Book Gift Ideas for Everyone on Your List

I love buying books as gifts for holidays and birthdays. They last forever, you can find one for any audience, and it’s easy to spend as much or as little as you please.

If you’re having a hard time finding gifts for people on your list this holiday season, check out the ultimate book gift guide below.

Book Gift Ideas

I’ve included money-related books and others, including some of my own personal favorites and things I’ve personally given as gifts.

source: Brody4

For the Frugal/DIY Set, or Those Who Wish They Were

• Homemade Living: Home Dairy with Ashley English: All You Need to Know to Make Cheese, Yogurt, Butter & More by Ashley English. $19.95 list, $13.15 Amazon. Make it extra cutesy by including a butter mold!
• Square Foot Gardening: A New Way to Garden in Less Space with Less Work by Mel Bartholomew. $19.99 list, $13.59 Amazon.
• Clean It! Fix It! Eat It!: Easy Ways to Solve Everyday Problems with Brand-Name Products You’ve Already Got Around the House by Joey Green. $13.00 list, $10.40 Amazon.

For Anyone…From Your Favorite Money Bloggers

• 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget by The Writers of Wisebread. $14.95 list, $10.17 Amazon.
• I Will Teach you to be Rich by Ramit Sethi. $13.95 list, $10.45 Amazon.
• Your Money: The Missing Manual by JD Roth. $21.99 list, $14.95 Amazon.
• The Simple Dollar: How One Man Wiped Out His Debts and Achieved the Life of His Dreams by Trent Hamm. $19.99 list, $13.39 Amazon.
• 365 Ways to Live Cheap: Your Everyday Guide to Saving Money by Trent Hamm. $7.95.

For Future Millionaires

• The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy by Thomas Stanley and William Danko. $16.95 list, $11.53 Amazon.
• The Automatic Millionaire: A Powerful One-Step Plan to Live and Finish Rich by David Bach. $14.00 list, $10.50 Amazon.

For the Sports Lover

• Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller. $17.99 list, $16.62 on Amazon. I haven’t actually read this, but have ordered it for more than one person on my list this year!
• Sports Illustrated: The Football Book by the Editors of Sports Illustrated. $29.95 list, $19.77 Amazon. Loaded with pictures and stories from the ultimate experts on sports! Also check out The Baseball Book, the others from Sports Illustrated.
• One on One: Behind the Scenes with the Greats in the Game by John Feinstein. $27.99 list, $17.87 Amazon. I heard an interview with the author on NPR – he’s one of the best-known sports journalists in the country and the book sounds amazing!

For the Politico

• Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heliemann and Mark Halperin. $27.99 list, $10.19 Amazon. Regardless of who you voted for or how you feel about the 2008 election results, you have to agree that the race was pretty interesting! I read this book when it came out and loved it.
• Primary Colors by Anonymous. $5.49. One of the most popular political books of all time, but newly-minted politics lovers may not have read it yet – do them a favor, and change that!
• All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren. $22.00 list, $14.96 Amazon.

For the Perfectly Proper or Perpetual Party Host(ess)

• Occasions by Kate Spade. $20.00 list, $13.60 Amazon. Also check out the companion books: Manners and Style.
• Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior, Freshly Updated by Judith Martin. $35.00 list, $23.10 Amazon. Miss Manners never goes out of style!

For the Recent Graduate and/or Newly-Employed

• The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous and Broke by Suze Orman. $16.00 list, $10.88 Amazon.  No matter how you feel about Suze Orman’s show, I promise you the young people in your life will benefit from this book!
• How to Be a Grown Up: The Ten Secret Skills Everyone Needs to Know by Stacy Kaiser. $$25.99 list, $10.40 Amazon.
• Effective Immediately: How to Fit In, Stand Out, and Move Up at Your First Real Job by Emily Bennington. $14.99 list, $10.19 Amazon.
• What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20: A Crash Course on Making Your Place in the World by Tina Seelig. $22.99 list, $15.32 Amazon.
• What I Know Now: Letters to My Younger Self by Ellyn Spragins. $18.99 list, $12.91 Amazon. My graduation gift of choice for my closest girlfriends!

For the Bride-, Groom-, or Mother-of-the-Bride To-Be

• A Practical Wedding by Meg Keene. $16.00 list, $10.88 Amazon. New from the author of one of the most popular and down-to-earth wedding blogs around! It’s not actually out yet, but pre-order it to have it shipped RIGHT after Christmas!
• Miss Manners’ Guide to a Surprisingly Dignified Wedding by Judith and Jacobina Martin. $24.95 list, $16.47 Amazon.

For New Parents or Babies

• Love you Forever by Robert Munsch. $5.95. A perennial favorite in my family.
• If I could Keep You Little by Marianne Richmond. $15.99 list, $10.87 Amazon. I stumbled across this while looking for a gift to bring to a book-themed baby shower. I have now given it to multiple parents of new babies. It’s a tear-jerker that is sure to become a family keepsake!

For Tweens

• The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner. $4.99. Actually the first in a series – so if your recipient enjoys it, there are many more to give later!
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. $6.99.

Other Gift Tips

• You can also look for book suggestions on the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2011 list and The Amazon Gift List.
• Make sure you look for promotions before you buy – it’s not too late to take advantage of the bn.com free $10 e-certificate when you buy $100 of certificates. You could buy certificates and use them to do your book shopping, then use the bonus for an extra gift or to treat yourself!
• You can also use cashback sites combined with rewards cards to do your shopping. Check out our favorites.
• And don’t forget that wrapping can make a good gift great. Check out our frugal wrapping ideas!

What your your favorite books to give as a gifts?