The best gifts for book lovers fit the way they read: paper pages, a screen or a voice in their ears. Below are 31 ideas for readers in three budgets: under $25, $25 to $75 and $75 and up. Filter by how they read, star your favorites and share the shortlist with the family.
Updated by the Frugal Santa elves
Each idea has a budget and the kind of reader it suits. Filter by how they read, star the ones you like and share the shortlist so nobody doubles up. Shopping for the whole family? See every Christmas gift idea on one page.
Wrap a paperback in brown paper and write three clue words on the front. They unwrap a mystery and find out if it's a match.
Thin metal clips slide onto a page and point at the exact line they loved. A tin holds dozens, and they don't add bulk to the book.
For the reader who talks back to the book. Soft colors, a pencil and a pad of tabs for marking favorite lines.
Pages to log each book, a star rating and the line worth remembering. In a few years it reads like a diary.
500 pieces covered in illustrated books, for the nights their eyes need a break from print.
A narrow lamp to park beside their favorite chair, so the light lands on the page and not in their eyes.
It clips to the cover and lights only the page, so they can read in bed while a partner sleeps.
A folio case that shields the screen in a bag. Check the exact model and generation on the back of their device first.
A canvas bag printed like an old library card, sturdy enough for a stack of hardcovers on the walk home.
Write it by hand: three hours of reading while you take the kids, the dishes and the phone. It costs nothing and may be the gift they talk about.
Libby, a free app, lets them borrow e-books and audiobooks from their library with a library card. Sit with them, link their card and borrow the first book together.
Two bendable arms rest on the shoulders and aim warm light at the page. Hands stay free to hold a heavy hardcover.
Flat speakers sit inside a soft mask, so an audiobook plays them to sleep without earbuds pressing into the pillow.
A cloth-covered hardcover of the classic they reread every few years. It looks handsome face-out on a shelf.
A soft zip pouch that keeps corners from bending in a work bag. Measure their usual paperback before you pick a size.
The bracket hides under the bottom book, so the stack seems to float on the wall. Good for showing off a few favorites.
A novel plus small wrapped gifts, each one opened when they reach a marked page. Reading it feels like a scavenger hunt.
A hand press that stamps their name into the title page. Every book they lend out carries their name.
A soy candle with notes like leather, oak and sandalwood, for the chair where they read. Light it for the first chapter of something new.
A firm foam slope that props them up in bed, so the neck doesn't ache by chapter three.
They get to wander the shelves and pick for themselves. Tuck the card inside a bookmark.
Pages of bookshops, libraries and famous reading nooks, to leave out on a coffee table.
Thousands of books in one slim device they can read in the bath or by the pool. Skip it if they already own a newer model.
An e-ink screen in color, for comics, cookbooks and picture books with the grandkids.
Read and write in the margins on a screen that feels like paper. For the reader who takes notes on everything.
They rest just in front of the ears, so audiobook listeners still hear traffic and dogs on a walk.
A slipcased edition with new artwork, the kind that gets passed down. Pick a book they already love.
A class where they fold, stitch and cover a small book by hand, then take it home. Look for one at a nearby book arts center.
For the stacks on the floor. Measure the wall, then plan an afternoon to build it together.
A chair that's theirs for reading, with room for a blanket and a cat. Pair it with the lamp.
Holds a big book open on a table, for cookbooks, art books and reading over breakfast.
Find out how they read before you shop. In a Pew Research Center survey of US adults in October 2025, 75% had read at least part of a book in the past year. Print led at 64%, e-books reached 31% and audiobooks 26%, and plenty of readers use more than one. Each kind of reader wants different things.
Paper readers love gear for the page: line markers, a book light, a padded sleeve for the commute, or a clothbound copy of an old favorite. Screen readers want a cover that fits their exact device, or a waterproof e-reader for the bath. Listeners want comfort, like a sleep mask with thin speakers or open-ear headphones for long walks.
Then give the reading, not only the book. A warm throw, a lamp beside their chair and an afternoon nobody interrupts may be the present a busy reader loves most.
Our October 2026 check of US stores put 11 of these 31 ideas under $25, and two of them are free. The small things for the page come first: a tin of metal line markers, a clip-on book light, soft highlighters for the lines they love and a journal to log every book they finish.
A blind date with a book is the most fun of the bunch. Wrap a paperback in brown paper, write three clue words on the front and let them guess. A paperback classic lists for about $10 at one big publisher, so this one leaves room for a bookmark too.
Cozy gifts fit the band as well: a puzzle covered in books, a slim lamp for their reading chair or a tote for library runs. Filter the list to under $25, or find more small things in our stocking stuffers and cheap Christmas gifts.
