ReportWire

Tag: readers

  • Here’s What I’m Gifting My Fellow Book Lovers This Year

    [ad_1]

    I love losing myself in a good book, and I’m not the only one. Finding great gifts for book lovers isn’t just about testing for the best e-reader (which we have!) or rounding up all the accessories worth adding to your Kindle (we’ve done that too), but rather it’s about setting up your favorite reader to keep enjoying stories.

    You can help your favorite reader enjoy another story with anything from a new reading gadget and a handy accessory to cozy items to settle in for a nice, long reading session. After all, if there’s anything we’ve learned from the rise of #BookTok, it’s that there’s no lack of accessories and items that can make a reader happier than ever. Here are our favorite gifts for book lovers we’re shopping this season.

    Be sure to also check out our other buying guides, including Best Kindles, Best E-Readers, Best Kindle Accessories, Best Tablets, and Best Digital Notebooks. If you’re on the hunt for more gifts, don’t miss our guides to the Best Viral Gifts, Best Gifts for Bird Lovers, Best Subscription Boxes for Gifting, and many more.

    Updated October 2025: We’ve reorganized this guide and added new gifts from PopSockets, Strapsicle, BukSuk, Passion Planner, James Wax, East Fork, Beautiful by Drew Barrymore, Eberyjey, and Ugg, plus we’ve included new book sets.

    Featured Gifts

    Our Favorite Kindle

    Amazon Kindle Paperwhite (2024, 12th Generation)

    Jump to review

    A Fun Case and Grip

    PopSockets PopCase Kindle and PopGrip

    Jump to review

    A Sleek Sleeve

    The Quirky Cup Collective E-Reader Sleeves

    Jump to review

    Table of Contents

    A New E-Reader

    When I got back into reading, I fell in love with ebooks and getting free copies from the library that I would read on my Libby app. That year, for my birthday, I was gifted a Kindle from two different people, and I’ve never looked back. Whether they’re a new reader looking for a better or one who’s complaining about how heavy their books are, an e-reader makes for a great solution (and you can still get those free library books on it!).

    Amazon

    Kindle Paperwhite (2024, 12th Generation)

    If they don’t have a Kindle, the 12th-edition Paperwhite is our favorite one. It’s got a warm front light and great battery life, and it comes in a fun pink color. Upgrade to Signature for an auto-adjusting light and more storage (aka more books!).

    Kobo

    Libra Color

    If they have an e-reader but want the option to use color, the Kobo Libra Color is the best option. It lets them use a range of colors as they read, and you can add on a stylus to turn it into a digital notebook. It’s got page-turner buttons, which are great and something you won’t find on Kindle.

    E-Reader Accessories

    From cute cases to handy straps that make reading easier, there’s no lack of fun options to add to a Kindle or other e-readers.

    PopSockets

    PopCase Kindle and PopGrip

    PopSockets has a new collection of Kindle cases that have a MagSafe ring, so you can easily pop on a PopSocket grip. The Curled Up With a Good Book design has a matching case and grip you can use together.

    Strapsicle

    E-Reader Hand Strap

    These straps from Strapsicle make it really easy to hold up an e-reader. They’re easy to attach, and I even find just using one of the two straps secures it. The limited-edition neon collection is super fun and worth shopping before it runs out.

    The Quirky Cup Collective

    E-Reader Sleeves

    This stylish sleeve is a great gift to give an e-reader user who loves to take their device on the go. It’ll keep it protected without taking up more space.

    Lamicall

    Gooseneck iPad Holder

    I struggle with a wrist cyst that makes holding up my Kindle for long periods uncomfortable. This tablet holder works great for tablets and e-readers alike, and it lets my book hover over my head hands-free.

    Accessories for Physical Book Readers

    No e-reader? No problem. These book lights solve the constant struggle for a book reader: darkness getting in the way of their reading.

    Vekkia

    14 LED Book Light

    Our favorite reading light is a super versatile clip-on with an adjustable gooseneck. The two swiveling light bars have seven LEDs each.

