Thursday, December 18, 2008

Booking Through Thursday


Do you give books as gifts?

To everyone? Or only to select people?

How do you feel about receiving books as gifts?

I love giving books as gifts, but it can be difficult to gauge peoples' taste- sometimes I do well and hit it just right, and sometimes my ideas fizzle. There are a couple of people in my circle of family and friends whose taste I never seem to get right, and I've stopped buying books for them, because there are only so many times I can hear "I hated that book you gave me" before it gets tiresome. So I only give books to certain people whose taste I'm confident I can accommodate.

I love getting books as gifts, but what I love even more is getting gift certificates! My own taste is eclectic so I'd much rather be able to choose. Of course if someone wanted to buy me something from my wishlist that would be just fine!

What books do you want for the holidays this year?



10 comments:

Serena said...

I love to give books, especially to the nieces and nephews...and there are a great majority of people I give books to that are adults. Its harder with my husband and my dad though because they don't read books...its audiobook route for them this year.

Yvonne said...

You're like me - I'd much rather receive giftcards for a bookstore. That makes my day!

Beth F said...

When someone doesn't like the book I gave to him or her, I try to take this attitude: Hey, at least the person read the book and now we can talk about our different reactions! [Sometimes said attitude is difficult to muster up.]

Karen Harrington said...

My answers are similar to yours. I love getting books. This year my wish list of ones I want is long. I'm hoping Santa brings me "What Happened to Anna K."

Tasha said...

I'll give a book as a gift only if I've read it and believe the recipient will enjoy it. And likewise, if I receive a book, I prefer that the giver has read it. It becomes a more intimate experience for me that way.

SmilingSally said...

I love to get a book for a gift. If it's one I've never heard of, I consider it an invitation to explore. If it's one I've drooled over, it's a treasure. If it's one I already have, I can return it for one of my choice.

Kathy W said...

That's awful someone would tell you they hated the book you bought them for christmas. I don't care how much I didn't care for a gift someone gave me I always thanked them. Some of our customers give us christmas bonuses every year and we always head off for the bookstore to spend it.

Anonymous said...

I'm spending a lot of time matching books to their recipients, especially those who don't read much. I believe there is a book for everybody.

I’m a “piece of work” in terms of recipient of books. Over the years my friends have cringed from giving me books for my birthday owing to my eclectic taste. They also keep in mind that I’ve probably read some of the books they want to give me. Books do make perfect gifts, but by their very nature, books can also be a problem as tokens of affection. The delay factor is huge. Some books get a one-way ticket back to the used bookstore.

Candy Schultz said...

Gift certificates work much better for me as I have almost four thousand books and no one can be expected to know what I have or what I want. I rarely give books since no one I know reads. I am giving my mom two books this year, one is Obama's and the other is Alex and Me.

Happy Holidays to all.

caite said...

I don't give books..it is just to hard to know what someone would like and what they have already read. so I go the gift card route. It feels like a cop out, but it really is best I think. Let them have the pleasure of wandering around a bookstore, real or cyberly, as well as getting the book they really want.

And I love to get gift cards too!