Yes, with a little homework. The risk with a book is that they already own it, finished it last month or never liked that kind of story. So look at their shelves and the books on their nightstand first, or ask a friend who trades books with them. Many readers keep a want-to-read list in an app or a notebook, and a peek at it settles the question.
If you can't find out, give the hunt instead. A gift card to their favorite bookstore lets them browse, which is half the fun for a book lover. Or give a book you loved yourself, with a note inside on why it stayed with you. A personal pick means something even if they never finish it.
Either way, ask for a gift receipt so a duplicate can be swapped. For an e-reader fan, a gift card from the store their device buys from beats guessing a title.
Pew Research Center survey of 8,046 US adults, October 2025.
In Iceland, the custom is called Jólabókaflóð. Books are the classic Christmas Eve present, and the gift is opened that night so the evening can go to reading in bed. It grew from the war years, when imports were scarce but paper was easier to get than most goods, so books became the natural thing to give.
Each year since 1944, Bókatíðindi, a catalog of the season's new titles, has landed in Icelandic homes in the middle of November, and families plan their lists from it. The capital, Reykjavík, was named a UNESCO City of Literature in 2011.
The idea travels well. Give every person one book on Christmas Eve, add something warm to drink and call lights-out late. It suits a mixed family, too: a picture book for the youngest, a mystery for Grandpa and an audiobook for the one who reads by ear. For more customs from that night, see our Christmas Eve traditions.
Ask about what they read lately. Which book this year could they not put down, and which one did they quit halfway? More by the first writer is a safe bet. Their library holds list, a friend from their book club or a shared Christmas wish list can fill in the rest.
Or let Santa do the asking. Set up Santa's interview and send the link to your reader, if they're 18 or older. On a short video call, Santa, an AI video character, chats with them about their year, what they've loved lately, what they'd rather not get and what they're wishing for. Before they start, he explains that their wishes come to you, and they tick a box to say that's fine.
After the call you see a short summary, their likes and dislikes, and every wish with store prices. It runs on your minutes at $1 a minute, and only their talking time is counted.
Book lovers are easy to shop for late, because the best last-minute gifts don't need a truck. If their favorite bookstore sells e-gift cards, one can reach their inbox today. Federal rules say the money on a gift card can't expire for at least five years from when it was bought or last loaded.
Audiobook stores sell gift memberships as codes, so nothing ships; check how long the credits last before you buy. Or write out a coupon for a quiet afternoon of reading and take over their chores while they use it.
Or wrap up a call with Santa. Gift minutes cost $1 a minute: add a short note, and you get a gift card with a code to print, keep as a picture or send by link. Your reader signs in with their email on the redeem page, and the minutes go straight into their account. They don't expire, and every code is good for one use.
Start with what's free. With a library card, Libby, a free app, lets them borrow e-books and audiobooks from their library on a phone, a tablet or the web. Setting it up for a reader who never tried it costs nothing, and it keeps giving all year.
For books you buy, the format sets the price. In October 2026, one major publisher listed the same classic novel at $10 in paperback and $25 in a clothbound hardcover. Save the fancy edition for the one book they reread most, and give paperbacks for the rest.
For bigger gifts, like an e-reader, a video call with Santa does the price checking: each wish comes back with store prices, lowest first. Keep the receipt, too: Target matches its own lower price for 14 days after you buy. Then share one shortlist with the family, so two people don't wrap the same book.
Give something that isn't another book: a bookbinding workshop, an embosser with their name or a fine illustrated edition of a favorite. For more, see our gifts for someone who has everything.
It can be, for travel and reading in bed. In October 2026, one big e-reader line started at $149.99, with a waterproof, warm-light model at $199.99. Keep the gift receipt in case they stay loyal to paper.
Comfort for long listens: a sleep mask with flat speakers, open-ear headphones for walks, or an audiobook gift membership. Help them set up a free library app, too, for audiobooks on loan.
Check their shelves and their want-to-read list, ask a friend who trades books with them, and get a gift receipt. Or let them choose with a gift card to their favorite bookstore.
Start here, then see Christmas gifts for Mom, gifts for golfers and gifts for coffee lovers for the rest of who they are.
No. Your stars are kept in this browser, on this device. If you share them, the link carries short idea codes after the # sign, and browsers leave that part of the address out of what they send to us.
Yes. Santa takes video calls from grown-ups right in the browser, no app needed, so your reader can tell him which book they want next. See how calling Santa works.
Live videoGrown-ups call Santa too. On a live video call, your book lover tells him what they're hoping to read next, and the wishes come back with store prices, lowest first. $1 a minute.
Call Santa
