Perfect Gifts For Reading Geeks: Chapter 2

If your gift list includes avid readers, take heart. We’ve found extraordinary presents for every reading geek. In fact there are so many delights, it’ll take us a few days to share them all. Bookmark this list to use beyond the holidays and to satisfy your own reading-related hankerings. Remember to check out chapters one , three, and four in this guide. 

Tentacle attacks pirate ship bookends ($42.99) are designed and handmade from solid steel by Knob Creek Metal Arts. They’re finished in hammered black and sturdy enough to handle a hefty row of hardbacks. They offer plenty of other awesome bookends to choose from including geek ($42.99), ufo abduction ($49.99), pi symbol ($42.99), zombie ($46.99), and epic ($42.99). They also make racks, yard art, signs, clocks, and personalized pieces.

We’ve got a thing for their poseable Mr. Skeleton ($29.99) who looks like he could quite handily hold book marks in his bony arms.

Handmade journal from a vintage book made by Etsy shop Gabblehatch. Each one is created from an formerly loved, upcycled hardbound book. The journal is filled with 60 sheets of recycled, acid-free, 24 lb. white paper. A few pages from the original book are included, which adds immeasurably to your delight as you use it. It’s all bound with a sturdy, wire coil binding that allows the book to lie flat.

We’re fascinated by the eclectic Gabblehatch selection such as Think For Yourself from 1937 ($22), Practical Electrical Mathematics from 1946 ($22), The Book of Joyous Children from 1902 ($22). Each journal is one-of-a-kind and ideal for note taking, scrapbooking, doodling, list making, and so much more. Gabblehatch will also take custom orders. And they offer other items made from upcycled vintage books including ornaments ($7.50-$9.50) and notecards ($10).

Fairy tale locket ($10) made by Etsy shop 1001 Designs.  This sturdy glass and metal locket holds a selection from The Grimm Brothers’ Fairy Tales published in 1926. Each story quote is hand selected and stamped. This locket’s selection is from “Little Red Cap” and reads: “Once upon a time there lived a sweet little girl who was beloved by everyone who saw her; but her grandmother was so excessively fond of her that she never knew when to give the child enough.”

Each locket is one-of-a-kind. If 1001 Designs is out, just ask, they’ll find another fairy tale quote for you.

Beautiful leather book, er BookBook by Twelve South. It looks like a vintage book, but is actually an iPad case ($79.99). The hardback cover and rigid frame protect the iPad while also disguising it from theft. There are no corner straps or elastic bands, this case has a secure grasp on your iPad. It has two zippers, making it easy to unzip just enough to connect to headphone cable or charging cord. It features an a variable-angle display stand and a built-in typing stand. It looks and feels like you’re holding a book, which you are.

Also available are models for 13″ MacBook Air ($79.95),  11″ MacBook Air ($79.95), MacBook Pro ($74.88), and iPhone ($59.95). No word on leather book covers for e-readers, what’s up with that Twelve South?

The perfect game for family, friends, or book club. It Was a Dark & Stormy Night – A Game of First Lines for People Who Love to Read ($39.95) isn’t just for book geeks, although they’ll love it. Enough categories are offered that everyone can be an expert: sci fi, short stories, children’s books, children’s movies, novels, mysteries, books made into moves, and many more.

Bookopoly ($24.99) is a bookish version of Monopoly. Game pieces include icons from various books such as a whale from Moby Dick, a fly from Lord of the Flies, a carousel horse from The Catcher in the Rye. Instead of houses and hotels, you own bookstores and libraries. Instead of railroads you acquire genres. Well, you get the idea. Fun without quite as much of the original game’s rampant capitalism.

Book Lover’s Scrabble ($23.80) isn’t just the same old game with a bookish twist. Well, you can play the standard game using this board but you can also play with a novel twist, letting players earn bonus points for literary words.

Literati Challenge ($28.95) may be challenging but it’s also hilarious. Each player gets five word cards. The definitions for these not-so-ordinary words are face down, not to be looked at right away. Players must write a story in 90 seconds using those words, gaining points as they bluff other players. Storytelling, vocabulary building, and silliness. What could go wrong?

 GeekMom received several review samples.