if you had to buy a book for someone you didin't know what would you buy?

[fairydust]

if you had to buy a book for someone you didin't know that well what would you buy?

male or female? how old (ish)?

female late forty's / early fifty's

biog?

new sarah waters meant to be good...

How about a classic like Rebecca (my fav) or for something a bit more modern The No1 Ladies Detective Agency (easy to read, pleasant non offencesive story)

there good keep em comming please

Enclyclopydia-something for every one in there

The Time Travellers Wife - great read

Some fab reference book with lovely pictures... birds or something? Earth from the air stuff vg. Depending on budget too obviously.

The Bookseller of Kabul - fascinating and topical.

budet is £10 - £20.00 will get hardback in what ever i choose in the end as it's a nicer gift i think

TTW £14.93 hardback on Amazon

Medulla - is it really good - am nervous about buying something.

I'd get a book token. I love books, but hate being given something I don't like, and then having to read it anyway to show that I'm greatful. Peoples' tastes vary hugely, and if you don't know them well I think it's pretty tough. But then I love book tokens - it's the chosing that's half the fun.

I really liked it. I agree with your thinking of getting a hardback version for a present - much classier, especially as you don't know the lady very well. Amazon do the top 100 hot books which is worth looking at for inspiration here

the reason i wanted to get an actually book is so dd can write inside the cover -it's dd special needs teacher from school and with out her she wouldn't be going to reception - just wanted to show we apreciate her and had put thought into it.

persephone books are great for gifts. all have plain dove grey covers and gorgeous end papers with matching bookmarks. also good reads with some real classics there! i can recommend 'little boy lost' (even dh enjoyed it) and for fun, there's a 1950s or 1930s housekeeping manual which is amusing or someone that age might remember 'it's hard to hip over thirty' and enjoy it (again?). they do nice gift wrapping too. shop is a bit close to a comedy upper middle class ladies publishing house to take seriously but the books are lovely.
here is website, sorry new here and don't know how to link using casual blue ink...
www.persephonebooks.co.uk/

we know she's a keen reader but even if she never reads it thought it might be a nice gesture

Ah, I see your reasoning. What about something non fiction? I always like getting new cookery /gardening books (in fact anything with nice pictures). Is there anything your dd likes maybe, that would add to that connection?

cye - love that Persephone Books site - have bookmarked it.

i'm a bit cross they seem to have lost their gift ideas page which was good for giving you ideas for people who liked cookery or gardening or whatever....
but here is a bit from a review of little boy lost. it's a good read for anyone with children or who cares about children

^'Hilary Wainwright, poet and intellectual, returns after the war to a blasted and impoverished France in order to trace a child lost five years before. The novel asks: is the child really his? And does he want him? These are questions you can take to be as metaphorical as you wish: the novel works perfectly well as straight narrative. It's extraordinarily gripping: it has the page-turning compulsion of a thriller while at the same time being written with perfect clarity and precision.
'Had it not got so nerve-wracking towards the end, I would have read it in one go.'^

No - it's still there on the right hand side of the home page, just above the pic of the bookshop.

oops

we went with the time travellers wife in the end just hope she likes it.thanks for all your input.