Giving away books...

[fajrdrako]

From Booking Through Thursday:

Buy a Friend a Book Week is October 1-7 (as well as the first weeks of January, April, and July). During this week, you’re encouraged to buy a friend a book for no good reason. Not for their birthday, not because it’s a holiday, not to cheer them up–just because it’s a book.

What book would you choose to give to a friend and why?

And, if you’re feeling generous enough–head on over to amazon and actually send one on its way!

I approve in principle: I love giving books to my friends. But who would I choose? and how? The book I should choose would depend on what friend I would choose. For instance, josanpq and I seem to relate well to the same authors (Dorothy Dunnett, Lois McMaster Bujold), and giving or recommending to her some of my favourite books of recent years - like The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner, or Warchild by Karin Lowachee - was and would be a good thing to do. But conversely, maaboroshi didn't read Cagebird, and walkingowl hated Warchild - I wonder if she might have liked Cagebird or Burndive more? Probably not.

My point being, it's often tricky to recommend or give fiction, and often not a great idea to give books that are so very much my favourites. I try to make a point never to recommend Dorothy Dunnett to anyone. I'm just not objective enough.

So - does that make non-fiction a better, safer choice? I'm not sure. walkingowl has done a rather good job of choosing books for me that I would like, usually but by no means exclusively non-fiction. Ditto Tasia and Donna and - many friends. Interesting how I and my circle so often give books as gifts.

Okay, okay, I'll pick one friend and one gift. The friend - no, wait, I want to make this a surprise. I'll tell about it after the fact.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Selecting boks is kind of takes time. So I generally ask or give thm gift vouchers. But BAFAB is a surprise. So I select carefully for this according to taste.

gautami
http://readingandmorereading.blogspot.com

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

The other side of the coin is the experience of being given a book - something that is all the more mysterious and intriguing because you didn't pick it yourself. I've discovered some great authors that way!

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for the compliment. I'll try to keep up the good work!

Your ruminations are always delightful to read.

I still have not finished Warchild; as I recall, I was reacting to you about the opening part, which hit some well-hidden buttons in me and caught me by surprise. I have promised (repeating it here) to finish the book when I can give it a good, fair hearing. Same for the other two by Lowachee. Promise!

I usually like fiction that you like; the best example, I need to point out, is Dorothy Dunnett's books. We also like a lot of the same nonfiction, I notice. On the other hand, I'm into Pop Art and Surrealism as well as the Pre-Raphaelites, and maybe the first two leave you a little cold, hm?

Not gonna ask for whom you decided to pick a book -- I'll have to wait and find out like everyone else, eh? I'm pleased to report that I did this already, myself, by accident totally: a coworker, Timmy, is a dyed-in-the-wool rock'n'roll geek, and was so thrilled when I lent him a book on David Bowie by Bowie's guitarist Sean Mayes, that I went onto Abebooks and ordered a copy for him, which is going to be a total surprise. Nice tradition, this.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

We all have hidden buttons, and some not so hidden, and there's nothing wrong with not liking Warchild. Really!

Hmm. I like some pop art and some surrealism. Not as much as Pre-Raphaelites, though.

Yes, good plan, finding that book for Timmy.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Yes, good plan, finding that book for Timmy.

One of my more interesting coworkers. He's about 45, has a twenty-something daughter and an 11-year-old daughter on whom he dotes, and is to all appearances a rough old redneck guy. But he likes to be known as "Timmy," not "Tim," and has the niftiest sense of humor -- he keeps finding photos on magazine covers and giving them captions, seeing resemblances to other coworkers: "Hey, look, here's Steve Hoyak at age three, getting his first haircut!" and things like that. It keeps my energy up, when he's at work. Never judge people by appearances, eh?

I heard an author interviewed on public radio today, a David Freedman (possibly misspelling it). His book is about Charles Lindbergh, the aviator, and a French scientist who was strongly in favor of eugenics and making sure only the "right kind of people" would live long lives. I think the book is called The Immortalists. I was fascinated... never knew Lindbergh was such a bigot, but indeed he was, a man totally dedicated to "correcting" the errors of random breeding among the human race. Just saying this, to show that there is always another fascinating book out there, waiting for a person to hear about it! (I do want to finish Warbird, honest.)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It keeps my energy up, when he's at work. Never judge people by appearances, eh?

That's great! He sounds interesting and entertaining.

Re Linbergh: I've read enough about him to know about his views, and it sounds to me as if Freedman must be exaggerating (or misrepresenting?) his views.... They weren't so extreme, at least for his time - there was a lot of that going around in the early 20th century, the idea that it would be good to breed for intelligence or strength or other desirable qualities. It was wrong in an infinite number of ways, but IMHO It wasn't so much bigotry on Lindbergh's part as an unrealistic optimism about the way genetics might work.

On the other hand, I'm not exactly an expert on either Lindbergh or early 20th century scientific thought, but it sounds to me as if Freedman's book is sensationalizing the situation. It's so easy to condemn the thought of another time because they didn't know what we know.