    Glocusent

    LED Neck Reading Light

    This lightweight neck light is a great option if your reader might hate clipping something onto the pages. It has three light warmths and six brightness settings.

    Book Bags

    If the book lover in your life is known for toting their e-reader or book of choice everywhere they go, here are some fun accessories for carrying them around (and for logging their thoughts as they read!).

    Hello Clio

    The Original Kindle Belt Bag

    This cute belt bag isn’t too much wider than a normal one but packs a soft internal pocket made for carrying a Kindle Paperwhite or base Kindle.

    New York Public Library

    Library Card Tote Bag

    This tote bag screams “I love books” in the best way possible. It’s a great size with, nice long straps that make it super comfortable to wear.

    Stickers, Journals, and Annotation Tools

    Whether they’re looking to decorate their e-reader or the pages of their books, there’s a fun add-on here for every kind of reader.

    Strapsicle

    Sweet Stickers

    Strapsicle recently launched stickers, with both a sweet and spicy pack. It’s a nice-size set that could easily decorate multiple e-readers.

    Papier

    Reading Journal

    If they’re constantly crushing a new read, get them a journal to track everything they’ve read and how they liked it.

    Book Tabs

    I don’t like primary colors while I annotate my books. This is a similar but much larger pack of book tabs I found at my local Daiso, and the pastel colors are much more pleasing on the eyes as I mark up my book pages.

    Passion Planner

    Passion Highlighters

    I love these highlighters for my paper planners, and they’re a great option for readers who light to highlight their passages. There’s a highlighter and pen end for each color if they like to underline.

    Reading Vibes

    Gifts for your local book lover aren’t just giving books and book items. Help them set the mood while they read with these cozy gift ideas.

    James Wax

    Reading Time Candle

    The label says it all. Give them a candle to alert everyone they’re busy reading. I’ve tried all four scents you can choose from, and my favorites are the mimosa and white tea scents.

    Sony

    WH-1000XM6

    Help them block out the world while read (or take part in immersion reading, where you listen to the audiobook while you read the physical book at the same time) with our favorite noise-canceling headphones.

    East Fork

    The Mug

    Give them a gorgeous mug to stay hydrated with their drink of choice while they read, whether that’s a nice cup of tea or a hot toddy.

    Beautiful by Drew Barrymore

    Beautiful Electric Kettle

    They’ll need some hot water with that cup of tea, and this chic electric kettle is both stylish and affordable without slacking on performance.

    Ugg

    Men’s Neuman

    Give the gift of happy, cozy feet with our favorite set of men’s slippers. Our WIRED reviewer says these slippers hold up well and have the classic Ugg front, with a low back that makes them easy to slip on and off.

    Gorgeous Books and Boxed Sets

    Looking to give the gift of a true book? These box sets and illustrated editions are worth collecting.

    Lord of the Rings Illustrated Editions

    If there’s a book I want to get my husband that he’s already read, it’s these beautiful illustrated editions of Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and even The Silmarillion.

    One Piece

    Maybe they’ve been a One Piece fan for years. Maybe they’re a new fan after seeing the Netflix series. You can start their collection of the still-running manga or even give a couple initial volumes to get them hooked on the original.

    Crescent City Boxed Set

    If they’re fans of A Court of Thorns and Roses, it’s official: They’ll need to read Sarah J. Maas’ other series, Crescent City, to keep up with what happens in the next ACOTAR book. The first one is my favorite.

    Judy Blume Essentials (Boxed Set)

    by Judy Blume

    These are a great series of books if you’re shopping for an elementary reader or teenager. The books have held up, with Blume’s themes still resonating years later.

    Book Subscriptions

    Buying a book for someone can be hard if you’re not sure what they’re into or what they’ve already read. But covering a few months of a subscription is the gift that gives over and over again.

    Audible

    If you know someone struggling with time to sit down and read, give them an Audible subscription so they can listen to books while they drive, do chores, work out, and so much more.

