As the gift-giving season officially gets into full swing (not that there aren't gift giving times throughout the year) there has been discussion on many of the online groups to which I belong on: "Is it presumptuous to give a book as a gift?"
Thoughts on this seem to be split almost evenly down the middle. Sure, if your boss gives you a book on, "The art of personal hygiene" you may be inclined to take that personally but if he or she gives you a book on, "Becoming a million-dollar sales person" would you be offended? Does it mean that your boss thinks you are doing a bad job or is he or she just thinking of ways to make your job easier and therefore make you more money (you know, working smarter, not harder)?
If someone pops a romance or mystery novel under the Christmas tree or in a gift bag for your birthday do you feel pressure to read it immediately (as opposed to putting it into your to-be-read pile by the bedside) and then once you've read it are you obligated to call the gift giver and tell them whether you liked it? Are you required to lie and say you liked it even if you didn't?
Never in my life did I consider that giving a book as a gift to be such a minefield of angst. Sure, I wouldn't give my mother a racy bodice-ripping vampire romance novel, but I certainly would give that to my sister. And likewise, I don't imagine too many people would boldly hand their boss a book on management skills but it seems with a little thought and inspiration, why not give a book? How hard would it be to notice that if your co-worker is always reading Robert Parker books to figure that they might enjoy a mystery from a different author? If a friend loves to cook, why not serve them up a cookbook?
If I opened nothing but books for every gift giving opportunity, I would be one happy reader.
I LOVE books as gifts and I love giving them...
They just make me happy and it's hard to contain that happiness just for myself.
Posted by: Amy | May 09, 2009 at 04:11 AM