Today I want to talk about the latter, and about the content creators from Booktube (a.k.a. the book community in Youtube) that I love to watch.

You know that feeling after finishing a book when you NEED to find other people who also read it? That’s me all the time. Whether I love or hate the book, or even if I’m still making my mind about it, I just need to know that someone else in the world has been through the same emotions. 

That’s how I found Hannah from the Booktube channel Hannah Tay. I had just finished reading The Bell Jar and kind of felt like crying, to be honest. And since I really needed a bit of human interaction I decided to watch a video review instead of reading one, so I ended up in Hannah’s channel. 

By the way, she didn’t like The Bell Jar as a much as I did. And while I still felt like crying at how emotional it got at the end, Hannah described it as “[Sylvia]…just pissing about in New York!” (which was really funny – and kind of true). I’m glad I found Hannah because she reads and reviews classic, adult and children’s books, which is rare in the Booktube community. Also, her sense of humor makes me love her channel even more.

Kristin, on the other hand, was someone I started following because of her geeky blog Super Space Chick. And later discovered that she had a Booktube channel, also called Super Space Chick.

All the geeky and bookish things she likes make Kristin kind of a “fantasy connoisseur” in my mind, so I trust her when she recommends a book she loved, or a show she’s currently watching. I feel like her opinions on fantasy and YA books are more thorough than your average Booktuber.

And she also makes the best bookish “News & Stuff” videos, posts reading vlogs and talks about her other interests like anime and collecting the cutest Disney merch.

I also found Samantha from Thoughts on Tomes from blogging since she hosts Top 5 Wednesday on Goodreads (a weekly book meme for bloggers and booktubers). What I like the most about her channel is that she tends to post multiple videos for the same book, so you can watch the spoiler free review if you haven’t read the book, and then go back and watch the “gush”, “gripe” or ” discussion” video of the same book.

I think the kind of content Samantha produces is the best you can get from a booktuber. She openly addresses the things she dislikes about the books she reads, but also gets excited when sharing her favorite novels. Most of all, I appreciate a YA reader that fangirls about books while being honest and critical.

And well, after following so many Booktube channels I started getting a bunch of recommendations on my homepage, and I ended up on Hannah‘s channel : A Clockwork Reader. She also reads a lot of YA and posts mostly spoiler-free reviews and book tags. What I like the most about her channel is that she’s really good about explaining book plots without being vague or giving away too much. Kind of feels like you’re casually talking to a friend about her most recent read.

I also find her reading vlogs super inspiring! They feel so real and she gets so much reading done (even if it’s hard to always accomplish reading goals). These videos  have been helping me to get back into the reading mood when I’m struggling.

I hope you give these awesome booktubers a chance! I know everyone’s tastes are different, but I truly appreciate these booktuber’s content and would love to see their channels grow.

Also, let me know if you have Booktube recommendations (I’m specially looking for non-YA readers).

The post booktubers you might not be following (but you should because they’re awesome) appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

Anyone reading can also tag themselves! Let me know so I can read your answers

Tag creators: Earl Grey Books & ReadLikeWildfire

Best book you’ve read so far in 2017

This question will probably help me read more books this year. I’ve been having trouble getting into books lately, and while some months I read 4 or 5 books, others I finished NOTHING AT ALL. And I think I just discovered the reason: I haven’t been liking a lot of the books I read! So maybe I haven’t been inspired to read more because I’ve been picking a lot of disappointing and okay-ish books.

With that being said, I think one of the best books I read this year was Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia. It had everything a YA fandom inspired novel should have, including an introverted (and too relatable) protagonist. (Review Here) I was also pleasantly surprised by The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, it wasn’t a silly romance as I expected, but a creepy gothic drama similar to Frankenstein. (Review Here).

Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2017

I have read two sequels this year and they weren’t as good as the originals: P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han, which for me wasn’t as cute as the first book in the series (I even stopped shipping the main couple!). The other sequel I read was A Torch Against the Night by Sabaa Tahir. I didn’t love this book because I thought one of the main characters (Laia) was extremely annoying, but I enjoyed the other POVs and had fun getting to know what happened after An Ember in the Ashes. So I guess this one was the best sequel I read (and also the second worst sequel I read). Review Here.

