Books for Giving (and Receiving)

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One of the things I love about this time of year is that I have an excuse to give people books I think they'll like.

What books are you giving as gifts this year?

Alternatively, what are you hoping to receive?
 

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Sadly, I 've learned from past experience that family no longer reliably reads books I give them, nor can most be expected to get the ones I ask for.

Only giving a couple books this year to the sibling. One is Rachel Hoffman's book on cleaning, because the sibling keeps wanting to get herself together and this one might help. (She has various Issues, and Hoffman actually discusses how to set realistic goals if you struggle with depression or physical problems. Plus the blunt, occasionally humorous tone might get through to her.) The other is a joke book of Star Wars internet memes, 'cause she is literally obsessed with pre-Disney SW and it looked like something she'd enjoy. I also need to make sure someone else renewed Dad's Asimov's subscription; he still likes those, though he no longer seems to make it through book-length stories.

As for books I'm hoping for, I sent some random ones from the list to a family member, though mostly I'd just as soon take a gift card... got so many in the TBR pile I feel bad adding to it until I whittle it down, though I am slowly shrinking it. IIRC, I asked for We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor, The Girl Who Drank The Moon, and The Dragon With A Chocolate Heart, authors slipping my mind. I asked for one more but am blanking.
 

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This year my in-laws and we are trying a one-gift rule, and I’m mostly giving books.

My dad is getting Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders. Dad travelled a fair bit for his job before he retired, but is not really physically able to any more. I always enjoy the armchair travelling I do via Atlas Obscura.

My 13-year old daughter is fascinated by deep sea life, so she’s getting (among other things) The Deep: The Extraordinary Creatures of the Abyss. (I actually own a copy of this, but haven’t been able to lay hands on it since she was a baby, so it will be new to her.)

Others are getting books that I’ve read and think the recipients will enjoy:

The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions

The Cloud Roads (The Books of the Raksura) by Martha Wells

The Blade Itself (The First Law) by Joe Abercrombie
 
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Esmae Tyler

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This year I've mostly asked for gift cards so I can buy books. I don't even know what I want yet: I think I'm looking forward to an excuse to go pick them out. (Ebooks, alas; my husband has this strange idea in his head that we own too many physical books as is and keeps making noises about getting rid of them. I don't even...)

This is the second year of giving my three little boys one book a day from December 1st through December 25th. They're 4 and 1.5 and pretty hard on things in general so for now it's a pile of 2nd-hand board books. The only complaints so far seem to be that I can't physically read more than one at a time.
 

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This year my in-laws and we are trying a one-gift rule, and I’m mostly giving books.

My dad is getting Atlas Obscura: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders. Dad travelled a fair bit for his job before he retired, but is not really physically able to any more. I always enjoy the armchair travelling I do via Atlas Obscura.

That's a great book; I purchased it for my mom to give someone.

- - - Updated - - -

This is the second year of giving my three little boys one book a day from December 1st through December 25th. They're 4 and 1.5 and pretty hard on things in general so for now it's a pile of 2nd-hand board books. The only complaints so far seem to be that I can't physically read more than one at a time.

That's an absolutely fabulous idea! I'm totally going to remember that.
 

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What books are you giving as gifts this year?

I have a friend who used to like writing. Then she developed clinical depression. She's on meds and is seeing a therapist now, but the writing fell by the wayside until she mentioned recently that she might try it again. So I found a notebook for her - it's handmade and has a cloth cover patterned with foxes. Even if she doesn't write stories again, she could use it to jot down lists or make sketches.
 

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I have given a slew of these over the years. I think they're the perfect holiday gift, provided the person you're gifting is not easily offended, heh. It's got my fave Xmas story of all time, which you can hear David Sedaris himself read to you, right here. I can't stress how highly I recommend listening to him read this, even if you've read the story yourself, a dozen times. If you've never heard or read it, let him read it, then buy the book.

If you're unfamiliar with David Sedaris, I don't know what's wrong with you, but you were probably raised wrong and it might not be your fault. I dunno. CLICK TO RECTIFY.

I also love giving Pure Drivel.

I give specific people specific stuff -- I gave someone Atlas Obscura last year -- but those are my go-tos for friends who haven't read them, people who I happen to need a gift for for some reason, that kind of thing. They're timeless, classic, hilarious, and shorts, which I think are easier than novels for people you don't know well.
 

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I have a friend who used to like writing. Then she developed clinical depression. She's on meds and is seeing a therapist now, but the writing fell by the wayside until she mentioned recently that she might try it again. So I found a notebook for her - it's handmade and has a cloth cover patterned with foxes. Even if she doesn't write stories again, she could use it to jot down lists or make sketches.

I've been giving people Scribbles That Matter notebooks. They have dot grid paper, but it's fountain-pen friendly paper as well as working well with pencils and gel pens etc. They have two cover types, one with icons (there's a hedgehog!) and one that's plain, in a bunch of colors and a couple of sizes.

They work well for writers, but this Christmas/Hanukkah I've been giving Scribbles that Matter notebooks to people interested in journaling and in creating their own recipe notebooks.
 

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I have given a slew of these over the years. I think they're the perfect holiday gift, provided the person you're gifting is not easily offended, heh. It's got my fave Xmas story of all time, which you can hear David Sedaris himself read to you, right here. I can't stress how highly I recommend listening to him read this, even if you've read the story yourself, a dozen times. If you've never heard or read it, let him read it, then buy the book.

If you're unfamiliar with David Sedaris, I don't know what's wrong with you, but you were probably raised wrong and it might not be your fault. I dunno. CLICK TO RECTIFY.

I also love giving Pure Drivel.

I give specific people specific stuff -- I gave someone Atlas Obscura last year -- but those are my go-tos for friends who haven't read them, people who I happen to need a gift for for some reason, that kind of thing. They're timeless, classic, hilarious, and shorts, which I think are easier than novels for people you don't know well.

And two books I've not met before.
 

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I've been giving away the same book for the past decade: The Symposium by Plato. Since I read The Obstacle is the way by Ryan Holiday, it will be my second go-to book for a gift.