I’ve bought my husband a trilogy of graphic novels he’s wanted for years and which have recently been re-released. But I think that’s all the books I’ll be buying for Christmas this year.
Last year, I bought books for several family members. They all said the right thing at the time, but none of them came back to me to say they’d read and enjoyed the books. That confirmed what I’ve sometimes found as a recipient of books: it’s hard to buy books for other people, even people you know well. It’s even harder if they’re a reader, because they probably buy or borrow the books they want most as soon as they’re released.
That leaves me, as a gift-giver, searching for a literary unicorn: a book they’ll buy and read and enjoy, but not one they’d have bought themselves.
Buying books for non-readers is even harder, because there is an endless list of books there not interested in, and a too-short list of books they might potentially be interested in.