New release you haven’t read yet, but want to

I definitely want to get The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas because of the social/political message that I assume comes with the story. Also want to get When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon. And I already started Our Dark Duet (Monsters of Verity #2) by Victoria Schwab! 

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year

Most of the books I was expecting already came out, so for the second half I’m most excited for the next Harry Potter illustrated book! Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. 

Biggest disappointment

Definitely Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. It wasn’t as epic as I expected. And I also couldn’t fall in love with the characters. (Review Here). I’m still thinking about getting the sequel because I want to know what happens with a certain character… I’ll probably listen to the audiobook or read the spoilers on Wikipedia.

Biggest surprise

I actually liked a self-help book! That’s the biggest book surprise ever. But it’s true, I listened to You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero and had fun, learned some tips on productivity and creativity, and generally got inspired to keep doing my art and stuff. It’s definitely a bit cheesy sometimes, but the narrator/author was fun enough that I didn’t get bored.

Favorite new author (Debut or new to you)

Amy Harmon. My friend Mikaella from @Pikamikareads urged me to read something from her new favorite author and I’m glad I did! I read The Bird and The Sword and even though I think it had some flaws, I fell in love with her writing style and the way she treats her characters.

Newest fictional crush

Kjell from The Bird and The Sword. Also Helene Aquilla from A Torch Against The Night.

Newest favorite character

Read previous answer! (It seems like I can’t like a character without having a crush at the same time…)

Book that made you cry

Eliza and Her Monsters. I think it was a combination of having a rough week and feeling incredibly close to the main character (I was literally her when I was younger). But it made me cry because it felt so close to me and so real. (Review Here).

Book that made you happy

These two beautiful and extremely cute comic books! I can’t not smile when I pick them up and I’ve been recommending them to everyone, everywhere. Big Mushy Happy Lump by Sarah Andersen is a collection of Sarah’s Scribbles (a.k.a. the most relatable internet comic in history). And I Am Pusheen the Cat by Claire Belton is a collection of Pusheen drawings and a look into her comfy cat life.

Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received)

The Crowns of Croswald by D.E. Night. I got this book from the publisher (Unboxing Here) and was immediately attracted to the beautiful art on the cover. I’m still reading this one and will have a review by the release date (July 21, 2017).

What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

All the books I already started but abandoned! I don’t want to start a new year and still have pending books, especially because I would probably forget about the things I read and would have to start all over again.

The post Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

Four weeks later, I had finished the five published books.

I tried to dedicate every second of my existence to read these huge 600 to 1000 pages novels. (Which proved to be difficult considering I had a part-time job and was coursing the last year of my bachelor’s degree).

But I read them during my lunch breaks, school breaks and commutes. I had my Kindle ready to fast-draw it like an Old West cowboy every time I encountered the smallest delay.

I lived and breathed Game of Thrones for a month and became a big fan.

Then I met this girl who said she was a big fan too, though she had listened to the audiobooks -at work- instead of reading them.

To me that was like saying she didn’t care enough about this series to actually read the books. In my mind I had made a big effort to absorb all those words from a page and interpret them. And I had given away my free time in exchange of an awesome story.

But this girl had listened to the audiobooks… while working. She wasn’t even spending her precious free time to read them. She just put on her headphones and had a narrator read the books for her while she did other things. I compared her to a child listening to a bedtime story.

The thing is, I hadn’t actually listened to an audiobook before. (That big of a snob I was. Criticizing without any basis). And some time afterwards I found a free trial to download an audiobook on my phone, so I thought “Well, I could use a distraction while running in the park“.

Guys, I really liked it.

I started with a novel that hadn’t convinced me to read it, but looked interesting enough to listen to it while exercising: Divergent, by Veronica Roth. It turned out great because I no longer had to think about how long it was until I finished my running session, I could distract my mind with a story. And it really wasn’t that difficult to focus on two things at a time, since my legs already knew the trail around the park.

