Hint, hint
Last-minute gift ideas for the writer or bookish person in your life, not that any of us need another gift guide.
I’ve been wrapping up my holiday shopping, and I couldn’t resist compiling a list of bookish gifts for the readers and writers in your life. Enjoy! Oh, and no affiliate links here; just things I like and you might, too.
Happy holidays, and enjoy!
xo
Meghan
Apparently Annie Ernaux didn’t agree to make this merch, but I love it anyway. If anyone hasn’t bought me a gift, I’ve been eyeing my friend Merve Emre’s fantastic metal Ernaux sweatshirt in black; the green is also nice, and a bit offbeat.
Not your usual Moleskine notebook, but the Moleskine Professional Notebook. This one isn’t easy to find, but I’m confused about why it’s not everywhere. With the various columns and opportunities to compartmentalize projects and to-dos, it’s the perfect way to keep track of writing next to your daily to-do list. I like putting my writing tasks in the same place as items like “Call the plumber” and “Send school the kids’ health forms” because it keeps me accountable and reminds me that a good day involves finding time for a bit of everything. Moleskine makes it hard to see the layout, but Amazon (I know) makes it easy, if you want to check out another version here.
And yes, I know what you are thinking: Moleskine paper is annoyingly thin and other notebooks have thicker and lusher pages. For general notebooks and actual note-taking I prefer Leuchtturm 1917; the bright blue would help drive away the dull winter blahs. Their planners are also great.
If you ever get me a baseball hat, please make it be for the only team I really root for. Or this one.
Because every writer/reader likes nice pens and paper: Gift card to Goods for the Study. As my kids say about whatever toy has just caught their eye, “If this were all I got for Christmas I’d be SOOOOOOOOOO happy!
Likewise, no one would be sad to have a gift-card fueled excuse to visit, in person or online, McNally Jackson, Books are Magic, or Greenlight, three of my fave NYC bookstores.
I’m biased, but: a print subscription to The Yale Review if you want to keep up with the best poets, fiction writers, and essayists out there, and for fresh takes on pressing issues of today.
Give the writer in your life the gift of Freedom, and they’ll never forget it. This software lets you block the internet while also allowing you to schedule time on it or access to specific sites. Really makes you realize how much your writing / work is interrupted by suddenly pressing thoughts like, “Hmm, I forgot what Coke cans looked like in 1997…”
Something they don’t teach you in the MFA program: writing a book requires having an endless supply of warm tea/coffee. Enter the Ember, which allows you to stretch that coffee for hours and hours as you struggle to reenter the book each morning, and forces you to face the fact that you use your coffee’s having gotten cold as an occasion to step away …I used to waste a lot of time walking up and down to my attic office, warming up old coffee or brewing a new cup.
Last but not least: an undisturbed morning to read or write while you make the children (or household to-do list) disappear.
Enjoy!