I don’t know about you, but my family always struggles with what to get their not-so-little bookworm for the holidays. They never seem to know which books to buy me, or worse… I wind up with multiples of the same book. I thought I’d put together a list of perfect gift ideas for book lovers that goes beyond the book light, bookmarks, and candles which typically make up these kinds of lists (no shade).
2020 has flown by and while it feels rather early to think towards the holiday season, the pandemic and USPS delays have created a perfect storm. It’s more important than ever to shop early to ensure adequate stock and shipping time!
We book lovers can be an enigma, but here’s a list of seven gift ideas any book lover would love that you won’t see on another list!
Note: I am an affiliate with a few of these companies; I will note which links are affiliate links at the bottom of each section. Clicking through these links to make a purchase may give me a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Art Prints & More from Let’s Get Galactic
One of my favorite people and book bloggers is Cassie from Let’s Get Galactic! A lover of all things rainbow and horror, she has an incredibly successful Etsy shop with pop culture prints, DIY embroidery kits, coloring books, a 2021 planner, and so much more!
I’ve bought a lot of prints from Cassie over the past couple of years and love them so much! I have an order for a rune set on the way as well, as she’s recently started working with resin.
Let’s Get Galactic is offering a discount for subscribers through the end of 2020! Enter ‘VORACIOUS10’ at checkout for 10% off of your order!
Bookish T-Shirts from Blissfully Bookish
Know their favorite book? Perhaps you can get them a t-shirt inspired by it! Blissfully Bookish Company is a small business owned by Kathryn, who also reads & reviews books.
I feel like bookish merchandise is over saturated with the same handful of books, and one of the things I love about Blissfully Bookish is that they give love to new fandoms. They have designs for A Darker Shade of Magic, City of Brass, House of Salt and Sorrows, Serpent & Dove, Wicked Saints and much more!
- Printed tees: Plenty of fandoms to choose from with truly lovely designs! The shirts are incredibly soft, fit true to the sizing chart, and are high quality.
- Quarterly ‘satchel’ subscription: includes a unique t-short, enamel pin, and another paper item that isn’t available in the store otherwise.
- Enamel pin subscription: limited edition enamel pins!
Blissfully Bookish is offering Reader Voracious subscribers a 10% discount code through the end of 2020! Enter ‘VORACIOUS’ at checkout to receive 10% off of your order.
Kathryn at Blissfully Bookish generously sent me the House of Salt and Sorrows shirt so that I could include a photo and my opinion in this post. The discount code is not an affiliate code.
Bookish Word Art from Litographs
You’ve likely seen scarves and prints before with the text of famous books on them. I bought my first print when I stumbled across it in my indie bookstore years ago and honestly? It’s one of my favorite things in my apartment.
With over 200 books to choose from, Litographs has a catalog of both classic and contemporary books and is bound to have something for the book lover in your life! My favorite thing about Litographs is that the text makes up art that ties into the story itself.
From blankets to prints to scarves to puzzles, there are a number of products to choose from that is sure to wow the book lover.
True Crime Subscription for Mystery Lovers
Do you have a loved one who’s addicted to true crime podcasts and mystery novels? Gift them a subscription that will tap into their mystery & crime-solving brains with Hunt a Killer.
In Hunt A Killer you sort through the evidence, decode ciphers, piece together clues, and solve the crime in an immersive game like no other. High-quality, hand-crafted clues get you lost in the fictional world and make you feel like you’re solving a real murder.
Each case lasts six months (“season”) and each monthly box includes more clues to decipher. The coolest part? A portion of proceeds is donated to the Cold Case Foundation to help solve real cold cases.
Hunt a Killer is offering Reader Voracious subscribers a discount code for the first box through the end of 2020! Enter ‘KAL’ at checkout to receive 20% off of your first box.
I am an affiliate of Hunt a Killer and have been sent a box for review (coming soon). If you purchase through my links or using my discount code, I will earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
A Book Sweater to Protect Books
We all know about book sleeves, but have you heard about book sweaters?
Knitted by Allie @ Hexen Librarian, these book sweaters will protect any bibliophile’s books. They come in three sizes and Allie does custom design requests as well!
Page Anchor Bookmark
The Page Anchor is a beautiful anchor bookmark for hands-free reading or journaling.
I enjoy using my anchor when I’m snuggled in a blanket and drinking coffee while reading so I don’t need to hold the book open. It works really well and to change the page you just have to slide it up and then back down.
I received these Page Anchors for free so I could try the product and include my opinion and photos in this post.
Secondhand Merch & Books from an Online Indie
Absinthe & Books is a small independent shop run by a book blogger that sells books and merchandise at a reasonable price. You never know what you’ll find, so browsing the site if you are looking for inspiration may work!