I wondered if the girl who listened to Game of Thrones had felt the same way. Maybe she had a repetitive job that didn’t require engaging her mind, just like my running routine. Could she be absorbing and interpreting the words the same way I did while reading? I really felt like I had read Divergent when I finished listening to it. I had imagined the characters and scenarios in my mind, as if I had read the words.

So what’s the difference between reading and listening to a book? If I picture the same images and my comprehension of the words is the same, do audiobooks count as reading?

Or going back to the bedtime story. If a boy is in bed while his mom reads him Harry Potter, is it the same as if the boy read it himself? Assuming he is paying attention, he will absorb exactly the same words as the mom who read it. If someone asks him someday “Did you ever read Harry Potter?“, he will probably say he did.

I feel bad that I ever thought that this girl who listened to Game of Thrones hadn’t actually read it, because I no longer think that it is a disrespect to listen to a book instead of reading it. It’s possible to appreciate it just the same if you’re invested in it.

Sure, some people might half-listen to audiobooks while checking their Facebook. But not every audiobook listener does it. (Besides, I’ve caught myself half-reading books without retaining any meaning when I’m distracted).

So, I would say reading a book and listening to the audiobook are practically the same thing.

If I could go back in time and tell myself to stop being so snobbish about books… I wouldn’t. 

I’d rather go back in time and never read Game of Thrones. I’m pretty sure that sixth book will never come out.

What do you guys think?

The post Do audiobooks count as reading? (a former book snob’s view) appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

This YA novel starts with a group of friends about to go on a road trip and jokingly inviting an actor from their favorite series to go with them. -Imagine their surprise when said actor actually says Yes!-. 

I really like the idea of a book inspired by road trips, because I bet most of us read books as a way to travel. 

If you are also interested in book-traveling (or book road-tripping?), here’s a list I made with thirteen YA novels set across the United States! Hopefully they will help you travel cross-country (without even putting on pants).

Okay, I might have cheated because The Grapes of Wrath is not actually a YA book, but I couldn’t find a YA book set Oklahoma! (and anyway, young adults could use some classics every now and then).

Also, I have no idea why SO MANY EROTIC NOVELS are set in Oklahoma and Arkansas. I had to go through many lists of books set in those states to fill my map, and found dozens of covers with shirtless guys hugging other shirtless guys (I hope someone finds that information useful).

And by the way, I haven’t read all the books on the list, but the ones I read really feel like they capture the vibe of the city/state, especially Aristotle and Dante which is set in Texas. I also got more excited about reading Lola and the Guy Next Door since I was in San Francisco some months ago!

Is there a book you want to travel to?  

GIVEAWAY THINGS [GIVEAWAY CLOSED!]

If you want to win the A Read for the Road package, leave a comment on my Instagram post. I’ll select a random winner on March 15!

The package includes: 

• a copy of Stranger Than Fanfiction
• Sunglasses
• a Travel Journal
• a cross-country keychain

The post Road Trip with YA Books! appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

(P.S. There’s a Giveaway at the end of this post).

In fifth grade – when I was around 10 years old – the teacher asked us to read a book with more than a hundred pages, so we could write a report afterwards. Our school at the moment was so new (they were still building classrooms when I enrolled!) that we didn’t have a library, and at that point I had not a single book at home. I told my dad that I need a book for school, ANY BOOK, with at least a hundred pages. He told me he would ask his coworker if he had one I could borrow.

Two days later he came home with a book titled The Last Opportunity: A Novel on Personal and Marital Improvement.

That was the book his coworker lent him. For a 10-year-old girl. Who had to write a report afterwards.

My dad looked kinda uncomfortable when he handed it to me, but said that his coworker really liked that book so maybe I could learn something from it.

I didn’t really think much of it at the moment, as the only thing that mattered to me was completing my assignment. I grabbed the ugly brown book (which looked exactly like the one in the picture) and started reading it.

And you know what? I loved it.

I had never read a long story or a book without pictures. My only approach to books were those fables that come in textbooks from grades 1 to 4-ish. And there I was, reading a marital improvement novel about a guy who wanted to divorce his wife. And enjoying it like crazy.

