I have a few rules for gift giving, the first being that I put a good amount of thought into the gift I give, and the second that I do not ever, EVER give someone something that suggests they need improvement, or that there is something wrong with them. I don’t like gifts that might possibly hurt feelings, and I’m a big fan of the non-tschotske gift, because gifts that ultimately take up space and require dusting are not necessarily gifts I enjoy as a recipient.
I love experience gifts, too – for Hubby’s birthday one year I drafted an itinerary of all things he loves, from donuts for breakfast to baseball games (and the only team at home that day was a few hours away, so I incorporated driving on country roads in our convertible as part of the gift) to good food and wine at dinner that evening. I packed a change of clothes and surprised him with the dinner, if I remember correctly.
Either way, I love gift giving, even when the budget is tight and the options are limited. So Tuesday’s Publisher’s Lunch caught my eye as they discussed Random House’s new campaign to promote books as holiday gifts this year. In a mandate from CEO Markus Dohle, a task force (NOOOOOOO NOT A TASK FORCE NOOOOOOOOO!) was formed to create the “got milk campaign for books,” encouraging buyers to give books as gifts this year.
The ad campaign will reach the NYT Book Review, the New Yorker, and a crapload of other places, including Facebook and YouTube.
Smart, thinks Sarah. Very smart. But hmm. Book giving, as we discussed here when I brought up books that provide comfort and respite from difficult times, can be very challenging if one doesn’t know the taste of the gift recipient. As Jennifer Crusie once said to me during an interview for The Book (which isn’t due out until April 2009 so alas, I can’t plug our book as The Perfect Gift unless you’re buying for Mother’s Day. Or, “Your Mother” Day) there are some readers who absolutely cannot suspend disbelief for some circumstances in a romance. Some readers will not stand for paranormal activity, and others can’t handle historical romance for other reasons, but the point is apt: it can be tough to pick the right book, let alone the right romance for someone if you don’t know them well. You have to know what plots they are willing to suspend disbelief for, and which they are not. I don’t know that much about many of the people on my gift list, really, and their grasp and rejection of various realities and fictional worlds is certainly not part of my getting-to-know-you questioning.
I have bought books with varying levels of success for people in my world, including Hubby who is a rather picky reader, and my father who only likes books that weigh about 5 lbs. and are about the intricate minutiae of dead people, preferably Civil War generals. But if I were to apply Random House’s “Books = gifts” campaign to the romance genre, what books would I pick? Are there guaranteed romances that make great gifts for people, from those you know intimately to those you work with? Hell, can you buy a romance for people you work with or is that sexual harassment given the likelihood of nookification within the cover?
Plus there’s the added danger of the attitude toward romance. Even the fans of another much-maligned genre whip out their battering rod of condescension when examining romance within the sci-fi genre, so giving another person a romance novel as a gift might backfire in a multitude of ways – most of which will reveal more about the recipient than the gifter, if you ask me. (Note to io9: people whose genre is dismissed as a house built of Spock ears shouldn’t throw stones. Just sayin’.)
I can think of specific people whom I would happily mail a romance as a gift, among them my sister, who reads romance, and several of my friends, who read it as well.
But while I’ve been sitting here pondering which romance novels I’d give as gifts to people who may not read romance, I’ve come back again and again to the same thought. I’d be more likely to give bookstore gift certificates than actual books, allowing the recipient a true blissful experience, more potent than one of those massages with the hot flat rocks: the gift of guilt-free book shopping, book selecting, and book owning.
Hey all, just a warning to be very careful about gift cards and certificates this holiday season. Not to go all doom and gloom, but in the current economy, gift cards can be a bad risk. If a retailer re-organizes under bankruptcy protection, gift cards can get classified with other unsecured debt. Some companies have managed to get out from under big gift card obligations by honoring them at a fraction of their face value, and others haven’t paid at all. If the company actually goes out of business, of course, it’s even worse. It seems almost impossible these days to predict which retailer will be next to fail, but with the predictions we’re seeing for low holiday sales AND declining print book sales, I’d think twice before giving a gift card or keeping one very long.
You can read about the Consumers Union efforts to fix this, and a few examples of the problem, here.
Of course this saddens me, because my parents give my kids Borders gift cards every Christmas, and the family trip to Borders to spend them is always a lot of fun (we usually go in late winter or early spring, when the gift-rush from Christmas has ebbed).
I buy the latest JD Robb hardcover for my aunt each year for Christmas, from Turn The Page, so that it is inscribed to her. She’s the only other person I know in real life who reads them, so it has become our tradition. Other than that, I don’t buy books for other people. I don’t trust that my tastes will coincide with theirs. Gift certificates? Sure. My mom lives in the back of beyond (but still has high speed access), so she’s a major Amazon addict. She won’t read fiction, and I need the escape that fiction provides, so I give Amazon a chunk of money and turn her loose on them.
KimberlyD: I say go for it! Start a new tradition. Give your bridesmaids something that will give them pleasure i.e. the book gift certificate, but do take SonomaLass’ warning to heart.
