To buy a book as a gift?

[SomethingOriginal2]

Is a book a good gift or is it too personal? I like reading but it takes a good specif8c genre book to hold my interest so if someone bought me a book it's probable I won't like it. SIL is an avid reader so I don't think she has specific tastes. But can you just buy someone a book you think is good? Am I thinking too much into this?

I received 3 books for Christmas and sent book tokens to my friend's sons (9&11). All were appreciated. My friend's boys do read but I don't know what they liked, p,us my friend said it's a nice outing to the bookshop for them to choose something.

So I was just at the shop and thought I'd just look and see if anything stuck out. An autobiography of someone she very much admires jumped out at me. So I got that. It was bloody 13 quid so fingers crossed it wasn't in vein! 🤣
Thank you all for your help, I know it wasn't really an aibu but I'm pretty shit at people and in real life people just tell you what they think you want to hear.

Just a thought there is a book coming out any minute

Depends on the book and the person.

If you know what genre they like, and can get one that you are fairly certain that she hasn't got then it's a great gift.
If you're buying her "How to lose weight in three easy steps" then don't!

I love books, but am fairly close over what I read now. I'd rather reread a loved book than have a new one I'm not bothered by. In fact I'd be far more thrilled to get a nice first edition of one of the authors I like than a recent edition of the latest literature prizewinning book.

Books are always a good gift if you know they'll like the author. I always buy my dad books.

So much so that he knows I pick what he wants about 2 weeks before Xmas he told me he'd brought the latest book by X author because he knows I would have got it if I'd seen it 🤣🤣🤷‍♀️

If you aren't sure a book voucher or if kindle reader an Amazon voucher.

Books make great gifts if you know interests of your giftee really well or there is a new book by the author they like, but it might be tricky in other settings (ie you give them the book you think they will like because you've liked it or it's trending right now).

A book club subscription is a safer option for when you aren't quite sure, and I don't think a voucher feels like a cop out, to me it would be a nice gesture, like someone is giving me an opportunity to pick something I'm interested in instead of trying to force their likes onto me, and later on I think of them very fondly.

Also a gift for an avid reader doesn't actually have to be a book. You can design a printable custom calendar with quotes from SIL's favorite books or get her tickets to a play based on the book she likes, etc. Again, book subscription services that offer a new book every month are there- www.zdnet.com/article/best-book-service/