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I just found the most gorgeous Bookshelf Necklaces on Etsy. I think they’re a great gift idea for a booklover who’s special to you.

I love finding book- and writing-related gifts for book lovers, writers, editors. It’s such fun! And I enjoy them myself. I hope you’ll find some of these items appealing for the book lover in your life.

Of course, one of my favorite gifts to receive (or give) is a bookstore gift card. And it’s super easy to buy gift cards online, especially if your book lover has a Kindle Amazon Gift Cards or a Nook (B&N Gift Card).

But there’s so much else that is appealing for book lovers! Check out these finds:

Rory’s Story Cubes

This looks like a fun writing game to play, as well as a possible tool for writers who are stuck. “Rory’s Story Cubes is a pocket-sized creative story generator, providing hours of imaginative play for all ages.”
Amazon, $6.71



BananaGrams

If you haven’t tried BananaGrams yet, and you love word games, check it out! It’s a lot of fun.
Amazon, $13.50



Stack of Books Book lover Necklace

This looks beautiful to me.
Etsy, $25



Book Lover’s Calendar for 2012

Amazon, $12.99

Mary Engelbreit&

I LOVE book sculptures. When they’re done well, they are beautiful, intricate, and show the incredible beauty and imagination of books. Su Blackwell is my top favorite book sculptor. How I wish I could afford one of her book sculptures! I love to look at her works–they are everything I just said–beautiful, intricate, and speak to the magic of books. I could look at them all day long.

And now I–and any other book lover–can, through Su Blackwell’s greeting cards. She has created greeting cards with photos of her book sculptures on the covers. They are 3.50 pounds each, which comes to about $5.50 US–or 15.00 pounds for her collection of 6 designs.

These make an incredible gift to a book lover. You could frame them, just have them loose, or use them as a card to write something meaningful in.

My absolute favorite is her Wild Flowers (pictured below). She also has The Illustrated Book of Birds, Alice In Wonderland, Peter Pan, and more! …Excuse me, I’m going to go order some. (smiling)

I’m one of those readers who likes to read in quiet. But some readers enjoy soft music in the background. If the reader you’re buying for is like that, then they might enjoy Brahms for Book Lovers: A Cozy Companion for Reading.

$6.99 at Amazon.com.

Does the reader you’re shopping for read in bed? Then they might enjoy this Book Lover’s Bed Tray for hands-free reading, and a place to put their tea.

$44.95 at Stacks and Stacks.

I love this mug and what it says: “A room without books is like a body without a soul.” Perhaps your book lover will, too.

$19.95 at Zazzle. (Okay, okay, I admit it–I also love the colors.)

Also from Zazzle, this book lover magnet looks fun to me. It says “I read and read and read and read…” in rainbow colors.

$4.35 at Zazzle. It’s also available as a mug and a t-shirt.

Book boxes are boxes made out of real books. I have mixed feelings about this; they both appeal to me, and upset me (taking a real book and cutting into it). SecretStorageBooks offers many books that have secret compartments, where you can store things–and they have children’s books, including Anne of Green Gables, and Harry Potter. When I thought about cutting up Anne of Green Gables I winced, but somehow a secret storage compartment seemed to fit Harry Potter.

The book boxes range from $17.50 to $40 according to size, though most seem to be about $25 to $35.

I love rubber stamps, and finding some with characters from children’s books feels delicious to me. Kidstamps has 39 rubber stamps featuring characters from various children’s books, including Where the Wild Things Are; Charlotte’s Web; Clifford the Red Dog; If You Give a Mouse a Cookie; Frog and Toad; and more.


Prices range from $5.00 to $8.00–quite reasonable.

Kidstamps also has a section of book-related stamps that would be great for book lovers, under “Books and Libraries.” Some are clearly library related (”I love libraries”) and some are perfect for book lovers–”Give us books, give us wings,” Paddington carring books and saying “There’s no such thing as too many books”, Amelia Bedelia saying “Reading is Fun,” “Read to Your Bunny”, Kevin Henkes characters reading, cats in and on books, and many more. (Don’t forget to click on the numbers at the top of the page to see more items.)

Prices range from 7:50 to $8.50

Also from Kidstamps are rubber stamp bookplates–always reusable, and a great way to mark your book as your own before you lend it out. (I have one with Franklin the Turtle, which I love.) There are some picture book characters featured here as well. They’re $9.00 each.

The Book Lover’s Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by Celebrated Works of Literature and the Passages That Feature Them sounds like a fun way to interest your book lover. The book, created by two chefs and book lovers, connects passages about food from famous books, and ties them to recipes the chefs created. Two recipes I enjoyed reading about in the reader comments on Amazon.com were Turkish Delight (The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe) and Not Violet, but Blueberry Pie (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) because I love those books.

