The Gifts of Reading

A small and lovely book by Robert Macfarlane has just been published to celebrate Independent Bookshop Week’s 10th anniversary. The Gifts of Reading (Penguin)  is available exclusively from independent bookshops.

It’s a book after GAB’s own heart–it’s all about the importance and value of giving and receiving books, how the act of giving books is charged with “a special emotional resonance – an exchange of intellectual and psychological currency – that leaves both the giver and the recipient the richer”. And two of the books MacFarlane writes about so affectingly have been chosen as GAB Books of the Month. (You’ll just have to read it!)

Macfarlane says: “Our bookshops – like our libraries – are simply vital to the reading life of this country.” Profits from the book go to the Migrant Offshore Aid Station.