Best Bookish Gifts of 2025
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I’ve been doing “Most Beautiful Books of the Year” annual holiday gift guides for eight years now, and until now they’ve always been one giant, sprawling monster of a post. Which is fun, but… can be a lot. So for this ninth annual edition, I’m changing things up and sharing my favourites in separate genre round-ups instead. I hope this makes things more manageable for both of us (feedback always welcomed)!
This page is dedicated to bookish gifts – lovely, literary-minded treasures for the readers in your life, or for feathering your own cosy reading nest. My picks for the best fun things of 2025 are listed below, with those marked by a star (★) also visually reviewed in the video. Please note that nothing is sponsored or given to me by publishers – these are things I like enough to buy for myself or as gifts for friends and family.
Bookshop links are included below if you are interested in buying any of the books for yourself (many are on this Amazon list, if that's helpful). Some of the links are affiliate links (and thank you if you use them!) but please do support your local bookstore as a priority if you can. If you're new here, and you'd like more regular recommendations, you might also like to check out my regularly updated lists of special editions, pre-order offers, and/or subscribe to my very occasional newsletter.
And now, on to the gifts!
Video Overview
Bookish Gifts
Cute Book & Shelf Accessories
★ Book Tavern Signs
These whimisical library dividers feel like they are welcoming signs swinging above the door of a tavern from your favorite novel, inviting booklovers in to spend a cozy afternoon.
You can customise them by choosing different post styles, labels and hanging picture designs, which cover not only genres but popular book series like Dune, Lord of the Rings, Fourth Wing or the Cosmere. Handmade in the USA.
➤ Buy from Etsy
★ Magic Sprout Bookmarks
Super cute “cottage core” silicone bookmarks that look like tiny mushrooms are sprouting out from your favorite magical tomes.
➤ Buy from Amazon
Steel Mill Bookclub - Vases, Mugs and More
Lovely ceramics (vases, mugs, plant pots, stationery and more) adorned with charming literary prints. Lots of them even come in cute bundles!
➤ Buy from Amazon
Literary Games
★ Literary Quicktionary
Literary Quicktionary is a fast-paced, “all-play” card game for readers where players race to shout out a word or phrase fitting prompts from three different decks (e.g., “Starts with ‘S',” “Has an odd number of letters,” “Related to mystery”) to win points. It's a spin-off of the original Quicktionary game designed for bibliophiles – simple to learn, but not easy – and a particularly fun idea for bringing something different to book club.
➤ Buy from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
Check Your Shelf
A trivia game with 100 cards split into four color‑coded genres (classics, modern lit, mystery/horror, SFF), with multiple‑choice questions. Basically book‑club trivia in a pretty book-shaped box.
➤ Buy from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
A Place For All My Books
Despite the title being a bit, er, triggering for anyone with shelf overflow, this is an efficiency/strategy game in which you collect, sort, and stack tiny book tiles in your dream library.
For 2-4 players, takes about an hour to play, includes charming artwork and a solo mode.
➤ Buy from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
Journals & Stationery
★ Faeries of the Faultlines: Faery Journal - Iris Complet
Faultlines occur where the veil thins between our world and the next, offering a glimpse of fairies and magical creatures beyond this realm. This lined journal is beautifully illustrated in b&w, and would be an amazing companion to the original art book that inspired it, Faeries of the Faultlines.
➤ Buy Faeries of the Faultlines Journal from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
➤ Buy Faeries of the Faultlines Book from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
☞ Check out more in the Wool of Bat series
★ Lang's Fairy Journals
Let's face it, most of us will never afford the beautifully decorated first editions of Andrew Lang's Rainbow Fairy books. But if you'd like to sprinkle a bit of their magical design in your shelves, I highly recommend the Peter Pauper fairy journals – as well as reproducing the cover illustrations by Henry J. Ford they use thick acid free paper, have gilded page edges and a matching satin ribbon, and come in various sizes.
➤ Buy Orange Fairy Journal from Amazon | Barnes & Noble
➤ Buy Olive Fairy Journal from Amazon | Barnes & Noble
➤ Buy Violet Fairy Journal from Amazon | Barnes & Noble
☞ Admire the first editions of Andrew Lang's Rainbow Fairy Books that these designs replicate.
Lifelines Scented Colored Pencils
Not really something I can show in a video, but these essential oil infused penscile smell awesome, have vibrant colors, and even super fun names like “pine needles blanketing a forest trail”, “apple pie with vanilla ice cream” and “dancing in the summer rain”. There are quite a few different packs to choose from, I've listed my favorites below.
