If you haven’t already, you should put a bookworm in your life. Readers are some of the easiest people in the world to gift, plus they (ahem, we) have the advantage that we like anything sold at Strands. Easy peasy.
We bookworms of the world are united by the love of anything that smells like cellulose. However, if you want to get off the beaten path, there are some really good and affordable gifts for readers that we have curated to take off the guesswork.
{Psst… Follow the pretty pink links to learn more about each product!}
1. Celebrate everything by Darcy Miller at William Morrow ($30): Every reader loves learning something new, and this book is some serious bookshelf eye candy. Beautifully illustrated with high-resolution photos and graphics, this hardcover is the ultimate guide to making special occasions unforgettable. Filled to the brim with fun ideas for any occassion imaginable, this book looks great on a coffee table and might give your bookworm a passion for something new. Get ready for some serious BDay or Book Club parties to come!
2. Paperback Fragrance by Demeter ($16 / 1 oz.): True bookworms seem under a spell any time they enter an old bookstore. Aside from vintage inklings, this has to do with the wonderful scent that used books emanate. To me, any place filled with books smells like heaven; it is as if they were spilling their knowledge waiting for a true bibliophile to read them all. Demeter has painstakingly recreated the musty smell of a library filled to the brim with heavy and old volumes in Paperback, a most remarkable fragrance. Believe me, if gifting is a hit or miss, this product will always please the discerning bookworm.
3. Check me Out Library Kit at Modcloth ($14.99): Book lovers adore exchanging their treasures. Problem is, it is way too common for some books in circulation to get lost because of the carelessness of a friend who thinks it’s OK to keep them forever and ever. Say goodbye to the bookworm woes! This wonderful library kit comes to the rescue with a proven method to track book collections. It includes 20 self-adhesive pockets, 20 checkout cards, a date stamp, a stamp pad, and a pencil (yes, true bookworms also love to write with real writing tools.) All the bookworm will need is a pretty caramel tin to store the circulation cards and she or he will be good to go! Spoiler alert: If you give this gift, you will risk being publicly shamed if you don’t return the bibliophile’s book in over six months. Use it as a New Year’s resolution because it’s a genuinely bad habit. Please return the books you borrow (signed yours truly, a bookworm.)
4. The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan at William Morrow ($14.99): If you have a friend who loves the chick-lit genre and reads anything that falls into her hands, you can’t miss this perfect holiday gift. This book tells the adventures of Nina, a librarian who decides to leave everything behind and open her own mobile book shop after she loses her job. A beautiful and light-hearted story about finding the courage to follow your own dreams and live adventures, Jenny Colgan proves once more she’s an accomplished writer with a knack for contemporary fiction stories that attract readers of all ages and backgrounds. A book where books are one of the main characters? You can’t go wrong with that!
5. The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2016 by Rachel Kushner at Mariner Books ($14.95): What happens if you bring together a bunch of talented high schoolers and give them things to read? That they will compile an eclectic yet vital anthology of noteworthy texts that are never taught at school. I personally have found myself unable to put the book down no matter how many subway stops it has made me miss over the past month. Inspiring, compelling, and very well curated, The Best American Nonrequired Reading series merits a space of its own in every bookworm’s bookshelf.
6. Apothecary on Bag at Modcloth ($59.99): Some bookworms happen to be tremendously devoted fashionistas. This incredible bag that mimicks a vintage apothecary book is the perfect gift that combines the passion for books with the latest fashion trends. With tremendously realistic details of a gilded cover, the inside hides a zippered handbag that’s spacious enough to fit the latest paperback. Yes, I checked it myself because I always carry a book. Believe this fellow bookworm: This bag is the perfect gift for a book lover. Ready to rock the librarian chic look?
7. The Vampire Chronicles: Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis by Anne Rice ($28.95): For the bookworms addicted to the stories of vampires, there was life before the omnipresent Twilight saga. Anne Rice continued the tradition started by Bram Stoker by creating a universe full of legendary creatures, who shared the existentialist spirit portrayed at Simone de Beauvoir’s All Men Are Mortal. Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis is the newly released Vampire Chronicle that unites the ancient worlds and the legends scattered in the 11 previous books. A must-have for any terror book lover, this is undoubtedly the perfect Holiday Gift for the followers of the saga.
