Tied Up With String: Books as Gifts
by Kimberley Allen McNamara
Yes, Books. The magical transporter of the reader through Time and Space. The door to another world, another life or to information. No two people read the same book. Each takes something different from a shared book and this “Take-Away” gives them the gift of discussion and connection. To help you along in your quest for such gifts consider the following:
Books for the Book Lover in Your Life
Emily Temple composed a listing of Fall 2021 books based on the number of times certain books made lists of “best of 2021” or “2021 Must Reads” and other such similar listings. Temple’s method was a by the numbers game see: The Ultimate Fall 2021 Books Preview Temple scanned 36 book recommendation lists which listed about 400 books for the fall of 2021; she then compiled her listing of Ultimate Fall 2021 books by noting how often particular titles appeared on these 36 lists. For example: Colston Whitehead’s Harlem Shuffle made of the scanned lists, while Mary Roach, Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law made 3 of the lists. The beauty of Temple’s list, you can click on the books in the breakdown and be taken directly to Bookshop.org where you can purchase and support an indie bookstore or visit your local bookstore armed with a list of orders and support local. The lists she consulted when compiling her list appear at the end of her article.
Mitchell Kaplan, bookstore owner and podcaster of The Literary Life, offers up a listen and a listing of choices by Mitchell and his bookstore staff. Give it a listen or click on the link above to view their recommendations. Among the books they discuss are: Matrix by Laura Groff, Foregone by Russell Banks and Frida Kahlo. The Complete Paintings by Andrea Kettenmann, Maria Vasquez-Ramos and Luis-Martin Lozano. All recommendations link to Bookshop.org.
Non-Book Gifts for the Book Lovers in Your Life:
From New York Magazine’s the Strategist: 63 Best Gifts for Bookworms (That Aren’t Books). The items are sorted into groupings by what they accomplish for the Book Lover. Among the categories: book storage (book shelves, bookends), Page Markers (clips and stands that hold the book open to your page), instruments for marking up your novels, postcards highlighting author quotes or book covers, embossers and bookplates.
Other lists to consider focus on two popular genres Romance & Mystery:
15 Romance Novels You Need to Read in 2021 by Jasmine Ting. As Ting states: “sometimes I catch myself smiling or laughing and even feeling butterflies in my stomach because of something I’ve been reading. And nothing makes me feel more like a giddy fool than a love story.” Need some romance in your life? Or need some romance recommendations? Ting does this for you.
The Best Mystery Books of 2021, recommended by Best Selling Authors by PBS includes recommendations from Walter Mosley, Tana French and S.A Cosby. These recommendations highlight authors with mysteries that range from gothic chiller to a mix “of cozy, sassy and oh so tricky” to quote S.A. Cosby. Incidentally Cosby is both an author who is recommended and one who recommends. Cosby’s choice: Arsenic and Adobe by Mia P. Manansalsa.
NonFiction
15 Non-Fiction Books You Need to Read in 2021 by Jasmine Ting (her earlier Romance 2021 list appears above). Ting pulls out an eclectic mix of non-fiction from memoir, to stories of racism told by a comedian and her sister, to dealing with grief, championing sexual identity and addressing the creative side of what makes great stories. Crying in the H-Mart by Michelle Zauner, You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar, All In: an Autobiography by Billie Jean King, The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on the Human Centered Planet by John Green and A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders--are among this listing. Links in the list go directly to Amazon, links in this paragraph to Bookshop.org. Please order from Bookshop.org to support independent bookstores.
For the Make-A-Gift Oriented: Consider a book safe or a hollowed out hidden book box. You will need a thick, hardcover book, glue, ruler, weight/vice You Tube video: How to Make a Book Safe by Legacy Escape Box or another by the frugalcrafter: How to Make a Book Safe. For those who prefer a step-by-step written process try thesprucecrafts.com How to Make a DIY Book Safe.
Tip: insert a treat or gift for the recipient. Tie with a bow and voilà! you are done!
For the Best Feel Good Books: this list The 12 Best Feel-Good Books (that warmed my heart last year) by oldwomaninavan.com The composer of the list is a woman who does live in a van and who is on a journey of empowerment, of living her best life. She read 200 books in 2020 and came up with this list. The list links to either Bookshop.org or Amazon for each entry so the choice is yours.
For Poetry: 21 Best Classic and Contemporary Poetry Books 2021 by the NYT the Strategist is a list compiled by poets.
For the lover of Essays: The Best Essays: the 2021 Pen Awards by Fivebooks.com
Happy Gifting and Receiving!