Memory Books
Time passes faster than you think it will, and capturing cherished memories is always special. You can do this in any old notebook of course, but there are some very pretty ones with prompts that help remind you to preserve family recipes, traditions, gifts, and other meaningful moments. I've linked a couple of pretty ones from Paige Tate & Co below.
Book Nooks
★ Lego Icons Book Nooks
These fabulous Lego kits double as cute book nooks, or you can flatten them out as display pieces. Full of fun literary details to enjoy as you build. Pretty spendy unfortunately, but fun to make, and sturdy without having to deal with all the fiddly gluing of other model types.
There are three models to choose from – Sherlock Holmes on Baker Street, Harry Potter and the Hogwarts Express, and Gandalf's epic “you shall not pass” battle with the Balrog from Lord of the Rings.
➤ Buy Lord of the Rings Balrog book nook from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
➤ Buy Harry Potter book nook from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
➤ Buy Sherlock Holmes book nook from Barnes & Noble
★ Infinite Magicspell Library
This clever bookstore book nook design makes use of a LCD projector to produce a flickering flame that lights up to reveal a hidden library with the use of a wand (or button) – you can even set it to turn on with a motion sensor. Perfect for a magical library!
➤ Buy it from Amazon
CuteBee Owl Bookstore Book Nook Kit
This DIY owl bookstore book nook is designed for beginners to take around 1-2 hours to assemble. It includes lots of sweet (flat piece) elements and even includes battery-powered lighting. (CuteBee have a bunch of pretty book nooks to explore!)
★ OOAK Handmade Book Nooks
There are lots of clever artists selling incredible one-of-a-kind book nooks on Etsy. I've included a few of my favourites below, but you can lose yourself for hours checking them all out.
➤ Browse Etsy for book nooks
Some Artist Suggestions
➤ Browse HandmadeTinyTreasure designs (AU)
➤ Browse LDelaney designs (US)
➤ Browse KheironsPrints designs (US)
➤ Browse Handicrafts Ireland designs (Ireland)
➤ Browse BookNookFR designs (France)
➤ Browse LOMArt Studio designs (Ukraine)
➤ Browse Malena Valcarcel designs (Spain)
Postcards
Oceanarium Postcards by Teagan White
50 beautiful illustrations of underwater creatures, based on Welcome to the Museum's Oceanarium.
➤ Buy postcards from Amazon | Barnes & Noble
☞ Check out the rest of the Welcome to the Museum series
Photo Ark: 50 Postcards by Joel Sartore
50 stunning animal portraits from the best-selling book The Photo Ark.
➤ Buy postcards from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
➤ Buy The Photo Ark from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
New York Botanical Garden In Full Bloom Postcards
100 pieces of vibrant artwork of fruit and flowers from the archives of the New York Botanical Garden.
➤ Buy postcards from Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Tarot Decks
★ Tarot of the Woodland Wardens - Jessica Roux
This 78 card tarot deck is inspired by the classic Rider-Waite-Smith imagery, with the human figures replaced by woodland creatures who share their innate wisdom and spiritual guidance. Can also be used with the Woodland Wardens Oracle
➤ Buy Tarot of the Woodland Wardens from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
➤ Buy Woodland Wardens Oracle from Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Waterstones
★ White Hare Wisdom Oracle + Artefacts
A re-visiting of Jacqui Lovesey's whimsical first oracle deck with 47 large-tarot size cards (as opposed to the original 44), new artwork, and a 200 page full-colour guidebook with extended explanations and card summaries.
All of their work is adorable, and in addition to tarot and oracle decks, they sell original artworks (I have one!), illustrated story books, and adorable handmade ceramic ‘daleware'.
➤ Buy it from Etsy
Other Fun Stuff
Skeleton Reader Tarot Blanket
Although not a traditional tarot card design, this pretty wall-hanging or blanket has perfect cosy dark academia vibes.
➤ Buy from Etsy
Personalized Reading Tracker
A beautiful vintage-look reading tracker that you can personalize for your own library. (It also comes in multiple colors!)
➤ Buy from Etsy
★ T2 x Penguin Books - The Little Library of Nostalgic Classics Tea Bag Collection
36 tea bags in 12 “book boxes” designed to look like a library of your favourite childhood classics.
➤ Buy from T2 (shops in Australia, NZ and Singapore)
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