What Every Bookworm Wants for Christmas
Shopping for the bookworms in your life should be the easiest thing you do this holiday season because we all basically want two things: books and time to read those books. [Ed. from the Archive.]
I decided to revise this post from the Archive because I, an avid reader and bookworm myself, keep hearing things like the following over and over again: “But you already have so many books. I can’t just buy you another one.” To which I always say, “Of course you can! I love books! Gimme!”
Full disclosure, I don’t actually think we should be shopping for gifts this time of year. (Read more in my post Hot Take: We Shouldn’t Give Gifts During the Holidays.) Nonetheless, if we must partake, gifting books and celebrating one’s love of reading just seems to hit a bit different. Especially when books offer so many human-centered things other gifts don’t, and are so easy to re-gift and acquire used or at low costs.
More than anything, bookworms will always want more books … and more time to read those books and opportunities to talk about those books.
First, it’s important to know that bookworms don’t always read as much as they’d like to read because they don’t always have enough time to read on any given day—particularly those bookworms who have full-time jobs unrealted to books or a family at home. Seriously, if it were up to us bookworms, we would happily spend entire back-to-back days reading.
So, if you’re low on cash this holiday season, offer to do things for your favorite bookworm to give them more time to read. Offer to run a few errands for them, or clean the house, or shovel the driveway, etc. Offer to do anything for them that will allow them to have more time to read.
If you aren’t sure what tasks typically eat into their desired reading time, just ask, because giving bookworms some space and quiet time to read is one of the easiest gifts to give them, and it costs nothing.
Bookworms also want more books, of course. But you don’t need to know specifically what books they already own before gifting them more books.
If you think your bookworm already has too many books, trust me, they will beg to differ. True bookworms will never feel like they have too many books on their to-be-read shelves. There will always be a book that just came out that they’ll want to read, or books from some of their favorite authors’ backlists they’ve been dying to read, or classics they haven’t gotten around to reading yet, etc.
You can always ask your favorite bookworm if they’re planning to particpate in any reading challenges in the coming year, as well. Knowing this might help you get a better idea of what books they’re planning to read in the year ahead. Some bookworms like to read the previous year’s award winners, for example, or decide to read more classics or books by diverse authors in the new year, or read books from different places around the world, or join various book club’s reading challenges, etc.
And if you do accidentally gift a bookworm a book they already own, so what? They’ll just donate it to their local library (or Free Little Library) so others can read it. That or they’ll exchange it at their local used bookstore for new-to-them books. Or they might re-gift a book they already own to a bookworm friend of theirs who has been dying to read the book so they can chat about it with them.
Regardless, they’ll appreciate the book gift because bookworms enjoy sharing books and their love of reading with other bookworms whenever they get the chance. And they might even want two or more copies of the same book when it comes out in different or newer editions.
But if you’re still worried about gifting your favorite bookworm a book they already own, you might want to consider giving them a gift card so they can buy their own books. I would recommend getting them a gift card to use at their favorite locally owned bookshop or used bookstore. You can even do this online via bookshop.org. And if they don’t have a favorite local bookshop, get them a Visa gift card to use wherever they want to get books from.
Bookworms also like reading accessories: fun bookmarks, coffee mugs, reading cushions, reading lamps, ebook reader covers, journals to jot down their reading notes in, etc. So, if you can, take a look around where they usually like to read to see what book or reading accessories they don’t already have.
Last but not least, consider pre-ordering a book for your bookworm. If you know one of their favorite authors is coming out with a new book within the next six months or so, pre-order it for them so that they don’t have to do it. Or consider getting tickets to their favorite authors’ upcoming author talks. Both of these things can be a bit pricier, so your bookworm will appreciate them if you’re able to cover the costs for them.
Honestly, as long as what you’re gifting is related to books and or reading, you’re favorite bookworm will appreciate it and feel seen and loved.
Are you a bookworm? Leave a comment to join this dialogue, and feel free to share this post with those who might want to know more about what you really want under the tree this year.
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