I love books. The smell of them, the weight of them. The subtle shine of spot gloss reflecting off a cover. My favorite part of every day is when my son snuggles into my lap and I read him a book (or two, or three) before bed. I have more books than my shelves can handle, but that never deters me from bringing home another. And they are always my favorite gifts to give.
If it’s the thought that counts, then books truly are the perfect gift. Books are personal; they show that you really know the person receiving them. Books make you think. Books can transport you to another world. Books can comfort, and they can lift your spirits. Books will make you smarter. And that really is the thought that counts.
This holiday season, we’re launching a community-driven campaign to encourage people to Give Books. Driven by a shared love of books, reading, and a desire to support independent bookstores and local shops, our hope is that you all will join us in giving books this year!
We’re partnering with some of our favorite authors, artists, and blogs to help spread the book love this season. This week, each of them is creating a gift guide filled with ten Chronicle books that they’re gifting to friends and family. And in the spirit of giving, we’re donating a set of books for each of them to give away to one of their readers. Check out all of the participating blogs for a chance to win:
- Little Brown Pen
- Coquette
- Francesco Marciuliano
- SF Girl By Bay
- Design Conundrum
- Bakerella
- Aida Mollenkamp
- Watch. Connect. Read.
- Booooooom!
Overwhelmed by the choices for all the bookworms on your list? Next week, we’ll be featuring gift picks from local booksellers here on the blog. These folks are surrounded by towers of books every day, so we’re dying to hear what’s jumping off the shelves for them this holiday. Stay tuned.
And for the stylish set, we’re launching curated gift guides on Pinterest, featuring picks from Joy Cho of Oh Joy!, Eunice and Sabrina Moyle of Hello!Lucky, Maia McDonald of Design Conundrum, and Rachel Faucett of Handmade Charlotte. I, for one, can’t wait to see what these ladies with impeccable taste will share!
Ready to join us? Grab the badge below for your blog to show your support of the Give Books movement! Download the patterns above to use as your desktop wallpaper or Twitter background (or, for you design types, create your own wrapping paper!). Share the books you’re gifting this year with the hashtag #GiveBooks on Instagram and Twitter. Visit your local bookstore and give them your business.
Plus, shop ChronicleBooks.com and enjoy 30% off + free ground shipping on all your holiday orders. Enter GIVEBOOKS at checkout through 12/31/12.
Finally, I have to give a huge shoutout to the talented Julia Rothman, who designed our Give Books logo, and whose latest book, The Where, The Why, and The How, is at the very top of my personal gift list this year.
Happy Holidays, book lovers!
Guinevere de la Mare
Senior Community Manager
I'm so excited about this gift giving idea! Books really are the perfect gift (and friend)!
What a great idea! Thanks for the opportunity! Nice logo by the way ^^
What a kind and huge gesture! Thank you!
I would like to win savory books.
i would be more then honor to win any of your books love them all and thanks
love the savory but what made me pick the sweet is the gluten free would love to try some !
Books! My favorite gifts of all time…I have books over 50 years old that I received as gifts when I was a child. The most special in my collection…were books that my 4th grade teacher read aloud to us every afternoon! Somehow they had been abandoned after her death and my mom stumbled across them in a thrift shop. I now live in a different region but what a treasure to have the very books my teacher used to read to our class!
We always give books at Christmas. We also give each of our three children money to buy for each other than sugest books. Lol thay always do because I tell them books are easy to wrap.
What a great idea! I love giving books as gifts and really enjoy getting them as well. I saw Bakerella's choices this morning and they are great. Can't wait to try some of them. I want to see all of the other authors' choices as well. Fun, fun, fun.
Books are the perfect gift, because they offer a guideline for the imagination!
I would love to win the Very Merry Cookie book or the True Blood
I am always in the market for a new cook book. I would love to win 10!! Thanks.
Savory please!!
I love cookbooks! The savoury ones are amazing.
Awesome! Sweet or Savory, either would be a wonderful addition!!!
I would love to win the sweet reads! Baking is my hobby and I always need inspiration:)
OMG! There are so many wonderful cookbooks to give as presents – I don't know where to begin!!
