Valentine’s Day Book Gifts for Everyone on Your List

For those of us who love books, any occasion is the right occasion to give a book as a gift, and that includes Valentine’s Day. Here are some book ideas for all of the Valentines on your list and maybe one or two for you as well.

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For a Special Child

We all know Margaret Wise Brown for Goodnight Moon, of course, but A Child’s Good Night Book was a favorite of mine to read to my kids when they were little. It’s such a sweet book about animals all over the world settling down and going to sleep. It was also a 1944 Caldecott Honor Book.

For Someone Who Loves Reading About Flowers as Much as Receiving Them

Victoria is a young adult just aging out of the foster system and the one thing that has sustained her through all she has been through and will continue to as she moves forward is her love of flowers and their meanings. My book club has literally read hundreds of books since we’ve been together. Many I don’t remember at all, but The Language of Flowers is one I still can recall years later.

For the Business Type Who Also Loves Sports

Shoe Dog tells the story of how the iconic company Nike came to be. This book was eagerly anticipated because Phil Knight, the founder of Nike, is famously private. Warren Buffet said it was the best book he read the year it came out. Andre Agassi called it “candid, funny, suspenseful, literary.” I read it a few years back and can agree that it’s interesting and memorable and full of lessons about business and life.

For the House Lover

I love a good coffee table book and I have dozens, but if I had to pick just one to keep and look through forever it would be Bunny Williams’ An Affair with a House. The pictures are amazing, as you would expect, but I love the writing as well. I dedicated an entire post to this book; you can see it here.

For the History Buff

James Garfield might be the most fascinating U.S. President you know nothing about. Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President is the story of his life, including his (reluctant) rise to the presidency. Things intensify when just four months after taking office he is shot in an assassination attempt but doesn’t die right away. Those around him during that time fought each other for power, including over his medical treatment. Alexander Graham Bell even played a role, as unlikely as that seems. Candice Millard makes non-fiction read like fiction. I learned so much from this book while being thoroughly entertained.

For Someone Who Likes Their (Brilliant) Spiritual Books with a Side of Humor and Irreverence

Anne Lamott considers the three essential prayers to be help, thanks, and wow. When I first heard that I thought about it and was hard-pressed to come up with a situation where one of those prayers wouldn’t work. Anne Lamott’s genius is in the way she gets us to look at the world through different perspectives, and I love how her spiritual lessons are delivered with heavy doses of humor and irreverence. Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers is my favorite of her books.

For the Memoir Lover

In This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, Ann Patchett explores the things she has been committed to over her life, including but not limited to her husband. I haven’t read this book yet (it’s next up on my nightstand) but I’m including it here for two reasons: 1. I trust that anything Ann Patchett writes will be wonderful and 2. one of my dearest friends finished this book, texted me, and then drove it to my house to leave it on my porch because she knew I would love it.