My son always gives me an Amazon gift card on my birthday and Christmas-can’t wait! I’ll feel very unloved, Chris, if I don’t get one this year.
And those Wal-Mart gift cards? I use them on books too!
There are certain family members and friends that I know I can buy books for with no problems. But it is not something I would do for everyone I have to buy for.
I love gift certificates, but i like to add something to it- such as a book light with extra batteries (lithium). Now with the Sony eReader, I can get hubby g’certs for that too.
i always ask for gift certificates rather than actual books, simply because i have no patience when it comes to my reading, and will often be at the bookstore or library on release day, so it’s nearly impossible to buy me something i haven’t already read or purchased. of course, giftcards can backfire too sometimes.
last year my brother and sister-in-law got me an amazon giftcard, and it arrived in my email a couple of weeks before christmas. i used it immediately (see, there’s that impatience thing again), and had my order delivered to my mom’s house, since i work long hours and the safety of a package on a deserted doorstep in my neighborhood is an iffy prospect. my mom thought it would be nice if she opened the box and wrapped the contents for me, so i could feel like i had a “real” present from my bro to unwrap on christmas morning. it was a real thoughtful gesture that i appreciated the intent of, but i couldn’t tell you which of us blushed and stammered more when she told me about opening the box to find two ‘wicked words’ anthologies and susie bright’s ‘how to write a dirty story’. *G*
I hate being given books as gifts – one person’s idea of a good book is as varied as there are book titles – Give a gift certificate to your local bookstore or a gift certificate to your local coffee hang out to cozy up and read said book.
I find that buying non-fiction for someone is easier than buying fiction. For example, my dad likes reading WWII nonfiction, so I was confident that getting him the newest popular hardcover in the WWII History section was a safe bet. Same with my brother, who lives non fiction about space travel and exploration.
People’s tastes in fiction, however, tend to be very specific and often highly developed. Me, I’m picky and there are several romance genres that I don’t read in general, so I love receiving gift cards to book stores. I’ll buy fiction for someone if I KNOW they will like it. My mom is getting a few In Death books for Christmas that she just hasn’t gotten around to buying because she’s so busy. My sister likes historical romance, but I don’t know more than that and that’s not enough for me to be confident in buying her a book.
My sister in law sent me Stephanie Meyers’ Twilight, which I knew from the beginning even before it exploded in popularity that it was not my cup of tea. It’s collecting dust and I have to hedge every time she asks me what I thought of it. Ugh.
Just knowing what people like to read in general doesn’t cut it. There’s just so much out there. Same with yarn—last year, my MIL bought me atrocious funky craft yarn that I cringed at and she bought me A LOT of it. Yarn is like books: there’s all different kinds and everyone has very different tastes. Some of it is cheap crap, too, and unless you know for a fact that someone will like exactly what you give them, it’s better all around to err on the side of caution at get a gift card because getting a gift you don’t like or even hate seriously blows.
means27: I means it about the 27 freakin’ skeins of crap yarn she got me
Wow… I had no idea people are so picky about books as presents. Personally I LOVE getting books as presents, and if it’s something I wouldn’t otherwise have picked up, well, so much the better. I’ve discovered many a gem this way; because – really – how often do people give novels as presents unless they’ve already found some merit in them? Even if you don’t ‘get’ the book’s appeal, at least it looks much nicer on your shelf than the godawful vase Auntie Gertrude gave you last Christmas. Or the do-it-yourself aromatherapy kit. (I’m still unsure what to do with that one.)
However, I love giving books more than anything else. And perhaps I’m lucky (or else my friends are very polite indeed) but I’ve usually picked books that the recipients have ended up really enjoying. (For instance, I once gave ‘Wuthering Heights’ to a non-reading Goth teenager who became a full-blown Brontë freak.) I put a lot of thought in my choices, though: the trick is not to force your particular tastes on all and sundry, but to carefully consider the recipient and his/her latest enthusiasms. That’s the biggest part of the fun, IMO. That, and the sneaky strategies to find out whether the person in question has already read a certain book…
I don’t mind gift certificates but I find them awfully impersonal. To me, the best present ever is a carefully chosen book with an inscription to remind me of the giver. I will treasure my gift books forever. But then, I’m what you might call sentimental.
I wish people would still give me books! Unfortunately, they rarely do these days, with the notable exception of my brother who has been contributing to the “Authors I collect” on and off. One reason why I do like to receive books is that I might not have read the book otherwise. I discovered a lot of gems that way! the only book gifts I do not like are from non readers!
I also love to give books and usually put a lot of thought into it. However I usually stick with classics/non-fiction/general fiction as I find that genre fiction is much trickier than more general stuff. People are very specific in their requirements, and it is so easy to go wrong.
I do not always give people what they expect. sometimes, I feel, it is a good thing to try something different. Now I would not give Kafka to a hardcore popular fiction reader who hates any kind of literary fiction (although it is a shame because Kafka is really a brilliant writer!) – but I have plenty of ideas about books which push the boundries, so to speak..
Books for children? YES YES YES! Nothing better….. and I am not terribly fond of gift certificates unless they are from people who do not know me well….