafepress; some that I like include this C.S. Lewis quote, “Life is Short…”, Super Librarian, Read More Books, Proust, Best Bookseller, and Owls.
That brings me to my next suggestion: Animals. A lot of booklovers also find affection for a certain animal; it’s usually just one, but some booklovers can be animal lovers in general, and be those kinds of people who have zoos in their homes. In my case, I love owls, and so do a lot of other booklovers, as the owl carries the symbolism of wisdom. Think Athena (or Minerva, if you prefer): her companion was a short-eared owl. In any case, there are a lot of really awesome owly things that you can purchase. This really awesome night owl shirt, for instance, is a perfect example of an acceptable gift. There’s also owl paintings (or this one), personalized gifts if, say, your booklover has a loved one, lighting, decoration, pick-me-ups, comfort wear, and even greeting cards. If you’re getting that last one, though, I’d suggest grabbing more than one order because your owl and booklover might want to keep some for herself!
Tshirts, another very general category which can include any number of possibilities. Your booklover might really want to show off her love of books and reading without carrying around the tote bag (some of them don’t even like tote bags). Primitivestate.com will allow you to translate any phrase into Braille, Morse code, Scrabble letters, or other combinations at their website and print a tshirt displaying that word. The Unshelved comic strip store has a number of prints available: My favorites are “Will work for books” and “Guess what I’m reading?” Of course, you can always resource Cafepress again for shirts such as Book Slut, Erasmus quote, as well as the famous Thomas Jefferson quote; however, I prefer the more successful-looking designs such as As Soon As I Finish This Chapter, Lead Me Not Into Temptation, and Ahh, Books.
Book accessories and other related items are also possibilities. Think: lap desks, back rests, reading lights, and book weights. You could even buy a package of highlighters for those who you know like to mark up books until the pages are almost falling out (in which case, I also would recommend some duct tape). Other book-toys include stickers, Bookopoloy, ornaments, plaques, sculptures, bookshelves, Liebrary, and others.
Stocking stuffers include bookmarks (or Bookmarks, if you prefer), pens, journals (including book journals, though spiral-bounds aren’t attractive to some), bookends (or Bookends, again, if you prefer), book plates, a gift certificate to his favorite bookstore, offering to pay all overdue library fines, or if your receiver is technologically inclined, perhaps she would enjoy Amazon’s Kindle.
Be forewarned that giving your booklover a book as a gift isn’t the best idea unless, a) you have a wishlist in hand, b) it’s the first edition mentioned above, or c) you want one of those fake “oh, thanks, I’ll be sure and read this right away,” responses which clearly indicate that your gift insulted his or her intelligence. Going on Amazon.com and finding the link that says “if you liked this, then you’ll like this” won’t cut it. Booklovers like hearing recommendations; they don’t like being forced into reading them. The same applies even if your booklover is a book collector, because part of the appeal of having books on one’s shelves is having books one can be proud of. Perhaps that is why your librarian borrows all of her books; she hasn’t yet found any worthy to grace her bookshelves. Please keep this in mind while shopping!
I hope this has been helpful, but I’d like to be honest here. I’ve made this as a wishlist post as well as anything else… But it is my hope that if anyone is trying to find their booklover friends bookish gifts, this post will be a bit of a help. No sense in being lost as to what to buy - there are plenty of possibilities! If nothing else, buy yourself a book from Betterworld.com and remind your friend that the proceeds go to literary funds worldwide!
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So true about buying the book lover a book. The only person I know that is comfortable enough with my reading style to buy me books without my approval is my mother & even then she says she isn’t sure all the time. I love this post. I may have to copy it & put it on Amarantine with a link and copyright to you here, lol. Definitely sending it to the people who keep pestering me about what I want for xmas.
Here is an interesting tidbit about me & my favorite books. I have bought about ten copies of Outlander by Diane Gabaldon (one of my favorites).
Betterworld.com Hmm…Michelle,I think I am loving this site. Do you know if this is a real actual store, or just a online store?
Dec
'07
“Do you have a special bookseller in your life for whom you just don’t know what to get this year? Buying from a competing bookstore might be disrepsectful, you think, but you also don’t want to purchase her gift while she’s running the register.”
Haha, you’re so smooth.
Also, I love boygirlparty.com
Dec
'07
Hev, as far as I know it’s just online. I found it by way of Amanda who sent me a gift from there, so I don’t have a lot of experience using it (yet!). I just know it goes to a good cause so I definitely encourage using it whenever possible. :p
Dec
'07