    Book of the Month

    Subscription

    Book of the Month is a subscription for the reader who loves physical books. Every month, there are five to seven titles to choose from that ship right to their door (they can skip months if nothing catches their eye).

    Parnassus

    Signed First Editions Club

    WIRED reviewer Adrienne So has subscribed for years (on and off) to Parnassus Signed First Editions, from novelist Ann Patchett’s store in Nashville, Tennessee. The books are mainly literary fiction, with occasional nonfiction. Every book she’s gotten has been an absolute banger.

    Power up with unlimited access to WIRED. Get best-in-class reporting and exclusive subscriber content that’s too important to ignore. Subscribe Today.

    [ad_2]

    Nena Farrell

    Source link

  • WTF Fun Fact 13751 – Norwegians Read More

    WTF Fun Fact 13751 – Norwegians Read More

    [ad_1]

    Norwegians love to read. A survey from 2010 highlighted this passion. Reading isn’t just a holiday activity; it’s a year-round habit. During Easter, many Norwegians dive into murder mysteries. They enjoy detective stories and what they call “påskekrim” or Easter crime. Easter in Norway means skiing, family cabins, lamb roasts, oranges, and crime novels. The newspaper Aftenposten reported this.

    A study called Bokundersøkelsen 2010 showed impressive reading statistics. It was conducted by Norway’s publishers’ and book dealers’ associations. The study revealed that 90 percent of Norwegian men and 97 percent of Norwegian women read at least one book last year. Almost half of the women read more than ten books in a year. Norwegians don’t just read crime fiction. Literature, biographies, and political books also sell well. The local bookstores have a vast selection.

    A Nation of Avid Readers

    The survey described an “avid reader” as someone who reads more than 30 books a year. Ten percent of Norwegian men and 16 percent of Norwegian women fit this description. Books in Norway are not cheap. A new hard-bound book can cost over NOK 400, which is nearly USD 70. Despite the cost, Norwegians still buy and read many books.

    Not only do Norwegians read a lot, but they also give books as gifts. When choosing a gift, they are most likely to pick a book. Nearly 80 percent of parents read aloud to their children at least three times a week. Books are the most common gift for children. Norwegians grow up with books. Randi Øgrey of the book dealers’ organization Bokhandlerforeningen told Aftenposten, “The most important thing is that we top the charts internationally with our reading.”

    Norway has 640 bookstores. They have book clubs, and books are even sold in grocery stores. Øgrey noted that fewer people now think books are expensive. The rise of e-books and other media doesn’t worry her. She told Dagens Næringsliv (DN), “Our goal is to maintain this high level, no matter what the format.”

    Reading: A Cultural Staple for Norwegians

    The passion for reading in Norway isn’t a new trend. It’s deeply ingrained in their culture. The tradition of reading aloud to children fosters a lifelong love for books. This practice helps maintain high literacy rates and encourages reading as a leisure activity.

    The survey also highlighted the diversity in reading preferences. While crime fiction remains popular, Norwegians also indulge in a wide range of genres. This includes contemporary literature, historical biographies, and political essays. Bookstores reflect this diversity with their vast and varied collections.

    Norwegian readers also benefit from a strong network of libraries. These libraries provide access to books that might otherwise be too expensive for some. They play a crucial role in maintaining the nation’s high reading levels. The support for libraries underscores the value placed on reading and education in Norwegian society.

    The Future of Reading in Norway

    Looking ahead, the challenge for Norway is to maintain its high reading levels in the digital age. The rise of electronic books and the internet has changed how people consume content. However, Norway’s reading culture appears resilient. The commitment to reading is evident in the continued high sales of physical books and the popularity of bookstores.

    Efforts to promote reading among the younger generation are crucial. Programs encouraging children to read from an early age will help sustain the reading culture. Schools and parents play a vital role in these efforts. By fostering a love for books early on, Norway can ensure that future generations continue to be avid readers.

