Got bookish friends? Are you yourself rather bookish (I mean, you’re here, so…) and love book-related gifts? I’ve got a few options!
As always, NB: Some of our links are affiliate coded, which sends a portion of your purchase price back to us at no extra cost to you. It’s one of a few ways we keep the hot pink mayhem going at SBTB HQ, so thank you in advance for your support!
Rakuten is still giving $50 back if you join and make a purchase +$50 within 90 days. Y’all, the extra cash back this month is making me very happy. Bookshop.org is included in Rakuten’s shopping portal, for example, and offers 3% cash back on purchases.
First up on bookish gifts: the Smart Bitches Candle Collection!
I partnered with Wax Cabin Candle Company, an independent small chandlery, to offer two limited edition candles just for the holiday season! They are on sale now through early January, and you can buy one or both in a gift set.
The Smart Bitches 20th Anniversary candle is an 11 ounce hand poured soy candle with notes of sea salt, book pages, sandalwood and jasmine.
The Bad Decisions Book Club candle, also 11 ounces, is designed to be the perfect pairing for late night reading, with scents of sweet tobacco, book pages, leather, rose, and sandalwood.
I was very picky about the scents, and I love how they turned out – and the feedback has been very positive, too!
Each candle is $28, or $50 for both in a gift set, with free shipping on orders over $70. The candles are hand-poured with 100% soy wax, and each is in a glass jar that you can reuse or refill. They should burn between 60 and 70 hours.
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Mollie Hendrick Design’s customizable book stack mugs are adorable.
The easy choice is the interior color; the hard part is selecting 19 titles, especially if you’re buying this for someone else. The images are so freaking cute.
Cheltenham Road has some hilarious and perfect gift options including these library card coasters:
Coasters are one of our favorite souvenir purchases, and I believe you can’t have too many. And I have too many – except I don’t because that’s not a real thing.
I love this tray so much mostly because every title is a delight:
I can’t decide is my favorite is IMPATIENT VIRGIN, Office Hussy, or SINFUL LIFE.
Thank you to Denise for recommending this shop in a prior gift guide!
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A robust library might need some stamps or embossers to identify which book belongs to which nifty person – and wow are the options cute.
Personalized Book Embosser, $13-15
I would have a very difficult time choosing one. SO MANY DRAGONS Y’ALL.
And, oh, no, there’s a self-inking stamp with a crow.
Self inking library stamp, $26
Y’all know about me and crows, right? In case not: in 2020 I started feeding the local murder of fish crows. Now they hang out in the trees and holler when their peanuts and fruit are late, but they also follow me on walks. They used to warn me when I was walking my dogs that another dog was nearby – three short caws meant ‘dog incoming.’ I’m totally serious. I think they sometimes follow my car locally, too. Their leader, Bro Crow, is my bud.
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I saw this e-reader case on a recent vacation and it was so charming and adorable I made a note to save it for the gift guide:
Composition notebook universal case for 6″ eReaders – $11
This case is gorgeous, and if you fold the cover back, there is a kickstand and a hand elastic – so clever!
Case for 7″/6.8″ readers, $33…
If you’re in a book club, you can get a custom ornament with the books you read this year:
Book Club 2025 custom ornament, $25 and up
Or how about jewelry?
Personalized mini book earrings, $20
I love these:
Fountain pen nib earrings, $34
They’re available in gold, and also in silver. I think they’re so charming.
Next week: I am thinking of doing a gift guide with tarot/astrology themes – but if you’ve got requests or suggestions, please drop ’em in the comments! And if you have a tough gift situation, please feel welcome to ask for advice.
What are your favorite gifts for the book-loving folks in your life?
when my e-reader failed to behave itself, my friend upcycled it into jewelry:
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https://www.etsy.com/shop/Byteproducts
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(did the same with my old computer, dead printer, fried router….. you would not believe the pretty colors motherboards come in)
I should have asked earlier, as I will barely have time to vet any suggestions if I can even get them from the library, but any recommendations for keeper shelf books by debut authors are deeply welcome.
So, every year for Hanukkah I get my MiL 8 books by new to her authors, which is a lovely tradition and all, but has gotten insanely difficult. Not only is she a retired librarian and lifelong voracious reader, but we’ve been doing this for 20 odd years. I am running out of books! Some years I can find a great romance author who’s been around but not on her radar, although at this point that’s frankly unlikely. Every year there are undoubtedly debut authors with phenomenal stories – but I need 8 of them. All my best reads this year were by authors we both already love – KJ Charles (Hanukkah 2020), Martha Wells (also 2020), T Kingfisher (2018), etc. I have over the years had to expand from just romance novels – we’ll both read anything but horror (I have managed maybe 3/4 of T Kingfisher’s books, she’s braver) – but the idea was definitely originally romance.
I have the almond blossom case but with the mountains and birds style and I absolutely love it. I don’t use the kickstand much but the elastic band is so much nicer to slip on than a pop socket for my hands. Highly recommend!
