I thought of the most stupendous gift for the bookstore lover. I’ll tell you exactly what it is a little later in this article, but I want to set the stage first.
Is there a word to describe the person who is obsessed with local bookstores? A bibliophile is a lover of books, and that is not what I mean. Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines bibliomania as “the extreme preoccupation of collecting books.” You can be defined by one or both of these words and never once step foot in a bookstore.
What I am talking about is the type of person who rates a new town by whether it has a bookstore or, all the better, three bookstores! That’d the kind of person who feels compelled to go out of their way simply because they heard there was an interesting little bookstore on some back road somewhere only 45 minutes away. They’re there for the sake of being there. They’d be just as happy around the corner seeing what is new at the bookstore in their neighborhood.
My family, we are these people. My husband, child and I seek out bookstores wherever we go. We arrive together at the doorstep and simply, without words, part ways. I head to the fiction section, my kid spends half the time in history and the other half in the horror section, and my husband heads for the travel section. Sometimes we stay for 20 minutes, sometimes an hour and a half.
The length of stay does not matter. It is the sense of absorption in the environment that makes
local bookstores special.
Their owners and employees are the nicest, most helpful and modest geniuses to exist.
Am I overselling their character? Not at all. They can quietly and calmly help a four-year-old full of ideas of creatures, colorful and diverse, from a world that exists only inside their mind locate the perfect place to fulfill their fantasies. They then can shift to help find a well-read old codger like my dad marvel at the small details that ring true to him in a historical recounting These people will bring a smile to many faces throughout the day and will always have another recommendation at hand.
It is hard to buy a bookstore lover a gift. If you buy them a book, they might already have it. More significantly, you are taking from them the very act of doing what they love — going to a bookstore.
I am back to my original purpose of disclosing the perfect gift for those people who love bookstores! Here in the Hudson Valley we have a Hudson Valley Book Trail. If you would like more info on what that is check out our earlier article: https://hudsonvalleyone.com/2021/04/24/exploring-the-hudson-valley-book-trail/
The bookstores on the book trail have lovely little tote bags with a hand-drawn map of the trail and a list of the booksellers. Buy this tote! Then buy gift certificates of whatever value you feel is sufficient and put them in the tote. A smaller gift might consist of five-dollar gift certificates from three stores along the route. You could pick only used bookstores or three stores near each other. You could stretch the bookstores out in such a way that the receiver of this gift might just have to stop at several others along the way.
If yours is a bigger gift, increase the amount or the number of stores. Three stores, four stores, all the stores on the book trail. The sky is the limit!
You are creating an experience, like a treasure map with golden doubloons along the way. An excited bookstore lover may make the tour in one day. A more pensive bookstore lover will stretch the joy out over the dark winter months ahead. Either way, you have successfully given a gift that will be enjoyed for many hours over the cold and dark winter months.
Join the family! 