    — WTF fun facts

    Source: “Norwegians tops in reading” — Norway News in English

    [ad_2]

    WTF

    Source link

  • A Warning

    A Warning

    [ad_1]

    Like many reporters, I’ve been operating in Casaubon mode for much of the past eight years, searching for the key to Donald Trump’s mythologies. No single explanation of Trump is fully satisfactory, although Atlantic staff writer Adam Serwer came closest when he observed that the cruelty is the point. Another person who helped me unscramble the mystery of Trump was his son-in-law Jared Kushner. Early in the Trump presidency, I had lunch with Kushner in his White House office. We were meant to be discussing Middle East peace (more on that another time), but I was particularly curious to hear Kushner talk about his father-in-law’s behavior. I was not inured then—and am not inured even now—to the many rococo manifestations of Trump’s defective character. One of the first moments of real shock for me came in the summer of 2015, when Trump, then an implausible candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, said of Senator John McCain, “He’s not a war hero … I like people who weren’t captured, okay?”

    Explore the January/February 2024 Issue

    Check out more from this issue and find your next story to read.

    View More

    I did not understand how so many ostensibly patriotic voters could subsequently embrace Trump, but mainly I couldn’t understand his soul sickness: How does a person come to such a rotten, depraved thought?

    That day in the White House, I mentioned to Kushner one of Trump’s more recent calumnies and told him that, in my view, his father-in-law’s incivility was damaging the country. Strangely, Kushner seemed to agree with me: “No one can go as low as the president,” he said. “You shouldn’t even try.”

    I was confused at first. But then I understood: Kushner wasn’t insulting his father-in-law. He was paying him a compliment.

    Perverse, of course. But revelatory as well, and more than a little prophetic. Because Trump, in the intervening years, has gone lower, and lower, and lower. If there is a bottom—no sure thing—he’s getting closer. Tom Nichols, who writes The Atlantic’s daily newsletter and is one of our in-house experts on authoritarianism, argued in mid-November that Trump has finally earned the epithet “fascist.”

    “For weeks, Trump has been ramping up his rhetoric,” Nichols wrote. “Early last month, he echoed the vile and obsessively germophobic language of Adolf Hitler by describing immigrants as disease-ridden terrorists and psychiatric patients who are ‘poisoning the blood of our country.’ ” In a separate speech, Trump, Nichols wrote, “melded religious and political rhetoric to aim not at foreign nations or immigrants, but at his fellow citizens. This is when he crossed one of the last remaining lines that separated his usual authoritarian bluster from recognizable fascism.”

    Trump’s rhetoric has numbed us in its hyperbole and frequency. As David A. Graham, one of our magazine’s chroniclers of the Trump era, wrote recently, “The former president continues to produce substantive ideas—which is not to say they are wise or prudent, but they are certainly more than gibberish. In fact, much of what Trump is discussing is un-American, not merely in the sense of being antithetical to some imagined national set of mores, but in that his ideas contravene basic principles of the Constitution or other bedrock bases of American government.”

    David A. Graham: Trump isn’t merely unhinged

    There was a time when it seemed impossible to imagine that Trump would once again be a candidate for president. That moment lasted from the night of January 6, 2021, until the afternoon of January 28, 2021, when the then-leader of the House Republican caucus, Kevin McCarthy, visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago and welcomed him back into the fold.

    And so here we are. It is not a sure thing that Trump will win the Republican nomination again, but as I write this, he’s the prohibitive front-runner. Which is why we felt it necessary to share with our readers our collective understanding of what could take place in a second Trump term. I encourage you to read all of the articles in this special issue carefully (though perhaps not in one sitting, for reasons of mental hygiene). Our team of brilliant writers makes a convincingly dispositive case that both Trump and Trumpism pose an existential threat to America and to the ideas that animate it. The country survived the first Trump term, though not without sustaining serious damage. A second term, if there is one, will be much worse.

