Hello Interwebs!
Welcome to Bookmas Day 3! Today's post is all about bookish (and not so bookish) gifts for those people in your life who either don't read or don't read like we rabid readers do. To me giving bookish gifts for people who read less than you is more about either tying books to things they do like or fostering the environment and mood that I think we all like to have for reading and relaxation. So without further ado here's my ideas for bookish gifts for nonreaders.
First, we have books themselves. If I buy books for someone who doesn't read as much I do a couple of things.
1. Buy a book that's related to a topic that your recipient already enjoys. For example, my brother is very much into National Parks and working through his bucket list to visit every National Park in his lifetime so for Christmas I would (and have) bought things related to that including Fodor's The Complete Guide to the National Parks of the USA: All 63 Parks from Maine to American Samoa which is a full-color travel guide to all of the National Parks and Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach which is a nature nonfiction about animals behaving badly and human response to it. Both of these gifts related to his love (or obsession) with the National Parks.
2. Buy a book they already like or by an author they already like in a special edition. For example for my partner's birthday last year I bought him a signed copy of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini which was the newest release by the author who wrote the Eragon series which is one of his all time favorites. So a beautiful collectors edition or a signed edition is always a good place to start.
3. Buy a book that was inspired by a movie or other media they have already enjoyed. For example, is your recipient's favorite movie The Shining? Do they like the show Gossip Girl? How about Jeopardy? All these things have book versions: The Shining by Stephen King, Gossip Girl by Cecily von Ziegesar, Answers in the Form of Questions: A Definitive History and Insider's Guide to Jeopardy! by Claire McNear. Does your recipient have a favorite musician/band or actor? You can find books by and about them too! Go for: The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl (from Nirvana/Foo Fighters); Will by Will Smith; Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci; or The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present by Paul McCartney. Sometimes you can even find books based off of popular podcasts or web series such as Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor (from the Welcome to Night Vale podcast) or Rhett and Link's Book of Mythicality: A Field Guide to Curiosity, Creativity, and Tomfoolery by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal (from Good Mythical Morning on YouTube)
Second we have book adjacent things: These are things that are related to reading somehow but not directly associated to reading. These would be things you can buy at Barnes and Noble that aren't books. So we're talking pretty journals, fancy pens, jigsaw puzzles, games, and the like. Never underestimate the gifting power of a pretty journal with a nice pen or a pretty puzzle as a Christmas gift. You can find something for almost everyone at a bookstore. If your recipient does have favorite books or movies based on books you can always use this idea to get them something wearable for their favorite book. I highly recommend Out of Print for these kind of gift ideas. They have fun socks, comfortable t-shirts, cozy hoodies and the like for a wide variety of books from classics to contemporaries. My favorite hoodie is one based on The Shining by Stephen King from this company.
Finally, we have things to foster the restful, relaxing environment a lot of us try to achieve by reading. These aren't directly bookish things but are things that still make good gifts. For this I would suggest things such as candles (I personally love ones from Bath and Body Works, they're expensive but oh so good), bath items such as bath salts or bath bombs, back/shoulder massagers, heating pads, heated blankets, weighted blankets, and other such spa-style relaxation gifts.
So there's my suggestions for bookish and bookish adjacent gifts for the nonreaders (or less rabid readers) in your life. As always keep in mind the gift recipient and whether they will enjoy the gift and the thoughts behind the gifts when you buy people gifts. Tomorrow I will be going through gifts to buy for the readers in your life that aren't necessarily gifts. There will be some overlap but two different animals at the core of it.
I am still working my way through Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah. Work has been crazy this week and I haven't taken much time to read in my limited free time. I hope to finish this book this weekend and maybe another one as well despite our Christmas preparation plans for the weekend.
And for today's gift from the Funko Pop Nightmare Before Christmas Advent Calendar I got the Mayor. He's so amazingly detailed and I love that they included both faces on him. In fact, as much as I love Zero, he might be my favorite so far.
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