Gifts for Readers

As you all know, I like to read a little every now and then ?? This holiday season, I have had a few people reach out to me to ask for gift suggestions for the readers in their life. I figured I would share these ideas with everyone! Feel free to share with others!

?? Bookish Gifts: Etsy.com is a great place for this. Just search for bookish gifts and you will find things like mugs, bookmarks, t-shirts, etc with fun book related images and sayings. I feel like mugs (or other beverage related items) and bookmarks are always good gifts. Although if your reader is a t-shirt lover like me (who has at least 10 bookish tees), an original t-shirt is always fun.

?? Reading Light: If your reader likes to read physical books (as opposed to Kindle or audio), then a great booklight is an important thing to have. This one is my favorite! https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q87WJ7M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

?? E-Reader! If they don't already own an eReader (I mean one that is exclusively for reading books, not a tablet, iPad, etc). I highly recommend them. Even people who swear they love print books, when gifted an eReader and give it a try almost always fall in love with it. It won't replace all of their physical books but it is a great supplement. My hands down favorite is the Kindle Paperwhite. You can even get e-books from your library using your Kindle!

?? Book Subscriptions!! You can actually gift someone book subscriptions which readers love but don't often buy for themselves. There are several options, but here are a few of my favorites:

• ? Book of the Month (www.botm.com): You can buy 3, 6, or 12 month subscriptions. Every month, you get a curated selection of 5 books that you can choose from. You get 1 per month and your credits can roll over. You can also gift this to someone who already subscribes - so they can add it to their account and stop paying for it themselves for a bit! This one differs from the others in that the reader actually picks the books they get as opposed to just having a bookseller send a book to them.
• ? The Bookshelf Thomasville (https://www.bookshelfthomasville.com/subscriptions-2) Someone just gifted me one month of this one and I just fell in love! On this one the bookshop picks the book for you, but you get to pick which bookseller is choosing (so you can align with your tastes). You can either gift a book only subscription or a book + bookish gift. You can gift 1, 3, 6, or 12 months. My box had a book I am excited about and a pair of super cozy socks to keep my feet warm while I am reading this winter!
• ?Page 1 Books (https://page1books.com/products/gift-card) This independent bookstore lets you gift 3,6, or 12 month subscriptions. This is another one where the staff picks the books, but your recipient will actually go on the website to redeem their gift and fill out a pretty comprehensive questionairre about their favorite (and leaast favorite) books, authors, genres, etc. Then you get a book and some small bookish gift every month.
• ? If you have a local independent bookstore near you, you can always ask them if they offer any sort of book subscription service as well. Here is a list with some more book subscription options (including options for KIDS!) https://www.mysubscriptionaddiction.com/best-subscription-boxes/best-book-boxes

?? Audio book lover? You can buy gift subscriptions to www.LibroFM.com or www.Audible.com. Libro FM supports independent bookstores so if you or your reader will appreciate that (like I do!) then gift them some Libro FM credits! Also, make sure your audio book lover has a great set of Bluetooth headphones so they can listen on the go!

?? GIFT CARDS! If you can't quite decide, then I highly recommend looking at local independent bookstores in their community to see if they offer gift cards or send a gift card from www.bookshop.org (which supports independent bookstores!) Seeing a trend?? ??

?? WISH LIST! Ask your reader if they have a wish list of books they don't own but want. Or encourage them to build one. Pick a book or two from that list that sounds like it would be interesting to YOU (even if you aren't a reader) and then you can ask them about the book after they read it and maybe have a sort of informal book club discussion. As you know, readers love to talk about the books they are reading!

This should give you a great starting point. Don't be afraid to gift the bookworm in your life book related gifts! I promise you they will appreciate it! If you have other great suggestions, please share them!