The details are blurry now, but I remember how vivid and colorful and emotional I found it. I also remember a chapter where the main guy was in jail and how I found it so exciting! I could imagine his cell and his outfit just from his descriptions. That book had no illustrations but it contained long detailed sentences that woke my imagination.

When I finished that book, I was truly another person. Not only did I learn a lot about loving and caring for my wife, but I discovered the fun and excitement of reading. I told my dad that I had loved the book and went on to write the cheesiest book report ever. (This report might have sparked my love for writing).

My dad told his coworker that I had loved the book and he let me keep it. He said the guy was really happy about someone else loving his book. I guess it actually saved his marriage or something.

I told my dad that I wanted to read another book someday. But living in a kinda poor neighborhood without libraries or book stores, his only choice to find a new book was the supermarket. Also, being 2001 and without a computer with internet access, he didn’t know how to find recommendations. So my dad went to the small book section of the supermarket and found a table with books from the same author I had read. Score!

He got home late one day with a new book for me, some contemporary novel about teenagers and unethical debauchery (totally ignoring the fact that I was ten). My mom was really proud that I was reading a second book just for pleasure. And my dad said that I had picked a really good habit and that he would buy me another book every time a finished one.

Poor dad. He didn’t expect me to finish my books in two days.

After some months of going through all the too-adult-for-me novels from that same author, my dad came home with exciting news. There was a new movie coming out about a boy wizard. He didn’t know the name, but heard a coworker say that the movie was based on a book and that the author had been so successful that she went from being poor to being rich.

The next time we went to the supermarket, my whole family looked through the shelves trying to find a book with a young wizard on the cover. My dad found it. It was called Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. It looked like it was fun!

Of course, as you might know, I fell in love with Harry Potter. It started my journey through countless fantasy novels, where I found my real niche. And my love for it pushed me to keep borrowing books, devouring them and begging my dad to take me to the library downtown, even if we had to take two buses.

So, any time someone asks me how I got into reading and I don’t have time to tell them the long story about the accidental marital improvement book, I just say Harry Potter.

I’m really happy I got to share the story of my first book! I would love to read everyone’s story, let me know in the comments!

And if you’re here for the giveaway, here it is:

Some awesome bloggers decided to team up (and invited me) to share our book love in a blog post. And also donate a book we loved to put it in a raffle.

The winner of this giveaway will get all the books we selected: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Caraval, My Lady Jane, The Sun is Also a Star, and The Next Together.

(My contribution was My Lady Jane because I wanted to add some humor to the book bundle. And also didn’t dare giving away the first book I read).

Becky Bedbug posted – The book that shaped me

Vicki in Neverland posted – The books that made us love reading

Two Different Worlds posted – The books that made us love reading 

Make sure to visit their blogs to read more inspiring stories about first books and the love for reading

To enter the giveaway use the form below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post The book that made me love reading appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

Since it was so fun, I made a second part! If you think you know your books, go read these very misleading synopses I wrote for very popular novels  Let me know if you guess the real book!

Ready? Go! There’s a picture with the answers at the end

* Ohana means family. It means nothing we do together gets forgotten.

A girl witnesses a boy being killed by a gang dressed in black. She falls in love with the gang leader and becomes one of them. 

A little boy condemns the world to climate change because he wants to eat more candy.

A girl moves into a new home and works for the woman who lives there. The nosy girl uses every chance to look through the woman’s personal belongings. She also has a crush on the woman’s son.

This boy is sent to a boy’s detention center because his great-great-grandfather stole something.

Two friends go hiking and their tour guide tries to kill them to steal their jewelry. The tour guide dies at the end.

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Keep scrolling for the answers!

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Did you get them right?

The post Misleading Book Synopses (Part 2) appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

But years ago, when I discovered the magic of Goodreads, a place where I could keep track of books, and rate and review them, I fell into a book rating obsession. I would get overly excited every time I finished a book because that meant I got to tell my opinion to the world and to find other like-minded readers.

Young me had no idea that rating books was such an emotional task.

