What a better way to alert all those desperately combing the shops and online stores looking for gifts for their bibliophile friends. Turns out you’ve happened upon the right post. No one could possibly be more bibliophile than I and maybe about a hundred other people I know. Christmas will be here in exactly thirteen days. So don’t wait until the last possible moment to run out to get the perfect present. Follow the steps below to choose a desired present for a bibliophile friend:
First identify the real bibliophile. Does your friend have strange tics concerning keeping his/her books or just plain refuses to lend them out at all? What are strange tics you ask? – Here are a few examples, likes smelling books when they have just been bought (new or old), never makes dog ears on pages, creeps out at the thought of cracked spines, only likes buying hardback books, doesn’t like morphed covers in a series, collects loads of bookmarks but never seems to use them or to be able to find them when needed, goes on regular book hauls when they already have loads of unread books already on the shelf, can’t pass a bookshop without going in and of course coming out with at least one book, enjoys pretty books ie. cloth covers, colored edged paper and deckled edges, etc. Ok, get it? If your friend would answer yes to doing at least three of these things, we can just as well assume that she/he is a bibliophile and has a bit of the illness, like me. I don’t smell my books but I know people who do, that’s a bit weird.
Tis the season to be jolly, below you’ll find examples of some really original gifts. Many of them you can order simply online, so you’ll save some time.
Give box sets. Box sets are wonderful gifts for those avid readers that seem to get hooked up in intricate long series or trilogies or just love a particular author and want to own everything he’s written. They never get tired of even the longest series. Just as quick as they’ve finished part three of one series, they will have already started part six of something else. I would say these are the readers that love to read a lot of YA, fantasy, supernatural, and romance novels since they seem to be publishing many of them as a series. Here are a few suggestions of box sets that your bibliophile friend would love.
Roald Dahl – John Green – Vampire Diaries – A Game of Thrones – Pretty Little Liars – Beautiful Creatures – Artemis Fowl – Fifty Shades of Grey(although I hate to say it) – The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit
New Releases. They are a sure bet for pleasing a bibliophile. There’s always a new release that they haven’t read, but are dying too. If in doubt of which one, get a gift card from a local bookstore or from an online site like Amazon. The books below are a few of the popular releases of 2012. Have you read any of them? If so which is your favorite?
Accessories. You’re probably wondering what this entails. Nothing more than cute little comfortable items that only book lovers would love and use, like bookmarks, cute mugs(gotta have a cuppa something while reading), e-book and tablet covers, bookends, bookshelves, tote bags, diaries, reading journals, book lights, thumb things, fabric book covers, book darts, etc. Below you’ll find links to sites that sell some of the coolest of these items along with some pictures of them. In my opinion, the most original one on this list is the bookthingy. Watch the you tube video which show s you how it works. I absolutely love it and have to have one!
http://www.zazzle.fr/book+lover+cadeaux
http://www.theliterarygiftcompany.com/
http://www.flavorwire.com/241427/gifts-for-the-book-lover-whos-read-everything
http://deseretbook.com/auth/21845/Bookjigs
Since you’ve been so diligent browsing through the goodies I’ve posted and because it’s almost Christmas, I’m doing my first giveaway. You can win a book from http://www.bookdepository.com/ (equal to 15€ or less). All you have to do is write below in the comments enter me with the title of the book you’d like to win and why you want to read it. The drawing will be on the 14th and I’ll announce the winner on the 14th in the evening. The winner will have to send me an email with his/her address of where to send the book. If the winner doesn’t respond by the 16th I’ll be forced to choose another winner. Good luck and Merry Christmas!
This Blog Hop is being hosted by Blog in France “http://bloginfrance.com”. Be sure to check the links below to visit the other blogs participating.
you’re on to me – I do at least 3 of those things! However I’m sort of the opposite about lending books – think that great books should be passed along (which is why I end up not being able to find something when I look for it later)
Ouch! that’s messed up!
So glad you sorted out that code and persevered! I’m tempted by ‘The End of Life BookClub’ from all the great things I’ve read about it, apart from the inevitable tearjerker element and the likelihood it will increase my TBR list!
Yes! finally it worked. I tried that process last night at least 5 times and couldn’t get it to work. This morning opened the computer saw your mail, did it and it worked on the first try. Maybe there was something going on with WP. It’s done. Hope you’ll be entering the giveaway. Thanks again! 🙂
Definitely and I’d be putting it towards that book I mentioned The End of Your Life Bookclub!
Ooh, you’ve got some really great recommendations!
One book I’m really looking forward to reading is ‘Days of Blood and Starlight’ by Laini Taylor. Despite the somewhat stereotypically YA title, the first book in the series (‘Daughter of Smoke and Bone’) was probably the best book I’ve read this year – the characters are so well-written, the descriptions of Prague amde me want to live there, and I loved the very unusual magic system the author created – and it finished on such a cliffhanger!
