If you have an avid book reader on your holiday gift list, take a look at at this list of best gifts for readers! There are some great books you could get them, but there are also great gifts for book lovers that aren’t books!
Since we talk books around here a good bit (although I am behind on sharing my latest good reads with you!), I thought it would be fun to create a gift list full of gifts for bookworms this holiday season.
I’ve complied some of my favorite reads (and ones I have on my to-read list) in different genres, but since it can sometimes be hard to sometimes pinpoint exactly what a fellow reader might like to read, I’ve also gathered some non-book gifts for book readers. I have to say, some of these are just super creative!
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Gifts for Bookworms
Non-Book Gifts for Avid Readers
For the guy or gal who still believes in the power of a real book and the beauty of the library, grab them these library card socks. If you’ve got someone who’s a bit of a rebel, get them these banned book socks.
Choose to have book page text from Pride and Prejudice, Sherlock Holmes, Hamlet, Les Miserable, or the Count of Monte Cristo put on this literary glass. This glass is perfect someone who winds down with a good book & drink before bedtime.
This set of coasters is the perfect gift to complement your reader’s favorite reading nook. A perfect spot for their drink, but they’ll also love how unique these are. These are handmade and come complete with a wrap, ready for gift giving.
Book Inspired Candle
Each book candle has it’s own signature smell that relates to the book. The Great Gatsby features gin, juniper and daisy, To Kill a Mockingbird is Mint Sweet Tea and Catcher in the Rye is Bourbon and Tobacco Flower. The labels are also made to look like library checkout cards!
Ex Libris Book Stamp
Got a reader on your list who keeps every book they’ve read and will loan them out, but only under strict instruction? Get them this Ex Libris Book Stamp or opt to get one that says “From the Library Of” or “This book belongs to.”
Colorful Library Card Pillows
Another perfect item to cozy up their reading nook is one of these library card throw pillows. Again, this is a great gift for those folks who can still remember what a library card looked like!
Literary Tattoos
Help them rep some of the most famous literary quotes with these literary tattoos. Besides famous quotes, it also includes reading mantras, pretty art and odes to punctuation.
Scratch Off Reading List
For the literary person on your list who is serious about reading the classics, get them this scratch off reading list. As they read each book, they can scratch it off on the poster to reveal an image.
Book Gifts for Book Readers
A book about books.
1,000 Books to Read Before You Die
This book about books features literally 1,000 books to read and why you should read them. It includes genres from fiction, children’s, poetry, science fiction and just about everything else under the sun. Find it here.
For the Person Who Doesn’t Know What Rain on a Tin Roof Sounds Like
My Southern Journey / Once There Was a Farm
If you’ve got someone on your list who needs to fall in the love with the South, get him or her a Rick Bragg book. He’s written my favorite books about the south. A good place to start is with My Southern Journey – short personal narratives he’s written throughout his writing career. If you think they’re ready to jump right on in though, get them his All Over But the Shoutin’ book. I am also a big fan of Once There Was a Farm. This book goes farther back than Bragg’s and recounts the stories of growing up on a farm in the 1920’s and 30’s with just Dabney’s mother running the farm. It’s not a very well known book, but I discovered it about 12 or 13 years ago and have read it countless times since.
If they need a bit more easing into the South…
If memoirs and non-fiction isn’t their thing, but you still think they need a good education about the South, then get them a Pat Conroy book. Any Pat Conroy book will do, however I am partial to South of Broad as it was the first I read of his and I fell hard. And even if you don’t think they would like books about the South or they know all about it, but they’ve never picked up a Pat Conroy book, then change that now. Bless their souls, what is wrong with them?
For Those Who Need a Laugh
It Looked Different on the Model / Stories I’d Tell in Bars
I haven’t read either of these before, but reading the synopsis, both are getting added to my to-read list. Sometimes we just need a good laugh and to know that we aren’t alone in the world when we’re in a dressing room staring at our reflection in the mirror wondering what in the hell went wrong. Both of these books will aid in that.
For the One Who Isn’t Scared of a Few Ghosts
Four and Twenty Blackbirds / The House on Tradd Street / The Family Plot
These are a few of my all-time favorite ghost stories. The first two, Four and Twenty Blackbirds and The House on Tradd Street are actually the first in a series of books. I’ve read Four and Twenty Blackbirds a few times now as well as its follow-up books. It mixes history with voodoo and of course, a good family secret or two. The House on Tradd Street is set in Charleston, South Carolina and again mixes some history in there, complete with an old house (which I’m a sucker for) that holds a few secrets. The Family Plot is written by the same author of Four and Twenty Blackbirds and is one of her newer books. Again, it’s set in an old house that’s been abandoned for years and is now being stripped of its “good stuff” before it’s demolished. However, the house is haunted – and not with the good kinds of ghosts.
Are they history buffs?
Before We Were Yours / Spinning the Moon
Both of these books have a good bit of historical fiction weaved into them. Before We Were Yours goes back and forth between present day and the 1930s and creates a historical fiction story from the Georgia Tann scandal in the 1930s when children were being kidnapped from their parents and then sold via her “adoption agency” to families all over the country – an amazing read, y’all. Definitely one of my favorites to date. Spinning the Moon is actually two books in one by one of my favorite authors, Karen White. One novel is set during the Civil War and the other during Reconstruction. Both books are excellent reads and its even better because it is two stories in one book!
For the Girl Power Person…
Bad Girls Throughout History / Becoming / Notorious RBG
These are for the people who are all about empowering females. Bad Girls Throughout History chronicles the lives of 100 revolutionary women from all walks of life including Joan Jett to Marie Curie. Becoming is Michelle Obama’s much anticipated memoir. And finally, Notorious RBG is about the one and only Ruth Bader Ginsburg, whom I consider to be one of the most inspirational women ever. In a nutshell, this book tells the story of how one small woman has dedicated her life to further gender equality in our country. And she’s still doing it at 85. That’s truly just the tip of the iceberg though – RBG is a force to be reckoned with and there’s no doubt in my mind, females wouldn’t be where we are today without her.
For the Parents Still Trying to Figure It Out
But Did You Die? / I’m Sorry. Love, Your Husband / I Heart My Little A-Holes
These books are for those parents who need to know that it’s completely ok to not have your shit together. Because really, none of us do and if some of us say we do, we are straight up full of you know what. But Did You Die? is from the same authors of I Just Want to Pee Alone, which was another hilarious foray into the world of bad parenting at it’s best. I’m Sorry. Love, your husband. is parenting from a dad’s view. It will make men feel not alone and make women realize that it’s not just their husbands that are stupid sometimes. 😉 I’m kidding. I Heart My Little A-Holes is just as the book cover says – a bunch of holy-crap moments no one tells you about parenting. We love them, but y’all know they are straight up little a-holes sometimes.
Can you add any gift ideas for readers to this list?
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