Nowadays, years after my first tracked books, when I look back at the stars I gave to some of them a little voice inside my head poetically yells “What!?“. That’s how I discovered that a 1-5 scale is not the most trustworthy way to rate a book (and that I would never pick up a book based on the number of stars again).

Here’s the complete breakdown of reasons in the form of a friendly list.

Why I don’t give stars to books.

• Emotions blur my mind. It’s a very rare case when a book doesn’t bring out any emotions, so if I finish reading it and go rate it immediately, I might still be crying because of a character’s death and give it five stars. That way people will read it and suffer with me. I could also be very happy because the couple I shipped ended up together, or because the couple I hated didn’t. In any case, a week later, with my feelings under control, I might go back and change my mind about the number of stars. I might notice that I gave it five stars just because it made me cry but… it wasn’t really a great book, or an original story. I might start noticing all the clichés. And what would be the right way to rate it? With fresh emotions or in a cold-minded way? And, does the book deserves five stars only because it made me cry or laugh? Or the opposite! Is it unfair to take away stars from a book that made me feel very happy, or had a satisfying ending, just because it wasn’t a masterpiece? 

• Nothing is The Lord of the Rings. Let’s say I rated Lord of the Rings with five stars, because it’s the most awesome and epic fantasy series of all time. What will I do if after that I read The Hunger Games? And what if I read Inkheart, Holes or The Dark Elf trilogy? I enjoyed all these books so much! I really like them because they are entertaining, exciting and enjoyable, but I would feel weird if I gave them the same five stars I gave to Lord of the Rings. Because they are good but they are not THAT good. If I gave five stars to books, would I be saying that I like Lord of the Rings and Where the Wild Things Are just the same?

• Everyone uses a different scale. Suppose I make my mind and I start assigning stars to books. I would give five stars to books that are enjoyable and groundbreaking. Four stars to books that are enjoyable but don’t bring anything new. And three stars to books that are enjoyable but kinda predictable. It still wouldn’t work. Because a lot of people would glance and see three or four stars, think I used their won scale and misinterpret my review. Maybe for them three stars mean “I couldn’t finish this book”. When I was on my Goodreads rating spree, I recommended a book to a friend and he went to check it on the website. He saw that I had rated this book with three stars and asked me why I wanted him to read a book I had disliked. I tried to explain that I had liked it, but that this book wasn’t The Lord of the Rings so I couldn’t give it five stars. And etc. The thing is, my friend said that you should only recommend books you rated with five stars. (And he didn’t read the book).

• It all comes to personal preference. I’ll be very honest on this one. I don’t care about random people’s feelings on random books. If I see a random person on the Internet screaming things like “5/5 GO READ IT NOW” or “1/5 COULDN’T EVEN FINISH” I won’t care about their opinion and I’ll keep looking for a better review. Especially if they only provide the stars and the synopsis, but not a real explanation. Because, how will I know their logic behind that one star? What if the book they rated with one star is the next Lord of the Rings, but that person hates fantasy books? Imagine I read Fifty Shades of Grey and hate it and give it one star. That won’t help anyone. But if I hate it and write a review saying, “It’s not my cup of tea, but if you like Twilight, bad BDSM and abusive relationships, go for it”. That might help someone, if they are the right demographic for the book.

Do you like to rate books, or pick up books based on their stars? What’s your method? Let me know in the comments!

Also, big disclaimer, I still have a Goodreads account with a bunch of rated books, but I use it as a personal tracking system  

The post Why I don’t rate books appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

Sometimes I dropped the series and sometimes I decided to suffered through it, either because my curiosity kept me going or because I had already bought the book.

What do you do when you start disliking a series? And what’s your Top 5?

Harry Potter and

The more I think about The Cursed Child, the more I hate it. I LOVE the Harry Potter series, except for this book (if you even dare to consider it part of the series). I feel like J. K. Rowling’s books got better through the series, until she finally mastered the art of writing lovable fantasy books. This gave me BIG expectations about The Cursed Child, and even if she didn’t write the whole thing (even if she just gave her permission to publish it without even writing a word), I feel like she is better than that as a writer. I can’t believe she actually read The Cursed Child and thought it was a decent use of her characters and universe. If you want to know who the cursed child is, I’ll tell you. It’s whoever loved Harry Potter as a kid and then got to read this book. 

