Gifts for Book Lovers: The Best Bookish Gift Ideas

Gifts for book lovers and bibliophiles, with the books I am giving this year, cozy things for the reading chair and a few treats for the library lover.

I will read anything. Cereal boxes, the back of the shampoo bottle, the little card that comes with a bouquet. I grew up in a house where everyone was always reading something, and I have never been without a book since. So when it comes to gifts for book lovers, I am shopping for my own kind, and I know exactly what makes us happy: another book, a good place to read it and a little time to get lost.

A bibliophile, otherwise known as a bookworm, is a person who loves books and reads them often. Avid readers are some of the easiest people to buy for, and some of the most grateful. If that describes someone on your list, here are my favorite bookish gifts this year. Some are books, and some are the cozy things that go with them.

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Books I Am Giving This Year

The best gift for a book lover is still a book, especially one you have read and loved yourself. This year I am giving No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister, a novel about a single book and the very different people whose lives it touches. It is a book about why we read, and every reader I know has loved it. Two other favorites are Theo of Golden and The Correspondant, on every book list this year. Add them to yours.

For the friend in a book club, a good story she can bring to the next meeting is always welcome, and a handwritten note about why you chose it makes the gift. If you are not sure what they have already read, give a beautiful edition of a favorite book they already love. The Penguin Clothbound Classics, with their patterned linen covers, look lovely lined up on a shelf. Classic literature like Jane Eyre or The Great Gatsby in one of those covers is a great gift, and a favorite novel in a new cover feels like meeting an old friend in a new coat. For more ideas, my list of what I am reading is always growing.

Books About Books

Book lovers can never resist a book about books, and a few of my favorites have stayed on my shelf for years. Jane Mount’s Bibliophile is a charming illustrated miscellany of famous bookshops, bookshelves and reading lists, and it is impossible to page through without adding to your own list. The Library Book by Susan Orlean tells the story of the great fire at the Los Angeles Central Library, and it is really a love letter to libraries everywhere. Anne Bogel’s I’d Rather Be Reading is a little book of essays that reads like a conversation with a friend who understands, and The Bookshop Book by Jen Campbell is a tour of remarkable bookshops around the world, perfect for the reader who plans her travels around them.

For the history lover, The Library: A World History is a beautifully photographed tour of great libraries through the centuries, and Book Girl by Sarah Clarkson is a thoughtful book about the reading life. Any one of them, paired with a novel, makes a lovely gift.

A Book Advent Calendar

One of my favorite gifts for a reader is a book advent calendar. Head to your favorite bookstore, a used bookshop or a thrift store and find 24 or 25 books, then wrap each one and pile them in a basket. Be creative and choose books that reflect the person: history, travel, cookbooks, a mystery or two and a coffee table book for the last day. Used books keep the cost down, and they come with their own small history. I first suggested this for the children and grandchildren on your list, but it is just as much fun for grown-ups. Start now so that you have them by Decemeber.

For the Reading Nook

Every reader needs a comfortable place to sit, and a few small things can make the whole reading experience better. A reading pillow with arms turns any bed into a reading nook, and a cozy reading blanket covered in book spines is the kind of gift that gets used every single night. A good reading light beside the chair is a practical gift that every book lover needs and few buy for themselves. Add a clip-on book light for reading in bed after everyone else has gone to sleep, and a book weight to hold the pages open while they reach for their tea.

A pretty mug and a tin of tea or hot chocolate round out the gift. A mug printed with famous first lines from novels is a fun quiz with every cup, and a box of tea bags tagged with literary quotes, with a teaspoon stamped Drink Tea Read Books, makes a sweet stocking stuffer. Tuck in a beautiful bookmark, too. Most of us use old receipts and envelopes, and a custom leather bookmark stamped with their initials feels like a small luxury, the kind of unique gift that lives inside an open book on the nightstand for years.

Gifts for the Library Lover

Libraries hold a special place in my heart. I have wandered the reading rooms of the Library of Congress and the Bibliothèque nationale de France, and I still cannot pass a library or a bookshop on my travels without stepping inside. If someone on your list feels the same, there are some wonderful gifts for them. A coin purse that looks like an old library checkout card is a sweet stocking stuffer, and a quilt or throw printed with library books is a joy on a cold afternoon. A candle that smells like old books and leather bindings is a little whimsical, but every book lover I know would light it.

For the reader with a growing home library, a personal library kit, complete with old-fashioned pocket cards and a date stamp, lets them lend books to friends and actually get them back. Card catalog note cards are perfect for the friend who still writes letters, and a box of 100 literary postcards, each one a classic book cover, is too pretty to keep in the box. An embosser that marks each book “from the library of” their name is a classic gift that will last a lifetime.

Journals, Lists and a Little Reading Challenge

A reading journal is a lovely way to remember every book, with space to note the date, copy out favorite quotes and write little book reviews of their own. For the reader who loves a challenge, a 100 books bucket list poster with squares to scratch off as they go is a fun way to read a little wider in the new year. A bedside companion book of essays, quotations and short pieces about reading is perfect for the nights when a whole chapter is too much.

For the Jane Austen Fan

Every reader I know has a soft spot for Jane Austen. A scarf printed with the text of Pride and Prejudice is a gift to wear all winter, and a set of coasters featuring her book covers turns afternoon tea into a little literary event. Pair either one with a handsome new edition of her novels, and you have a gift that any Janeite will treasure.

For the Bookshelf

A pair of bookends, a vase shaped like a stack of books or a beautifully illustrated edition of a favorite story all bring the love of reading out onto the shelf, where everyone can see it. Illustrated books, with their color plates also make wonderful gifts for readers who have everything, because they are the kind of book most of us would never buy for ourselves.

Gifts That Keep the Pages Turning

When in doubt, a gift card to an independent bookshop lets them choose for themselves, and it supports a store that every town needs. Bookshop.org shares part of every sale with independent bookstores, so even an online gift does some good. Magazine subscriptions are an underrated gift, too. For the reader who loves to linger over pictures as much as words, a subscription to a British magazine is one of my favorites. I save mine for the weekend and read them by the fire. For the reader who loves a surprise, a book subscription brings a new title to the door every month, and the excitement of opening it never seems to wear off. 

For the Kindle Reader

I love the feel of a real book, but I will admit that an e-reader has earned a place in my travel bag. For most readers, the Kindle Paperwhite is the best e-reader: a lightweight design that slips into a handbag, a screen that is easy on the eyes and a battery that lasts for weeks. It is also waterproof, which matters to anyone who reads in the bath. For the reader who likes to take notes in the margins, the Kindle Scribe lets them write right on the page. Pair either one with a subscription to Kindle Unlimited, which I have had for years and still love. It is like carrying a whole library in your handbag, and a perfect gift for the reader who goes through a lot of books.

For the neighbor who has everything, a Little Free Library for the front garden lets them share their favorite books with the whole street, and it may be the most generous bookish gift of all. If there are young readers on your list, my favorite Christmas books for children are a good place to start. A book is one of the best gifts you can give a child, and the habit of reading is one they will thank you for later.

Until Next Time

I hope you found a few of the best gifts here for the book lovers on your list, and maybe one for your own reading time. For more ideas, see my gifts for Anglophiles and my Francophile gifts, both of which have shelves full of books.

Tell me: what is the best book anyone has ever given you? And do you lend your books freely, or are you a little bit protective of them? (I will confess I am the second kind.)

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