    The Atlantic, as our loyal readers know, is deliberately not a partisan magazine. “Of no party or clique” is our original 1857 motto, and it is true today. Our concern with Trump is not that he is a Republican, or that he embraces—when convenient—certain conservative ideas. We believe that a democracy needs, among other things, a strong liberal party and a strong conservative party in order to flourish. Our concern is that the Republican Party has mortgaged itself to an antidemocratic demagogue, one who is completely devoid of decency.

    This editor’s note appears in the January/February 2024 print edition with the headline “A Warning.”

    [ad_2]

    Jeffrey Goldberg

    Source link

  • Dog’s hilarious reaction to trying treat for the first time

    Dog’s hilarious reaction to trying treat for the first time

    [ad_1]

    This week, we have seen a goldendoodle’s unique way of getting downstairs and shelter dogs getting a well-deserved Thanksgiving meal.

    As well as viral animal videos, we have been looking at our readers’ amazing submissions for our Pet of the Week line-up.

    If you want your pet to be in next week’s line-up, follow the steps at the end of this story to find out how.

    Winner

    Pictures of Daisy Mae, this week’s Newsweek Pet of the Week. She had a hilarious reaction to her first taste of a new treat.
    Stephanie Clauson

    This week’s Pet of the Week is Daisy Mae, an 11-year-old rescue dog who had an adorable reaction to her first-ever pig-tail treat.

    “If she’s not eating, she’s sleeping or barking at absolutely nothing,” owner Stephanie Clauson told Newsweek.

    Living in Sacramento, California, Daisy Mae likes short walks and meeting strangers.

    “When Daisy is done walking, you will know,” said Clauson. “She will plop down, roll over, scratch her back and buttocks, with a huge smile like, ‘look at me, I’m so cute.’”

    Clauson shared the hilarious footage of Daisy Mae’s reaction to her first-ever pig-tail treat, hoping it would put a smile on people’s faces.

    “She is a ham, as you can see,” Clauson said. “My little butterball.”

    Finalists

    Duke the dog
    Pictures of Duke the dog. His owner told Newsweek he is like a “person personality in a dog’s body.”
    Amelia A. Betancourt

    First up this week is Duke, a 3-year-old dog who loves nothing more than to sleep, eat and play.

    Owner Amelia A. Betancourt, who lives in New Jersey, told Newsweek: “He thinks he is royalty. He is very picky with food. If it does not look good, smell good, he won’t eat it. He wants what he wants and he wants it. He is a person personality in a dog’s body.”

    Duke is a fan of hugs—but only on his terms. If he’s picked up for a cuddle when he hasn’t asked for it, he’ll let his owners know he’s not interested.

    Duke also loves to see birds and animals in the backyard, before coming back inside to get wrapped up and take a nap.

    Daisy and Dakota
    Pictures of brother-and-sister cats Daisy and Dakota, hanging out together in front of the window and on their double bed. “They love me and my home,” their owner told Newsweek.
    Kristine Bemko

    Next up this week is brother-and-sister tabby cats, Daisy and Dakota, who live with their owner Kristine Bemko in Bradenton, Florida.

    Now 5 years old, the felines were adopted by their owner in May 2023 and have since settled in perfectly. “They love me and my home,” Bemko told Newsweek.

    “Daisy loves food and treats a little too much, and she makes a toy out of anything, not that she needs to. Dakota is a momma’s boy,” Bemko said.

    Marvin the dog
    A picture of Marvin the rescue dog. He likes showing off his new look with hat and sunglasses.
    Jennifer Granko

    Last but not least this week is Marvin, a rescue dog that was found in a sorry state, but is now thriving in his home with owner Jennifer Granko.

    “Marvin was found dying in a ditch, skin and bones. Look at him now—he loves life and enjoys dressing up to make others smile,” Granko told Newsweek.

    This stylish dude often brings a smile to people he meets, and is a perfect example of how rescue dogs can thrive with the right care.

    Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.