DON’T BELIEVE HER

Sue Grafton is one of the most respected authors today. She’s written the Kinsey Millhone series of books set in California. I’ve read five or six books in the series, which I found underwhelming. And now she’s making THESE statements? No.

“…I’d like to remind you that a book is a perfect gift.”

“One size fits all and no calories…”

BOOKS ARE NOT THE PERFECT GIFT. NO MATTER WHO SAYS SO. And signed books are meaningless in today’s world. The only positive from this post is that the books are free, but even then I wouldn’t force any book onto any other person.

Ugh. I’ll keep saying it until I no longer can. Books are terrible gifts. THE END. Especially books that have been on bookstore shelves for more than a year.

The Perfect Gift…Not

Photo Credit: Darlene Foster

If you’re reading this blog, then you likely have a great interest in books. Maybe you don’t read every day or week, but you might be writing one or editing one or doing something with a book a good amount of your time. The chances are that you even know someone who enjoys books as much as you do. That person is always telling you to read something new or that they’re new novel might finally attract the attention of a traditional publisher. Every winter when Christmas comes around you struggle to come up with the perfect gift idea. After all, you’ve been friends for over a decade. Then you think…BOOKS!

Now here’s where I slap that thought right out of your head. You shouldn’t consider gifting some books to your friends or family members or anyone at all. Why? Because it is rather difficult to really know which book someone might be interested in without just asking the question. Even if you’re aware of their reading habits, it’s still not a good idea. I mean, you could easily just get a book by one of their favorite authors or a new book within their favorite genre. But hopefully we can all agree that just because two books are a part of the same genre does not mean a reader will like them both. It could be the case, but it’s a toss up if you ask me. And it’s likely that your friend has all of the books by their favorite author anyway.

Y’all know I don’t recommend books or gift them because it’s quite a bit easier to just get the Barnes and Noble or Amazon gift card and call it a day. You can show that you know what they’re interested in without trying to guess. I won’t be gifting any books any time soon, will you?

Fun fact: in the photo credit blog post the blogger says that she will give a list of great book gift suggestions that she’s already read. See what I mean? Prime example of someone assuming that you will like a book because she liked a book. Hmm.