@Stasi: the elastic band is one of the reasons I was so interested in that case!! Pop socket styles really don’t work well for me, either. Thank you!
This is a sidenote from the gift guide (which I love!), and moreso a question about how to get the crows to come back. I used to have a murder of crows that would hang out in the trees or driveway of my front yard. I never fed them. Now I’ve gotten hip to wanting to, but I rarely hear them anymore. I can’t just place peanuts or dog kibble out there and leave it, because the squirrels and rats (yuck) would get them all. How do I tempt crows BACK if I rarely hear them anymore?
@kkw I have some non-romance recs for you to consider:
– The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science by Kate McKinnon – it is a middle grade book but was an absolute blast to read. Technically it came out in 2024, and there is now a sequel that just came out in September
– The Borrowed Life of Frederick Fife by Anna Johnston was a wonderful debut this year – there are some romance plotlines, but they are not the main focus of the book.
And romance recs:
– Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy – mm fantasy romance
– Don’t Let the Forest in by CG Drews – this one is like Kingfisher but twice as creepy – if your MIL can handle the super creepy Kingfisher, the prose is excellent, and the story has romance but also lots of heartache.
@kkw More recs for you! None of these authors debuted in 2025, but most are recent enough that your MIL may not have read them yet.
Historical romance: Has she read Mimi Matthews?
Fantasy romance:
– Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal (this one is very much not new, but I’m always surprised how many people haven’t heard of it, so I’m including it here)
– Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis
– Eclipse by Celia Lake (you could also start with Goblin Fruit, Pastiche, Carry On, or Wards of the Roses.)
Fantasies that have a romance in them, but it’s not the central focus of the plot:
– The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
– The Keeper of Small Magics by Julie Leong
– The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
– Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne
– Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
@kkw Stacey Agdern and Jennifer Gracen are both published Jewish authors with Hanukkah books. Stacey has a whole series and Jen has a mix.
https://www.staceyagdern.com/ https://www.jennifergracen.com/
I’m getting a broken link when i click on the embosser FYI
@kkw
To Shape a Dragon’s Breath (Nampeshiweisit #1) by Moniquill Blackgoose (book 2 releases in 2026) and Midlife in Gretna Green (Midlife Recorder #1) by Linzi Day (latest series-related book releases after Christmas). Some of my absolute favourites recently.
@Lucy – oops! Thank you for the heads up. All Fixed!
Requesting gift ideas for plant people! My family have all turned into plant people without me noticing. I usually forget about plants within three days, and here they are with their elaborate gardens. My SIL is turning her house into a farm too- dozens of chickens and ducks, goats, rabbits, etc.
@drewbird @Lark @denise @ReadKnitSnark THANK YOU
@Nicole indoor or outdoor plant people? Indoor plant people can generally use more stuff like grow lights, a fancy spray mister, or watering can (MoMA has one that everyone I know raves about). Pots you need to know their aesthetic – terracotta, cachepots, handmade, self watering – but whatever they like they probably want more of. Similarly plant stands – mid century modern, metal, wicker – there’ll be something they want. There are pretty glass balls for watering while away.
Plants like Xmas cactus and amaryllis* and phalaenopsis orchids generally ime survive for future blooms, where poinsettia will grow leggy and languish, and I have never had a kalanchoe not develop some bug problem or another, and that’s most of what’s sold blooming now, at least in my part of the world. Bonsai kit? Aerogarden? Chia pets are divisive but possibly desirable.
Plants for outdoor gardens are trickier to buy, as tastes vary wildly and so do climates, but fwiw I recently ordered a lot of dahlia tubers to give as gifts, and heirloom chrysanthemum cuttings. Pruning shears, a hori hori knife, gloves, a kneeler. Potentially, if they’re into such plants, peony cages, clematis obelisk, rose trellis. I frequently get my mom a tree and plant it for her when it comes in the spring.
*most people like Amaryllis but some find them objectionably phallic.
@kkw, Don’t forget that SB Sarah wrote a lovely Hanukkah romance, Lighting the Flames.
@LML oh that was absolutely on the list but like… ten years ago? iirc that was the first Hanukkah romance she’d read, so it was quite a coup!
I got my kids the book stack mugs two years ago, I think, and they were such a hit. I used the 19 books as the love story of our reading together, so I started with picture books and went through to the read-alouds we’ve done as they go older. For my teen there were books like Jane Eyre (which we loathed), Pride & Prejudice and Legends & Lattes. When my firstborn went off to college this year, I was able to get her a second mug using the same books but in a bigger size. I swear there wasn’t a 15 oz option before. So she was able to take one mug to college and leave the other here. Such a great rec.
If anyone is into nature stuff, especially marine bio, we LOVE Fossil Forager https://shop.fossilforager.art/. The aforementioned college 1st year had the brilliant idea of covering a jean jacket with a ton of pins as a conversation starter (she’s an introver) and Fossil Forager was a great source for pins. The nudibranch one is so tiny and cute. Also on marine bio (though she does some other stuff), check out Pegushi https://pegushi.com/. Truly stunning stuff. The washi tape that looks like tickets is incredible.
