Gifts for Book Lovers

The best gifts for book lovers are, naturally, books—and you’ll find plenty of book recommendations on our site for the person who loves history or historical fiction, philosophy or fiction—or just wants to read the best books of 2025. This is my list of other gifts that are really useful for people who love to read. It’s based on my own research and experience as well as questions and comments I’ve received from readers.

The Best E-Readers

Like many people in the world today, I still prefer to read print books rather than electronic versions, but it isn’t always practical and I do end up relying heavily on my e-reader. After a big refresh of the Kindle range last year (which led to the discontinuation of my favourite Kindle, the Kindle Oasis, 😞), the current ‘best’ Kindle is most likely the Kindle Paperwhite. “It has all the best features that you would want for a Kindle,” Maneetpaul Singh, who has tested all of them, told us. “It has a seven-inch display, which is a very comfortable screen size—very similar to reading a physical book page.” It’s also better than previous versions. “The biggest improvement that I noticed was the speed,” Singh told us. “It just feels like a snappier device.”

If you’re looking for the cheapest Kindle, the basic Kindle does the job just fine. Other options now include colour Kindles and Kindles designed mainly for writing. Here are our descriptions by device: Basic Kindle | Kindle Paperwhite | Colour Kindle | Kindle Scribe

The other main type of e-reader is the Rakuten Kobo range. My sister (also an obsessive reader) loves hers. Like the Kindle, Kobos are available in different versions. The updated Kobo Clara BW received an excellent rating from UK consumer rights group Which? (a nonprofit that does extensive tests on all electronic gadgets sold in the UK). “Outperforming all e-readers, including Amazon’s Kindles, the slim, lightweight Clara wowed us with its super screen quality, especially in low light,” the magazine wrote in its review.

Moleskine Book Journal

If you read a lot, it’s easy to forget which books you’ve read and which you’ve enjoyed. There are quite a few reading journals out there, but my favourite is the Moleskine Book Journal. It’s very nicely done, and includes a slipcase. The pages are alphabetized (you’ll have to decide how best to order the books, by author or by title) and each book entry has its own page. On it, you fill in details like ‘title,’ ‘author,’ ‘date read’, ‘original language,’ ‘awards, ‘notes,’ ‘thoughts and impressions’ and ‘memorable quote.’ The journal is 8.25 by 5 inches with 350+ pages, enough to keep even the most avid reader going for at least a year.

A Subscription to Audible

It’s a golden age for audiobooks, with almost every book published also available in audiobook form and wonderful recordings of classic books being produced as well. Audible, which was bought by Amazon in 2008, is the world’s largest producer of audiobooks, and the range they offer is excellent. The app is easily downloadable onto a smartphone.

There are alternatives. Some, in contrast to Audible, are free. For example, LibriVox offers books that are in the public domain, all read by volunteers. But Audible is very good and worth the monthly subscription if you love books.

Earphones

Listening to audiobooks in a noisy place can be annoying unless you have a good set of headphones. If you prefer to have them over your ears, the best ones currently on the market are the Sony WH-1000XM6 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones. They’re expensive, but get close to removing the distracting noise of the outside world altogether, as  Which?, the UK consumer magazine, so neatly puts it.

For in-ear headphones, the AirPods Pro—now in their 3rd generation—are rated the most highly by Which? magazine, who write: “With superb sound quality, improved battery life, impressive noise cancelling, a comfortable fit and a wide range of features, the third-generation Apple’s AirPod Pro headphones are easily among the best in-ear headphones you can buy right now.”

In our chaotic household, however, earphones can end up in the washing machine or being dropped in the bath, and while water and sweat-resistant, AirPods are not guaranteed to be waterproof. As a result, I tend to buy cheap ones. I find the quality of the Anker Soundcore Wireless Earbuds perfect for my needs, even when I buy one of the models that costs around $20. I use them only to listen to audiobooks while running or on the train, and haven’t yet found a reason to upgrade to a more expensive pair.

Do you have any other suggestions? Please write to us ([email protected]), as we’re always on the lookout for good reading-related gadgets and stationery.