Giving Books

December 12, 2008

Below is a holiday message from Roy Blount, Jr., president of Authors Guild, the professional organization in the U.S. that advocates for writers’ interests. The message is posted with his permission and is also posted on the Authors Guild website. 

Having long recommended books for gift giving myself, I’d like to add a few words of my own with a slight living-in-Japan orientation.

Stock up on books for those times when you need gifts. Going to a friends’ house? Need a gift when someone has done you a favor? Whether the recipients have children or not, give picture books set in your local region. Give picture books that appeal to all ages. Need omiyage? Stop into a book store during your travels and seek out books about the area. Searching for gifts for friends and family overseas? Use your favorite online bookseller to send books written or edited by writers based in Japan. Want to do something nice for a school or library? Confer with librarians to determine their general needs and donate some new titles.

Need some ideas? For reviews of internationally themed children’s books see PaperTigers, and for reviews of adult and children’s books relating to Asia try the Asian Review of Books or O-Hayo Sensei’s Bookstore . There are gaps in these lists, so if your favorite Japan-related books or your own books don’t appear, let them know!

So when the spirit of giving hits, give books. Quality new books; they last, and they definitely please!

Holiday Message from Roy Blount Jr.: Buy Books From Your Local Bookstore, Now

I’ve been talking to booksellers lately who report that times are hard. And local booksellers aren’t known for vast reserves of capital, so a serious dip in sales can be devastating. Booksellers don’t lose enough money, however, to receive congressional attention. A government bailout isn’t in the cards.
We don’t want bookstores to die. Authors need them, and so do neighborhoods. So let’s mount a book-buying splurge. Get your friends together, go to your local bookstore and have a book-buying party. Buy the rest of your Christmas presents, but that’s just for starters. Clear out the mysteries, wrap up the histories, beam up the science fiction! Round up the westerns, go crazy for self-help, say yes to the university press books! Get a load of those coffee-table books, fatten up on slim volumes of verse, and take a chance on romance!

There will be birthdays in the next twelve months; books keep well; they’re easy to wrap: buy those books now. Buy replacements for any books looking raggedy on your shelves.  Stockpile children’s books as gifts for friends who look like they may eventually give birth. Hold off on the flat-screen TV and the GPS (they’ll be cheaper after Christmas) and buy many, many books. Then tell the grateful booksellers, who by this time will be hanging onto your legs begging you to stay and live with their cat in the stockroom: “Got to move on, folks. Got some books to write now. You see…we’re the Authors Guild.”

Enjoy the holidays.
Roy Blount Jr., President, Authors Guild

Posted by Holly Thompson on 12/12 at 01:51 PM

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