Beyond Reality discussion

There is a lot of focus on giving during this time of year—Thanksgiving, Giving Tuesday, various holidays that include gift-giving, maybe even some December birthdays. Someone has to be on the receiving end, right?

Do you remember receiving a book as a gift, and if so, which book? How did you feel about it?

If you could receive a book as a gift now, what book would you hope to get?

I want the Annotated Phantom Tollbooth. Other than that, someone would have to look at my wishlist. I cannot imagine anyone being able to guess what I want. I don't recall that anyone ever has done, either... even in childhood, even with a tiny public library, my parents didn't spend much money on books.

I only know two other readers, three if you count my youngest son who does own some of his favorites (and some new) but never has time to read. I have no idea what I would choose for any of them.

(Never mind, I just checked, and two of my libraries do have a copy of A. PT. I don't need my own, I don't think.)

One of my earliest memories is of my dad giving me a book he got while on a trip. Sadly I do not remember the title of the book; it was a small, thick children's book of some kind. I was probably not yet 4 years old and I can only remember what it looked like in a general sense.

I had a relative who gave me various books over my lifetime, books he personally thought I ought to read. My family is deeply misogynistic, and do not accept my transness so I'm "female" to them and relatives like this have always thought they know what's best for me. While some of those books were clearly about indoctrinating me into this or that way of thinking, not all of the books this relative gave me were bad choices for me, but it left me with a tainted feeling about them and it really affected my reading habits for much of my younger life. But it's why now I would rather people give me a gift card than pick out a book for me.

As for a book I wish someone would gift me, I'd have to say any good scholarly book on SF lit, any good books in one of my other languages or Culture: The Drawings by Iain M. Banks.

CJ wrote: "As for a book I wish someone would gift me, I'd have to say any good scholarly book on SF lit, any good books in one of my other languages or Culture: The Drawings by Iain M. Banks.”

That looks fascinating! Hard for me imagine he could sketch any of the ships or habitats. I just finished reading all the Culture books this year (having started several years ago).

I always got books as gifts when I was a child. Can't remember them all, but one I still have and cherish is the Fairytales by Hans Christian Andersen, my grandparents gifted me for my 8th birthday.

One year for Chanukah, my parents bought me a boxed set of the Little House books. I was pretty young, I was expecting a toy, and I was pretty sulky about getting books instead. When I grudgingly picked up the first book and then fell in love with it, I went and apologized to my parents for my ungratefulness!

Funny story - many years later, my folks convinced me to sell my set at a garage sale, and I always regretted it. When I was in my own apartment and didn't need to worry about taking up space in their house, I ordered a used set online. It came with a little handwritten note from the seller, who clearly thought she was sending the set to a little girl ("I hope you enjoy these as much as I did when I was a kid...").

I was 26.

This is kind of hard because it was a long standing annoyance in my family. All I ever wanted were books and tapes (music) for birthdays, Christmas, etc. I had full lists written out and updated for every gift giving occasion.

But there are a few that stand out.

The best was a gift certificate to a local book store. $20 could go a long ways at the time and I still remember the Christmas both of my brothers got me $20 gift certificates. I came out of that store with a huge bag full of books. Among those books was the initial Dragonlance trilogy, which I absolutely adored at the time. So much in fact that I am terrified of rereading them as I don't want to crush those childhood memories.

A few times growing up, one of my brothers would just randomly just leave a book on my bed and say nothing about it.

The first time this happened was Trixie Belden #2. My first introduction to the series and my first book passion outside of Winnie the Pooh. :)
I begged for more Trixie Belden books so much afterwards that one Christmas my parents just bought the entire rest of the series for me. That is pretty high on one of the best Christmases ever. :)

The second surprise book left on my bed was A Wizard of Earthsea, and kicked off my love for that initial trilogy.

And, I think a 3rd might have been Dragonflight
This was like 40 years ago and I'm not entirely sure if this was one of those surprise books or if I got it through other means. But I was young enough at the time that I would not have been able to buy it by myself.

Well, I wanted to read Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune with the group this month, but didn’t want to buy the book, even though I’ve loved the other 2 books by Klune that I have read. So I was kind of hoping it would magically appear in my library as a gift to me… but that would only happen if I gifted it to myself. Then I remembered that I have 3 months of Audible included with my 3 month free trial of Amazon Music Unlimited, so that’s the book I chose this month. I’ll start listening to it this week, but since I only listen while I walk 3x a week at the local wellness center, it will take me a while to finish it.

As for a memory of a book a received as a gift, I think I got A Doll For Marie by Louise Fatio as a gift one year. I loved it because it had a doll-sized book included, so I could read it while my doll (named Merry, as in Merry Christmas) could read the little book along with me.

I have received quite a few books over the years, but nothing that I really remember distinctly. I remember trips to used book sales better, the library used to do them and the local Rotary Club still does them once a year.
I picked up a massive amount of Agatha Christie books at the Rotary sales. And I remember getting The Boxcar Children at the Library sale, and it was quite a treat if I could find Asterix comics too.

I'm trying to get rid of a bunch of my paper books, so I don't think I want anyone to get me any more. Though, I do have a bunch of cookbooks I'd like, so if anyone was going to get me a book, I'd like it to be Pasta: The Spirit and Craft of Italy's Greatest Food, with Recipes.

(I just gotta say, I love all your stories, even the sad ones. Thank you all for sharing and making my Grinchy heart grow.)