The cookbook starts at around
$2.00 used from Amazon.com./a>

This book lover “Do Not Disturb” pillow could be cute and useful, especially for a young book lover, or anyone who wants to read in peace.

$16.95 at Amazon.com.

I hope you find something here that your book lover will enjoy, or that it gives you some good ideas.

For more book lover and writer gifts, see my posts:

Gifts for Book Lovers, Part 1

Gifts for Book Lovers, Part 2

Gifts for Book Lovers, Part 3

Gifts for Book Lovers, Part 4

More Gifts for Readers and Writers

A scarf made from words

Favorite Picture Books as Audio Books at Great Prices

Okay, not really. But words are cut into these scarves using laser beams–and the result is beautiful, at least to me. Probably to a lot of other word lovers, too. The scarves are made from microfiber suede, and are available in Uppercase or Lowercase letter styles, or Numbers, in off-white and black, for $52 from Little Factory.

I think they’d make a nice gift for a book lover. Though I’d love to know what the scarves actually say, if they say anything. And even better would be if you could custom-order a quote!

Link via Gizmodo.

Gifts for book lovers and writers are fun to look at all year round. So I’ve compiled some more.

This Book Lust Journal by Nancy Pearl looks like a great way to keep track of the books you love, write down favorite passages or thoughts after you read the book, or to think about how the book reflects your life. The template encourages all this, and functions as an easy-access reference tool to return to previous entries you’ve written. There are also templates to record books on your “To Read” list, and keep tabs on books you’ve lent out. $10.95

Like this Cat In the Hat mini mug at $3.99.

Or these super-cute canvas storage boxes made to look like popular Dr. Seuss books. These are definitely on my wish list. $49.99 for the set of three.

I think this Booklover’s Holiday Calendar is pretty neat–fun and inspirational at the same time, with a clear love of books. Behind each window of this non-sectarian calendar is a literary quote about reading, writing, and all things literary by Virginia Woolf, Henry David Thoreau, E. M. Forster, E. B. White, Will Rogers, James Baldwin, and others. It includes quotes such as “In literature, as in love, we are astounded by what is chosen by others.”—Andre Maurois and “What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers.”—Logan Pearsall Smith. It looks like it goes through all the letters of the alphabet. $7.95 at the Readers Catalog.

I think this button would appeal to a lot of readers, writers, and librarians:At $1.00 each from Barrel of Monkeys on Etsy, it’s a great deal.

I absolutely *love* these If You Give a Mouse a Cookie pajamas, though they’re a bit too expensive for me. They come as a mother-and-child set; $100 for both. It also comes with a copy of the book. $10 from the sale goes directly to First Book, which gives books to children from low-income families who might not otherwise own their own books.

This small, sturdy pad–the Jotter–seems like a perfect gift for writers (I know I’d love one), and, at $6.95 each and free shipping in the US or Canada, it’s inexpensive, too. It’s a small size, so easy to slip into a back pocket or bag, has a chrome cover to keep the pages uncrumpled, and comes with a small pen. Oohhh, I think I’m going to go buy one.

Designer Stephen Reed created alphabetical paperclips, where each clip has a letter of the alphabet on it. The intention was to organize more easily–collecting multiple papers whose topic begins with the letter–but to me, it’s a delightful way to celebrate letters, words, and writing and reading.

You can buy them on a UK sites SPC for £14.50 (they’re listed under new spring products); Back4; and Magma.

Found via Not Cot

Freckleface Strawberry
By Julianne Moore
Illustrated by LeUyen Pham
Bloomsbury Children’s Books
Copyright 2007
ISBN: 978-1-59990-107-7
Ages 0-5, 40 pages, $16.95
Hardcover
Available October 2007

Freckledface Strawberry is about a seven-year old girl just like everybody else, except for one thing: she has red hair. Not only that. She has FRECKLES!

Where did they come from? Nobody in her family has freckles. How she got them is a mystery! No matter where she goes, people always have something to say about her freckles—that she’s dotted, that she’s dirty, that she looks like a giraffe, but even worse… that she’s a FRECKLEFACE STRAWBERRY!

Freckleface Strawberry must do something to get rid of her freckles. And fast. She tries various funny ways to get rid of them, before realizing that maybe, just maybe, freckles are not that bad after all. What’s even more… maybe freckles are what make her HER.

This is a picture book that will be thoroughly enjoyed by all, especially by children who have freckles. The story maintains the right pace to keep the momentum going and the colorful illustrations have a wacky quality that suits well the tone and add to the humor. Julianne Moore has created a cute, fun story based on her own childhood experience . I look forward to reading more books from her.

Review by Mayra Calvani

*This review was previously published in Armchair Interviews