*I am an affiliate for Absinthe & Books and may receive a small commission if you use my link at no additional cost to you.
Support Indie Bookstores
The pandemic has exacerbated the struggling brick and mortar industry, and many local businesses may not survive. Many independent bookstores ship internationally and they all put so much heart into their work. (My local indie, Mysterious Galaxy, wraps all of my book orders and includes personalized thank you notes!)
Here are some ideas of how you can gift from an indie when you can’t browse in store!
- Pre-order an upcoming book and see if there’s a virtual book event with the author!
- Order books through Bookshop.org so fulfillment isn’t on the indie but they still get revenue.
- Purchase a gift card from an independent bookstore.
Thank you for checking out my Perfect Gift Ideas for Book Lovers list!
What other kinds of gifts would you like to receive? Let’s chat bookish in the comments!
I didn’t even know book anchors were a thing! I’m definitely going to be checking those out because reading while having to eat something is the bane of my existence. I’m definitely going to be asking people who will be getting me books for Christmas (I mean, basically a given at this point for most people in my life) to use Bookshop.org. I hadn’t known about it before but I love that indie’s get the revenue! It was always difficult to ask people not to use Amazon because then they’d be intimidated by all the hunting to be done on indie bookstores’ websites (because obvious the smaller ones don’t carry all the books you could ever want) and give up entirely so I love that there’s a centralized spot to get books and still be supporting indie’s. This is such a helpful post, Kal!
Laura @BlueEyeBooks
Reader Voracious Blog features bookish discussions, guides, and spoiler-free reviews of sci-fi, fantasy, speculative fiction, and mystery books. Reader Voracious is where Kal’s adventures in books & nature are explored.
Ahh, I’m so glad I was able to bring book anchors into your world! I also like to eat (or drink) while reading, and it’s been a real lifesaver for me. And bookshop makes me so happy, it’s great and now they do giftcards! I love the way that the indie sector is banding together and making it easier to shop local.
Thanks so much for stopping by, Laura, and I’m glad you found the post useful!
These are great! My big book gift experiment of the year is the Book Beau Bean — a friend of mine and her wife are absolutely obsessed with it, and I am hoping it’s as good as they keep assuring me it is. I bought one for my sister but it has not arrived yet so I have not yet been able to investigate its powers.
Ahhh, please let me know your thoughts on Book Beau Bean! I’ve heard good things and am intrigued, haha
Book sweaters!? Yes, yes, yes!
I wrote a post about small bookish businesses too! Check it out if you’re like 🙂 https://jawahirthebookworm.com/2020/07/01/covid-19-bookish-businesses-edition/
Aren’t those book sweaters ADORABLE!?!?!
Ahhh thanks for sharing your post! I have it open in a tab to check out when I have the time.
I didn’t know there were such things as book sweaters! I’d love to get one from one of my grandparents instead of usual mittens and wool socks.
I didn’t either! I was so glad that Lauren told me about them because they’re so cute!
This is a great list! I love all of the indie creators and stores featured on here.
Thank you for checking out the post, Paige, I’m glad you found it useful!
These are all great ideas for gifts! I love that you’ve found different bookish gifts that you don’t see every day. I’m very curious about the True Crime subscription:-)
Thanks, I really wanted to look beyond the typical items because I can’t be the only one who has received 40 book lights lol. The true crime subscription is AWESOME! I got a free box and need to do an unboxing / highlight post next month. Definitely recommend though, especially since they donate some of the proceeds to Cold Case Foundation
THAT BOOK SWEATER THOUGH
*cries in shipping*
I KNOW!!!! It is so cute and such a unique idea.
Why must shipping be so expensive?!
These are such great and fresh ideas! And omg I had no idea that book sweaters exist…it sounds like such a strange concept but I’m also very curious, hehe.
Thank you Charvi, I’m glad these ideas are new and fresh (that was my goal!). The book sweaters are so cute tho
I am so obsessed with everything All Souls by Deborah Harkness since I read it last year, that I am willing to give myself a gift of that trilogy’s merch, provided they are available in my country, which they aren’t.
I love all these ideas! The Page Anchor in particular looks really interesting. I might have to look into some of these for myself, actually :’)
Ahh, the Page Anchor is honestly such a great quality… it’s a heavy and stunning chunk of metal lol. Thanks for checking out the list, Sabrina!
AAAHH Hunt a Killer is so much fun! My best friend and I have been getting it since March, and we set aside time every month to Skype and play through the latest box together. Murder mystery fans will LOVE it for sure. Easily my favorite rec on this list, and it’s HARD to compete with Litographs!
OMG that is the cutest thing EVER and exactly what I plan on doing with my subscription and my discord server!!! I’m so happy to hear you’ve been enjoying it, that makes me even MORE excited! (I am such a hoe for litographs)