I think it’s safe to say that in these times, when people give gifts it usually defaults to either alcohol, clothes, vouchers or some variance on these. I think it’s time that most people should think about giving books as a form of a gift.
What brings me to say this, is that I’m about to lend a book that I really truly love to a good friend and I’m eager to look forward to their experience of it.
The written word is an amazing thing frankly- it can be used to lecture or litigate, to preach or to convert, to converse or talk down upon. Given the write author and context, the written word and the novel is an amazing thing.
The book I’m lending to my friend is certainly one that could be classified as a niche genre. I loathe to use that word because it labels an amazing piece of work with an arbitrary label (after all who decides what is nice as my niche certainly isn’t yours and vice versa?), so you know what I won’t use it.
The work I’m lending is by one of my favourite authors in gay romance and my friend is straight. Straight but not narrow because they are an amazing and inspiring individual who has a brain and is just all around awesome- the reason I’m lending him this novel is because this book ( The Weight of it All by N.R Walker), is the most laugh out funny thing I’ve ever read, which has an inspiring message that by the end of it you are transformed as a reader and individual. Such an inspiring message surly must be shared with as many people as the messages of love, acceptance and identity is truly universal, that any individual can recognise and identify with it.
The advantage of lending and/or giving a book to a friend is that the lender/giver is using their ability to recognise the themes in the book and also using the knowledge of their friends to be able to identify a positive impact that the book will have on the, to be able to recognise the inner core of their friend and how it is reflected in the written word as well as how the written word can have such an amazing impact on their friend.
I truly hope my friend likes this book because it is nothing short of amazing!