@kkw
These are just “recent” and not necessarily debuts, mostly fantasy/romance and hopefully new enough!
A Letter from the Luminous Deep (Sylvie Cathrall)
The Undermining of Twyla and Frank (Megan Bannen)
Wooing the Witch Queen (Stephanie Burgis)
Consort of Fire (Kit Rocha)
The River has Roots (Amal El-Mohtar)
Direct Descendent (Tanya Huff)
The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association (Caitlin Rozakis)
The Neo-G series (K.B. Wagers) (science fiction/space opera)
Audition for the Fox (Martin Cahill) (not a romance)
Cinder House (Freya Marske)
If you’re boycotting the ‘zon, Elyse Brennan Designs has some Kindle cases featuring her floral designs. And they’re currently on sale https://elysebreannedesign.com/collections/kindle-case
She also has the All Booked Up coloring book which is fun and kind of relaxing
https://elysebreannedesign.com/collections/coloring-book-markers/products/all-booked-up-coloring-book
Sweet Bean Plans, a sticker and planner store, has a ton of fun bookish stickers (and she licenses the ones that are related to actual books, which is super cool) https://sweetbeanplans.com/collections/bookish-stickers
Some of the stickers are full pages for your reading journal.
@kkw, I just finished debut author Ashley Jordan’s ONCE UPON A TIME IN DOLLYWOOD, an excellent contemporary f/m romance but check the trigger warnings.
Also loved debut author Hayley Gelfuso’s THE BOOK OF LOST HOURS, a fantasy with a good romance in it.
Shaylin Gandhi might have escaped her notice since she has only one mainstream romance out right now, WHEN WE HAVE FOREVER, which I kind of loved.
Kate Goldbeck, Sarah Chamberlain, Alexandra Kiley, and Laura Wood aren’t so very well known yet (all have two recent romances out) but I really enjoy their contemporary f/m romances.
Liked the debuts by Victoria Lavine ANY TROPE BUT YOU and London Sperry, PASSION PROJECT but these got a fair bit of attention and so it might be too late for these
@kkw – that is a challenge!
I didn’t read many debut authors this year but I did enjoy Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen.
And I loved The River Has Root by Amal El-Mohtar, which was her debut solo novel. But her co-authored novella (This is How You Lose the Time War) got a lot of buzz when it came out, so that’s probably a no-go
I can’t remember who…..but someone just posted a bit on self-published authors which may provide a whole list of new authors!
I love all these ideas! And it just occurred to me that tattoos are a great gift idea. Could we get a book-related tattoo post?
@kkw
These at least seem a little under the radar, good luck with your quest!
Romance
Briarley by Aster Glenn Gray
Telesa: The Covenant Keeper by Lani Wendt Young
The 5th Gender by GL Carriger, (The spicier brand of Gail Carriger)
Also by GL Carriger The Sumage Solution
Fantasy
Charming by Jade Linwood
Witness For The Dead by Katherine Addison (note, this is a follow up to The Goblin Emperor, which won a Hugo award, but I’m finding many people don’t release there are more books in that world)
SF
The Past Is Red by Catherynne M. Valente
Mystery
Shutter by Ramona Emerson
Where They Last Saw Her by Marcie R. Rendon
Fiction
Two Old Women: An Alaskan Legend of Betrayal, Courage and Survival by Velma Wallis
Where the Wild Ladies Are by Aoko Matsuda with Polly Barton (Translator)
Non-fiction
Buttermilk Graffiti: A Chef’s Journey to Discover America’s New Melting-Pot Cuisine by Edward Lee
Conspirituality by Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, and Julian Walker
Disablity Visibilty edited by Alice Wong
Graphic Novels
Fangs by Sarah Andersen (this is also a romance)
My Friend Toby by Grégory Panaccione
Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson (if your mom likes Calvin and Hobbes get her this)
@kkw I second the recommendation to try indie authors (full disclosure, I am one).
Here some books I’ve loved recently (not all indie):
The Vera Wong mystery series by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Make Room for Love by Darcy Liao
Just Like Her by Fiona Zedde
Hammajang Luck by Makana Yamamoto
Hot Summer by Elle Everhart
The Tenfold Tenants by E.V. Belknap
Fan Service by Rosie Danan
Ash’s Cabin by Jen Wang
Gaysians by Mike Curato
Tiff & Eve by Fran Sundblad
Flirting with Disaster by Naina Kumar
Some Go-to authors
Ilona Andrews
Jen Trihn
Rein Gray
Rachel Runya Katz
Talia Hibbert
Alyssa Cole
Alisha Rai
Jackie Lau
Courtney Milan
NC Ross/Natalie Cross
Sherry Thomas
Ross Gay
Scaachi Koul