Bookish Gift Guide
Say you fancy me, not fancy stuff
It’s the time of year when we scramble to find thoughtful gifts for our loved ones. Every book lover has her own quirks and preferences, so to avoid stepping in it, here are some ideas that the bibliophile in your life is sure to love!
Let’s be honest,
if on December 25th I opened nothing but books I would have ZERO complaints. It sounds like a dream! However unless you know your bookworm better than she knows herself, it’s possible you could give her a book she already has, a book she’s already read, a book in the “wrong” format, or a book she already knows she’ll never read.
If you’re adamant about gifting a literal book, I recommend finding her [updated] wish list, stalking her GoodReads/StoryGraph, or choosing a personalized recommendation. Personally, I know that even if I’m not super excited to read a book, if a friend gives it to me with a personalized recommendation, I’m touched and excited to start it.
Risk free book gifting
Gift cards! This way they can get whatever they want, however they want. Trust me. They will be over the moon! One year my soon-to-be sister-in-law gave me an Amazon gift card for the amount of the Throne of Glass kindle set. I was floored at her thoughtfulness.
BookShop.org
This is a wonderful website where readers can order books online while supporting the independent bookstore of her choice.
Libro.fm
Gift a bundle of audiobook credits! Libro.fm is a marketplace for audiobooks. It’s wonderful because for the most part the books are listed for the same price as audible, but instead of supporting Amazon, readers can choose to support the local book shop of their choice.
They’re currently running a sale specifically for gifting audiobooks for the holidays. You can gift anywhere from 2 credits for $27 to 24 credits for $324.
Book of the Month
BOTM is a monthly book subscription service that dates back to 1926. I have had a subscription since the beginning of my reading renaissance in 2017. In the past year they have expanded to include audiobooks! However they’ve never even acknowledged me the several times I have applied for employment there… so like meh.
They are currently running gift bundles for 3, 6, and 12 month memberships.
Gift Card of your choice
Will$ once gave me a Ripped Bodice gift card as a non-wrap-gift (still unsure of the context) but it was the most thoughtful thing ever! If you have a favorite independent book store or you know where your reader loves to shop, I promise she’ll be delighted. You can’t go wrong with the big box stores either (Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, etc). At the end of the day, no one would turn up her nose to an Amazon gift card either! (Still where I get most of my kindle books at the very least.)
Books can be a personality trait
All readers love cozy sweaters, warm mugs, serene candles, and bookish decor. The only thing better than escaping into a good book, is letting people know you’re cerebral like that.
Bookstores have great merch!
Some of my Brooklyn favorites include Books Are Magic & The Ripped Bodice of course!
Etsy has a great selection too!
If your loved one has any hobbies or crafting activities, you should be able to find kits on their just for them. I found some artists who will make custom prints (like the book stack print included above) with the books of your choosing.
The StoryGraph*
The StoryGraph is the superior competitor to Amazon-owned GoodReads. They have moved some of their swankier features behind a paywall, but we love to support a Black woman-owned company!
*The caveat I make with this recommendation is: make sure your recipient is already active on StoryGraph. I’m sure any reader (especially if chronically online) would appreciate this generous gift, but I’d make sure it’s something your bibliophile will utilize before dropping the $49.99 on an annual subscription.
Gifts based on their taste!
I am a girl obsessed. It is so easy for me to fall down a rabbit hole and hyper-fixate on anything I love. Even though I want all the things, I never want my home to feel like a Comic-Con booth. (That very much was my aesthetic through my first year of college.) Now I have fun collecting decorative pieces and clothing accessories that are odes to my obsessions. The iykyk variety.
While I love receiving book-specific gifts from fellow-fans, it melts my heart when someone gets me something I love and I know they haven’t read it. It’ll make her feel seen and appreciated.
Stalk their GoodReads/StoryGraphs and filter through their 5 star reads. Then search those titles in Etsy. It’s not that hard. You’ll be amazed what you find!
Casey has given me a Cassian bookmark and a Fourth Wing sticker for my water bottle, and you that woman hasn’t cracked a fantasy novel since Breaking Dawn. But she saw them and thought of me. Belinda gave me my favorite bat boys shirt and my Illyrian General mug that I keep on my nightstand long before she started her ACOTAR journey.
You can get them bedazzled copies of their favorite books, buy them a fresh copy of an old favorite and the supplies for them to bedazzle it themselves!
Maddy on Instagram is the first person I’ve seen who will do custom ordered stitched paperback covers! How stinking precious! (I foresee this being a new hobby of mine in the new year.)