What a great chance to win some wonderful books to keep or give away! Thanks for the opportunity to enter these giveaways.
What a great Ideal. I love books and all the wonderful places they can take you!!
Oh wow! What a great gift! I love books and cookbooks are the best! I would love to win the sweet set of books petty please!
The True Blood book souds funny!
The beautiful book called "Plenty" swayed my choice to Savoury – even though the sweet books look fabulous too.
Thus is great! I would love to win "Sweet" reads! I love books!!!!
Amazing list of books here. I love them all.
Awesome…. Sweet or savory – either would be a wonderful addition
What a great way to start the holiday season NEW COOK BOOKS! Thank you for your generosity!
Islet! What's not to love? Thank you for a wonderful deal.
Thanks
I love giving books as gifts as they are a great thing to watch people open and have them get excited over what's inside.
I have a ferocious sweet toth, please make mine SWEET!
Sweet all the way!
I need more SWEET in my life! Thanks for the chance.
Thank you for all the enthusiasm around Give Books! I love reading about everyone's family traditions and your stories about giving books to loved ones. Just a note: to enter Bakerella's giveaway, you need to leave on comment on her blog (www.bakerella.com/give-books/), not this one. Happy gifting!
What a great idea! I love "Sweet" books
I would love to win the amazing Sweets books. Thank you
sweet please!!
Sweet please!
I love Bakerella, books and "sweets"!. What a great combo!
I would love to win either group of books because I love books. But if I had to pick, I think I would pick the "Sweet" books!
Hi, I'm from Moscow, Russia. I want to thank you for this wonderfull blog, and I want to win savory books.
I love cookbooks for myself. But I have 5 grandkids 8-2 and I really enjoy giving them books so that they can take journeys to places they only dream of.
I remember the first Christmas I did not receive a book. I was SO SAD and it never happened again. These books all look fabulous–especially "Chicken and Egg".
Love books, especially cookbooks. I would love to win the set of sweet books! :)
Love this idea…..I would love either, but I guess I would go for the Savory Group if I am choosen!
I would absolutely love to try the sweet books!! Thank you so very much!! :)
Sweet!
This is such a great contest for the holidays!
lovely books, i would love to win the savory collection
Sweet looks great but I think savory.
Savory books is what I need
Hey what a wonderful idea…I would love to win the very merry cookie party!! Have a very merry holiday!! Btw I love cookies!!
OMG! These are AWESOME! It'd be soooo cool if of got the sweet one! oMG! :D
I love books of all kinds and would love to win something "sweet" to read. Especially the gluten free since my friends daughter has celiac. thanks
I would love to win the sweet ones, I love baing and alwys on the market for a new cook book.
So awesome! Sweet for me please
Such a great idea and who doesn't love books of any kind….cookbooks are so precious and would love to enduldge…SAVORY books.
What a great idea! Thanks so much, and I'd love any of them, but probably prefer Sweets!
I would love to win a cookbook anytime.. sweet or savory… Thanks for this chance to win… Happy holidays !!
The Sweet reads look absolutely charming!
having children in elementary school, lets me appreciate books a lot more…this collection is great.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to win a book. As cooking is my passion I will be completely pleased to win the cookies book or the cupcakes book or any sweet book.
I would love to win the Sweet books. What a great giveaway…
I would love to win the "Sweet" Reads!! Im a sweets kinda girl!! Crossing fingers I win :)
I am an artist, so color and design books are great so the decoration book would be my favorite.
I always give books for gifts, they are easy to mail and my kids learned to love books early in childhood, especially my daughter and my oldest son.
Any food is good food, but baking is my favorite to prepare, so I'd choose sweet!
Oh wow, this really is an awesome thing you all are doing I wish we had books like that when I was a kid. Once I really finally started to enjoy reading, I had wished I had set aside more time to read. I would love to be the one to start that tradition in my family. Thank you for a good start, hopefully :)
I love books! I love cookbooks and decorating books the most but Art and Floral are way up there. I read tons of novels, autobiographies, biographies fiction and nonfiction. I just love to curl up with a book and read!! Everybody on my list gets a book every year!!
I love all books- glutin fee and bakerella sound really good.