Bood advent calendar - recommend your books

[Anonymous]

Kid is 16. Female. Loves teen romance (To all the boys I've loved before, The summer I turned pretty, etc.). Also loves dystopian'ish (think, The Hunger Games). Likes some light horror.

Looking for 12 books to wrap and give as an "advent calendar" this year for the holidays. I know I can buy one but then I can't pick the books, only the genre.

[Anonymous]

Lunar Chronicles
Court of Thorn and Roses series

[Anonymous]

Eleanor & Park

[Anonymous]

Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents
Klara and the Sun
Children of Blood and Bone
Sea of Tranquility

[Anonymous]

The Stand
Keeper of the Isis Light

[Anonymous]

I think this is a lovely idea, and I posted my suggestions earlier. Upon reflection, however, I’m not sure how well the actual implementation would be received. Generally, unless they’re titles/authors I’ve specifically requested, books I’ve received tend to leave me feeling less than enthusiastic. They may be very nice books that I might even enjoy reading, but they tend not to be the books I get excited about.

As an alternative, maybe you could give her money/coupons representing money towards a shopping spree at the bookstore. If you give her $1 on day one, $2 on day two . . . $12 on day twelve, the total is $78.

Another alternative you might want consider would be to mix up the selected novels with other bookish type gifts. You could intersperse novels with things like a booklight, bookends, a magazine subscription, a puzzlebook, a coffee table book related to other interests, etc. You might even throw in some treats to indulge in while reading (hot cocoa, Japanese sodas, bottled coffees, chocolates, cookies, etc.)

[Anonymous]

I love this idea and love even more PP’s idea of mixing it up with book-adjacent gifts too. Be sure to keep gift receipts for each book so that she can exchange them if she’s read them already or they don’t appeal to her.

In fact, maybe the last day your advent gift to her is a gift certificate for a trip to the bookstore to exchange anything and/or a mother-daughter outing to your favorite coffee shop with your favorite books.

[Anonymous]

Go to Politics and Prose on Ct Ave. There are people who work there who if you tell them one book, they can find a bunch of suggestions of similar books that might appeal, especially in the YA section. And they have literally read them. ALL.