The Hunger Games

I loved the first book! When I got it I had been reading non-fiction and classic books for like a year and found it really fun to go back to YA books. As soon as I finished The Hunger Games I got Catching Fire, only to drop after the first three chapters. I didn’t like that this book focused so much on the love triangle! And on romance in general… It felt out of place considering all the things going on in Panem. I still continued with the series after watching the first movie. And I enjoyed them (after lowering my standards), but they never felt as fun or interesting as the first one.

Divergent

After my acquired taste in YA dystopian books thanks to The Hunger Games, I got the Divergent audiobook to listen while running in the park. I found the premise interesting and enjoyed all the trials that Tris had to beat (and the plot was easy enough to follow while exercising). But towards the end, the story started to make less and less sense and the ‘special snowflake‘ part of the plot got more important, so I was hesitant about the sequel. (And I was right.) I found Insurgent really boring, generic, almost plot-less and so full of clichés that I couldn’t even listen to the audiobook. I kept running in the park while trying to listen to it, but got easily distracted and had to give up on it.

Inkworld series

Inkheart is one of my favorite fantasy books. I loved it and I loved its movie! It’s a really charming story about bringing the magic out of books (and the dangers of it). I fell in love with the Inkworld before even visiting it, but when I actually got to see it in Inkspell, it didn’t feel so magical. I still enjoyed the book but it took me a long time to finish it and by the time I was done with Inkspell, I wasn’t that interested in reading Inkdeath (the last one in the series). Cornalia Funke is a great fantasy author, I just don’t think her second book in the series lived up to the hype of the first one and that discouraged me from finishing the series.

Uprooted

This is a standalone book, but I wanted to talk about it because it actually got worse with each chapter I read. It started as an awesome dark fairy-tale and turned into a generic fantasy story with a kinda abusive relationship really fast. I guess at least it was decent enough to not include a love triangle, but still. I’m mourning for the ghost of the awesome book this could have been, with its haunted woods and creepy magic.

The post Book series that got worse appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

If you want to read an illustrated children’s book:

I just got The Polar Express because I had never read it before. It is a really short but cute book and the illustrations are lovely, as is the message of the story. (And now I’m ready to watch the movie!).

If you want to read a longer children’s book:

Definitely read Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King. I got it because I loved the Rise of the Guardians movie and wanted to see their origins, and of course I started with Santa :). It is a short read with an interesting back story. It feels more aimed at children than the movie, but it’s still entertaining.

If you want to read a Young Adult book:

Okay, I still haven’t finished The Golden Compass (because I’m listening to the audiobook and IT LASTS FOREVER) but I know it’s really cool, it is part of a popular and well-loved series and, as you can see in the cover, it features this ‘polar bear’ (actually a daemon) and snow!

If you want to read an Adult Fantasy book:

I recently wrote a review about The Bear and the Nightingale (that you can read here). This book is not only full of magic and winter, but it has a certain creepiness that can only be found in folklore. I loved the medieval Russian setting and even if some of the DEMONS(!) scared me a little bit, it was a great book to read under the blankets by the lights of the Christmas tree.

If you want to read a short story:

If you already picked your monthly reads and don’t want to commit to another full book, I recommend reading The Gift by Ray Bradbury. This is one of my favorite short stories! It is a couple of pages long AND it is really lovely. The story is about a family that spends Christmas in a rocket but they are forced to leave the kid’s gift behind because it’s too heavy. (You can find this story by googling the title or you can read it here ).

Do you have a favorite Christmas or Winter book? I’m taking recommendations (especially if they are fantasy or science fiction).

The post BOOKS TO READ AROUND CHRISTMAS appeared first on Pretty Geekery.

But I think that after all these years of practice, I have learned how to choose the perfect book for everyone. And if not the perfect book, at least something they will actually read and not just throw in a drawer forever.

