Sunday, December 11, 2005

Gifts for the book lover...

After our usual Sunday morning coffee and bagel, we took a walk on the beach about 7:30, as the tide had just turned and started out. There was quite a bit of sea smoke across the marshlands, and several clumps of trees where ice-shrouded, positively aglow in the slanting early morning sun. There was a distinct bite to the breeze, but it was so nice to be out...

I thought today we'd take just a few minutes to look at some gift ideas for book lovers, and I don't mean books themselves as that list would be endless! (And of course my Frugal Family's Kitchen Book would be right at the top, right!?)

I saw an article in a local paper recently that I thought was a terrific idea: a website for cataloging your home library! I'd absolutely love this! I have bookcases chock-full of book all over the house, but there's no rhyme nor reason to the shelving. I'd really like to know what I have, and if I could sorta' somehow code the bookcase or room where any particular book lives, it would be fabulous. And what a great tool for estate planning purposes, espeically if there are valuable books intended for a specific recipient some day.

Check out the website: www.librarything.com You can catalog your books in all different kinds of ways, and up to 200 books the service is free. (If you love books, you probably have a whole lot more than 200!) But the best part is that over 200 books, you can use this service for $10/year or very best of all, $25 for life. Great idea, huh?

Do you know some kids who love books, and perhaps even at a tender age, have started their own collections? I love bookplates but they can be expensive, and time consuming to have printed. I found some wonderful fancy labels ready for the computer, and made each Baxter and Katie a sheet of their own saying, "This book belongs to Katie" or This is book is well loved by Baxter" and the final sheet for both of them, "This book has been read again and again by Baxter and Katie"

Finally, a third thought is a Book Book. You can buy these of course, but starting one of your own for someone is great fun. In the last one I made (using a pocketbook-sized notebook), I titled the first two-thirds, Books I Think You'd Enjoy... and the last third Authors Might Want to Check Out... THEN, I invited mutual friends of the intended recipient to write a short review of a book they'd read recently and thought Jenna would like. This was a birthday gift, and I was surprised at how much Jenna really liked it. She often hands it to people and asks them to add a review (which she says her reading friends love doing!), and she always takes it to the library with her.

The next time we talk let's look at that holiday conundrum of time/money, the homemade gift.
Keep warm! Mary