And of course there are always SPECIAL EDITIONS! You know how to make a book lover drool? Two words. sprayed edges! Many booksellers create their own variety of special editions, from sprayed edges to unique covers. But book binding has become a popular hobby for our subculture of the internet. (One I will be diving into once I have more real estate.) Etsy is filled with special editions and customized copies of all our favorite books! Some of these edges are truly art! If you know she loves a series and has the space to display something, consider scooping her a one-of-a-kind collectors item.
If I was a millionaire, I’d be ordering everyone I know their favorite book from Steamy Lit. [Shubangi, I’d specifically buy you this limited run of Whet.]
Investment pieces
These are items that (I think) every reader wants, but would maybe never purchase for themselves.
Kindle Gooseneck & Page Turner
Luxury. That is what it feels like to lie in bed curled up under your favorite weighted blanket and be able to read without moving or lying in an uncomfortable position. I really thought people were overstating it online, but I will never go back. In fact my first gooseneck finally broke and I bought another one. Also, my clicker’s battery life is insane! (I’ve linked the page turner I own. It’s clunkier than ideal, but the battery life is unmatched. Now it’s available in more colors which is sick!)
This is the gooseneck I have now. This is the one I first bought that has since broken. While the first one I purchased was more convenient and flexible, I do think that’s why it ultimately snapped. I’ll happily use a shorter arm for durability. I use it mostly now to prop up my iPad mini every night for my ASMR viewing pleasure. (Before I had a nicer phone tripod, I’d use it as that too, but boy was she wobbly.)
Invisible Floating Shelves
I’ve bought many, and the ones I’ve linked are the first set I bought in 2021 and that have now held dozens of books in multiple apartments. I love them so much and get so many compliments.
A Kindle
A girl can never have too many kindles.
Neon Sign
Y’all I bought this “one more chapter” sign for myself for my birthday last year. I love it so much! If you look at their listing, they even took the photo from my review and put it in their listing!
Stocking Stuffers
There are so many accessories for reading. Because gorgeous gorgeous girls read books. And gorgeous gorgeous girls accessorize.
Stickers & Pins
We love bookish stickers! They’re SO CUTE! We change them out on our kindles and laptops and plaster our re-usable water bottles with them! I am personally a collector of hat pins (have been since 2006), and I am very happy that the enamel pin is having a moment again!
Annotation Tools
I personally am a huge fan of the Gelly Roll gel pens. I have retractable, solid, metallic, and glitter! They write so smoothly and cleanly without bleeding through. And they’re cute af!
Last year I had these and annotation tabs on my personal Christmas list. Well Santa came through! It’s fun to have different color options for when we’re feeling aesthetic. Highlighters are great too! I like the muted soft ones. (No one wants to feel like they’re annotating for 8th grade English.)
Reading Light
Maybe I’m getting old, but this has been a necessity for me lately. I like to switch to just lamp light around bedtime, and it’s hard out here to read paperbacks in dim lighting. It’s cute, small, portable, adjustable and bright! The one I purchased is yellow, but what I would definitely look for is a pivoting light, whether it’s the tip like the one I bought, or a gooseneck like pictured above. You don’t want one that you have to switch from side to side with each page. (Mine is currently listed at $7.99, and I have no complaints.)
What’s on your bookish wish-list?
If this is still too vague for you… here are 3 direct “if…then…” links for you:
A Court of Mist and Fury mug
The last thing anyone needs is another mug. But this is too good not to share. I promise they’ll scream when they open it. (If not, Venmo charge me the $20.) It’s the perfect mug to hold annotation tools or a warm cup of tea.
Lehabah Fire Sprite bookshelf decor
I would cry. She’s who every Crescent City lover needs guarding their books.
Throne of Glass tandem read bookmarks
I bought these for myself and am obsessed. There are many varieties on Etsy, but these seem like the best quality to me. They ship from Australia, so double check the ETA before you check out.
If you want bonus points, message me your email and I can email you the tandem eBook for you to gift alongside it. 🤫
If you want to purchase any of the books mentioned in this article, please consider using my affiliate link with my favorite independent book store, The Ripped Bodice, or using my referral link to libro.fm for an audiobook!
Hyper-fixation du jour: Light Up Alarm Clock
I have been having an unprecedented struggle with waking up over the past two weeks. If you know me personally, you know “unprecedented” means bad and low key concerning. After being nearly 3 hours late for work yesterday, I decided to sleep with my blinds wide open (ick) and dust off my old light up alarm clock (that had fallen from its shelf and been covered with clutter and dust in my latest stretch of unemployment). Well I woke up on time today! (And I was only 30 minutes late for work!)
Now we all know that it’s only a matter of time before my body adjusts to this and goes immune, but I’m hopeful with only using it 3 days this week and then having three weeks off for holiday hiatus, there’s potential for longevity.
