Book Shelf: Gift Guide Pt 1, Bookish Things

Gift ideas for bookworms that aren't books.

My favourite approach to gift-giving is one developed by my favourite YouTuber, Hannah Louise Poston. Poston is a beauty influencer with a background in poetry, who started her channel as a way to document an entire year without buying things (if you enjoyed my last newsletter on how to navigate sales season, you’ll love her content). The project rewired her brain, and her approach to shopping. Now, her priority is fewer, nicer things.

Her gifting philosophy is simple and foolproof: Don’t try to think of a thing a person never knew they needed. Think of a thing they use or own already, because they love it. Then buy them the “most exquisite version” of that thing, as Poston explains it, the one they’d never buy themselves.

The beauty of this approach is you can scale it up or down. You could buy someone who loves candles a gorgeous $10 box of matches, a $50 snuffer, or a $125 Le Labo candle. Each one of those, at each price point, is an item the candle-lover is unlikely to justify buying for themselves. And each item is sure to be used and loved.

Ingeniously, the approach also works for people you don’t know very well, for gift-giving settings like an office Secret Santa or a Friendsmas Yankee Swap, because you can focus on beautiful everyday items: a fancy pair of socks, the perfect ceramic mug, lovely salt or olive oil.

Here are my bookish picks (a proper books gift guide will be coming next!), the most exquisite of their kind:

A bookmark

I love a magnetic bookmark and this duo is fun and well-priced, while for a leather option, this one looks stylish and made-to-last, and you can personalise both the bookmark and its tag. You can find a more understated leather option here.

These personalised acrylic bookmarks are cute, and the same business has a leather photo strip option which would make the perfect small-ish gift or stocking stuffer for a loved one.

A notebook

I buy a dotted notebook every year. Setting out my week in a format I’ve arrived at after years of trial and error, and writing out my to-do list neatly, gives me the illusion of control. Even if my day spins out, it looks contained on the page. Everything is just there, orderly, a task to tick off.

My weekly layout

For at least six years, I’ve alternated between Moleskines and Leuchtturms, but Brodie Lancaster convinced me to try something different in 2024 in the latest ep of See Also: a Midori notebook. The Japanese stationery brand began making writing paper and envelopes in 1950, and they look gorgeous.

The notebooks are uncovered (you can buy an optional clear or brown paper cover), the binding exposed and delicate. But the promise is they’re well-crafted and durable. I can’t wait to get mine (I’m planning to order the MD PAPER - A5 - CODEX 1 DAY 1 PAGE - DOT GRID and the matching clear cover once the latter is back in stock from Melbourne-based Bookbinders, which ships nationally).

I also love everything Bespoke Letterpress does; their gift sets are beautiful, and their recipe books would make the perfect gift to record and pass down special recipes.

A pen

My faves are LAMY. I bought a rose gold fountain pen at the start of 2019, when I started my first full time journalism job. Almost five years later, it’s still going strong (I stockpile on ink refills about once a year from Dymocks) and it still makes me feel serious and fancy. I love writing with it.

The Bespoke Letterpress pen cups and pen loops are also excellent, elegant add on or standalone gifts.

A book stamp or embosser

For my birthday this year, my sister gave me this book embosser seal, and I treasure it. I’m reminded of what a perfect gift it is every time I use it. It feels like a ritual to brand a book as my own, and it looks beautiful while serving a practical purpose when books are loaned.

These Fleur & Fable book stamps are an equally beautiful alternative.

A book subscription

WellRead subscriptions are a clever way to stretch out your gift, and connect a person with new and buzzy books without picking the titles yourself: $110 for three months, $215 for six, $320 for nine, or $430 for a whole year.

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And to wrap it up (pun intended), here’s the gift of a handful of wonderful pieces I’ve read recently:

• My Grandmother and the Canine Detective, Naaman Zhou for The New Yorker

• What’s the Future of Books? Kate Dwyer for Esquire

• When Ruthless Cultural Elitism Is Exactly the Job, David Marchese interviewing literary agent Andrew Wylie for the New York Times (and recommended by my friend Dan)

• People say you’ll know – but will I regret not having children? Elle Hunt for the Guardian

• five things I've learnt about creativity,

  Jodi Wilson
  for
  PS: more than an afterthought

Just because you don’t always have something to show for your hours doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile. That thinking space away from the page is where the magic happens, where tiny little connections are made and you start to thread all the pieces together; cohesive narrative arcs, tiny truths, only possible because you’ve spent so many hours immersed in it.

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While you’re in a generous, gift-giving mood, I have two requests of you. Would you be so kind as to:

1. Subscribe or pass it on. If this is your first time reading Top Shelf, please subscribe. If you’ve been here a few times but haven’t subscribed yet, please do.
   

   
   And if you are subscribed (thank you), please consider sharing Top Shelf with one other person you think might enjoy it (it’s free!); and

2. Leave a comment with what you enjoy most here and/or would like to see more of. I’ve got the rest of the year planned out, and I’m thinking of what I could introduce in 2024. An interview series? The Top Shelf recommendations roundup becoming a bonus newsletter roughly every couple of weeks, so the series can be more consistent without either usurping other ideas or slipping down the priority list? I’d love to hear what you think.

Starting this newsletter, and building a habit of writing it each and every week, has been one of the highlights of this strange year. It requires time, research, and energy though, and since it’s still an unpaid complement to my paid freelance work, I would love it to be shaped by, and reach, people who are invested in this small creative endeavour.

Until next time,

Britt