A lot of people have been talking about that series Daughter of Smoke and Bone along with The City of Bones series. Not so sure these are my cup of tea. Never say never concerning books. You just never know.
There’s a film based on the City of Bones series (by Cassandra Clare) coming out soon – I’d say that series is fairly decent compared to the average paranormal/urban fantasy novel, but not something really worth reading if you’re not into that genre. Daughter of Smoke and Bone, however… ^^
Ok I’ll keep that in mind. you may have convinced me to put it on my TBR list. Will you be entering the giveaway?
Yes! 🙂
Don’t forget to put enter me and the book you want to win with why you want that book. Good luck!
The other way to identify a bibliophile is that they walk around friends’ houses with their heads permanently cocked to one side because they’re checking out the bookshelves… One book I really want to read, it’s cropping up in loads of ‘Best of 2012’ blogs is Alys, Always.
Guilty as charged! I’ll definitely add that one to the list. I haven’t heard of Aly, Always. I’ll definitely check it out.
Some interesting ideas! Thanks! You can also check different publishers for their free reads. Like my publisher: Musa publishing. You can get 13 different free reads at the moment. Put them all together, and voila! box set!
That’s a cool idea. I’m going to have to look into that. Thanks for coming by.
After reading this then I can safely say we are definitely bibliophiles! We can never bring ourselves to get rid of any but only the very worst books, and we get the smelling thing! 😉
We have ourselves a couple of those ‘Penguin Books’ mugs and Agatha Christie and a Jane Austen!
Have a very Merry Christmas!
p.s. love the snow on your web-page!
Thanks for stopping by! The snow is a cool feature from WordPress. Yes it terrible what shameless habits bibliophiles can have.
Oh my goodness. Since moving from the US I’ve had to resist the urge to buy books but I cannot embrace the e-reader. I love the feel of books, I like turning pages…so I go to the library. Your list makes me want to break this fast. I think I need in my possession Junot Diaz’s This is How You Lose Her…
Thanks for such a great post and taking part in the blog hop. I hope you enjoyed it.
I love the bookjigs and thumbthings – I hadn’t come across those before and they’re great ideas.
Thanks for having me! I really enjoyed it and have already made some cool connections with other bloggers. Happy holidays! 🙂
Winter of the world looks like my kind of book the cover drew me to it, so maybe a lesson there for my next book.
Great post by the way, have a lovely Christmas.
Thanks for stopping by. Good luck with lots of future sales on your book! Happy holidays!
I loved the ‘turn your book into a bag’ video. Wonder if anyone will buy one for me? LOl
Have a peaceful and successful 2013
Suz x
I agree. I need those bags in my life – one for my book and one for my Kindle! Success to you too.
Didi, I’m just still mulling over what i want to read, I’m in the middle of a trilogy ‘ The talented Mr Ripley’ and I always try to read in french. If you could find ‘Le Rat de Venise’ by Patricia Highsmith – or anything else by her (except ones with Ripley in the titile, and L’inconnu du Nord express’ because I’ve read those) I would be so happy; I am of course happy to read in english too..She writes from the mindset of the criminal, and somehow makes you feel sympathy for him despite his evil ways. its fascinating. I also read alot because my husband is away from home for three months at a time, so my book goes to bed with me instead!!!
This is great info for christmas, I’m going to sit down tomorrow and have a thorough browse.My sister is a literaturephile. Love the snow, how do you do that???
Ok noted for the giveaway. The snow is WordPress. You can check in the settings section. I really like too. Gives my blog a festive feeling. 🙂
Your page is snowing! That’s the kind of winter I like. 🙂
I love all of these gifts, especially the book mugs. That would make me feel very writerly as I sip my tea. Thanks for the giveaway opportunity! I’m dying to read Stephanie Perkins’ LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR.
Noted for the book. Thanks! The snow is wordpress. You can add it in the settings. I love the bookthingys and the mugs too. I’m not sure where you can get the mugs but probably somewhere online.
I really want to read Gone Girl. I’ve bought Sharp Objects but I’m waiting on finding a used cheaper copy. I’ve just heard so many good things about it. Unfortunately, I really didn’t like Sweet Tooth. I have Flight Behavior in my never-ending TBR pile. Always love Kingsolver.
I have Sweet Tooth on my shelf and would love to read Gone Girl but haven’t bought it yet. Have loads of new unread stuff, like The Harry Potter series, which I received for Christmas. I got the adult paperback box set. It’s nice all in black and light enough to carry out of the house to read. So many books on my TBR it’s frightening.