The Test - Can you find a book for everyone in your family?

The answer:  YES!


So, for Christmas, I did a test to see if I could find a book for everyone in my family.  Sure, I could find a book, but could I find one that they actually wanted, one that they would actually open up???


So I went on my mission.  For the women in my family, I had the opposite problem.  Narrowing down which book I wanted to buy.  They are avid readers like myself.


I bought A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick for my sister and Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls.  Both books came highly recommended to me by other avid readers, so I assumed I could not go wrong.  Plus, I am guessing that they will switch the books once they have read them...


But the real challenge was for the men in my family.  My brother does not read much, but he does enjoy John Grisham.  So, naturally, getting him The Confession seemed like a no-brainer.  And I was right.  He was excited to get it.  Now, for my other brother, that was a different story.  He has a lot of interests that have a ton of books about them - military, history, sports, and electric guitar.  But, he is not much of a reader.  So I solved the case when I found a great book about legendary guitar players that taught how to play their key songs.  Genius...  He not only loved it, but it was a book he would not have bought for himself.


Two men down, two to go...  My cousin also does not read (apparently, the women in my family have sucked up the reading gene).  But, he is a new, single father of a two year old.  I found a great book on parenting infants to toddlers with month by month explanations of what to expect.  An overall reference guide for him to answer the basic questions.  Unless he is a horrible liar, which I seriously doubt, he was also thankful for the book.  Whew...


Now, for the final, and maybe most difficult, man my brother-in-law.  He recently just got his paramedics license and was DONE with reading.  But, I was not about to give up or leave him out.  So I kept my eyes open as I perused the bookstore for idea's.  Thank goodness he has a sense of humor, and that Jon Stewart released Earth (The Book): A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race.

Result is that if you think hard enough of the interests of the person you are buying for, then you are most likely going to find a book for them that they could not only use but love.