Here’s my easy guide on finding books to give as gifts!

*”Why?” Would you ask. “Why do you always give books as gifts?” Because books are awesome, timeless, reusable, useful, entertaining, educational and I like them a lot.

How to find books to give as gifts

1. Find a movie they LOVE

This is the easiest way to find a good book for someone, especially for people who don’t read a lot but have an open mind about books. The movie method could work in three different ways:

• Find their favorite movie –or maybe their Top 10 favorites– and check if it is based on a book (it probably is). If they haven’t read the book, SCORE! I believe that, most of the time, reading a book after watching the movie will enrich a story and probably improve future rewatchs.
• Find their favorite animated movie. Extra points if your loved ones are Disney fans since they make BEAUTIFUL art books about their movies. Books like The Art of Tangled, The Art of Wreck-It Ralph and The Art of How to Train your Dragon (Not only Disney makes these books!) often include insightful interviews with the artists and animators behind the film, on top of showing tons of sketches and illustrations.
• Find their favorite movie genre/style. I use this method when I’m looking for books for my parents. I obviously know which kind of movies they like since I often give them movies as gifts too. For example, I know that my mom likes to watch romance movies AND movies with female protagonists from the 80’s and 90s’s, so I got her Fried Green Tomatoes by Fannie Flagg. She loved it! She liked it so much that she read three other books from the same collection that year (and she’s not an avid reader).

2. Look into their hobbies

Careful with this one, though. If you are not completely sure about someone’s interests, better to go with a safest and more thoughtful choice. (You don’t want to end up being like the old aunt that once saw you wearing a sweater with an elephant print and, from that moment, decided that you love elephants and now gives you elephant themed gifts every time).

• A hobby they love. Every hobby has its bible, you just have to look really well. When I got really into makeup I bought myself the Making Faces book by Kevin Aucoin. A book like this would be perfect for a makeup enthusiast because it includes history, techniques and professional photographs by a renowned makeup artist.  You just need to find someone’s favorite hobby and Google will do the rest. BUT, be careful when choosing the book. You want to get something that will offer useful information! For example, if someone LOVES baking cakes and has been doing it for years, don’t give them a “Baking for Begginers” book. You need to do your research, ask on Internet forums or read reviews before buying.
• A hobby they want to get into. Here is where you can buy “Baking for Begginers” and the like. I think that, every time I get into a new hobby, I buy a book to go with it. Even though the Internet is full of free resources and tutorials, there’s something special about having a printed guide to help you in your journey. I’ve gotten cross-stitch books, watercolor books and books about preparing pretty lunches to go. There are also more in depth books such as On Writing by Stephen King, for people who want to improve their writing skills. Or Strong Curves, a book about fitness and nutrition for women.

3. Look into their interests

Maybe they LOVE a certain thing even if they don’t treat it as a hobby. (But, of course, if they LOVE a certain thing so much, you might want to give them that thing as a gift instead of a book. Especially with kids and teenagers, since they can’t afford to buy a lot of things themselves.)

• A subject they can talk about forever. I have a friend who loves videogames, physics and reading scientific research articles. And even though all these things involve reading, he told me he didn’t like to read, because books never grabbed his attention. “Oh well,” – I told him- “I bet you wouldn’t like this fun Nikola Tesla autobiography I just bought, would you?“.  He actually read it, and we later talked about it and had fun. Because, I think, most of the time people will find a book they like even if they ‘don’t like to read‘. Of course, this is not about forcing people to read if they don’t want to**. Said friend also bought himself the The Legend of Zelda book with the fictional history of one of his favorite videogame franchises. You can look into other interests in the same way, like philosophy, history, a specific country or culture, a language, a brand, a franchise, a personality or anything they like. I’ve gotten books about the history of mathematics, the Romanov family and extremely funny webcomics. So I am sure that there’s truly a book for everyone.

**I might have forced my friend, but that’s because that’s how we treat each other. He also makes me play his favorite videogame, which I’m terrible at, so we are even. 

What do you think about giving books as gifts? Do you do it? Is there a specific book you like to gift? Let me know in the comments

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