Holigay Gift Guide: You’re Just Really Into Books

What do you get a reader when you don’t know what they’ve read? Things that aren’t books! And also books about books. Lean in.

For Their House

It’s not just about the books; it’s about everything around them.

For Playing

The problem slash greatest asset of reading is that it happens most effectively alone, and even though a good 90% of my end game in life involves sitting sideways and very silently on one end of a couch with a book while friends and loved ones and casual sexual partners sit very silently on other furniture nearby, sometimes you just want to talk to living breathing people you’re not making up in your head, you know? Anyway Scrabble is perfect. These other games look okay, too.

For Their Look

Literally reek of reading with book-scented perfume, exude bookishness with a subtly placed pin or necklace, or just wear the full text of your favourite classic novel on you at all times.

For Their Mind

Autostraddle Gift Guide Books

[1] The Racial Imaginary: Writers on Race in the Life of the Mind edited by Claudia Rankine, Beth Loffreda, and Max King Cap ($16) [2] Literary Witches: A Celebration of Magical Women Writers by Taisia Kitaiskaia and Katy Horan ($14) [3] How To Talk About Books You Haven’t Read by Pierre Bayard ($20) [4] Living a Feminist Life by Sara Ahmed ($26) [5] Lesbian Pulp Fiction: The Sexually Intrepid World of Lesbian Paperback Novels 1950–1965 ($20) [6] Chloe Plus Olivia: An Anthology of Lesbian and Bisexual Literature from the 17th Century to the Present edited by Lillian Faderman (varies) [7] My Ideal Bookshelf by Thessaly La Force and Jane Mount ($16)

Are books about books the perfect kind of book? You decide. (They’re not but they’re fun.)

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Ryan Yates

Ryan Yates was the NSFW Editor (2013–2018) and Literary Editor for Autostraddle.com, with bylines in Nylon, Refinery29, The Toast, Bitch, The Daily Beast, Jezebel, and elsewhere. They live in Los Angeles and also on twitter and instagram.

Ryan has written 1142 articles for us.

4 Comments

  2. Nothing says “I’m a giant nerd” quite like enthusiastically explaining your banned books socks to the person next to you.
    Do highly recommend.

  4. The library card mug and banned books socks are blatant knock-offs of the ones sold by Out of Print, a company that funds literacy programs through their merch sales.
    https://www.outofprintclothing.com/

    (I have no affiliation with them, I’m just infuriated with uncommongoods for ripping them off.)

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