SantaThing 2025!

It's that time of year again—this is our NINETEENTH annual SantaThing!

Important links
- SantaThing page
- SantaThing Help/FAQs
- Blog post
- Donations thread
- Help picking thread: coming soon
- Arrivals thread: coming soon

You can edit your SantaThing entry at any time by going to the SantaThing page, and scrolling down a bit to "Your SantaThings." Each entry has an "(edit)" link to the far right of that line. Click on the member name next to a SantaThing profile to read about their preferences and leave suggestions!

Any questions? Post them in this thread, see the SantaThing Help page for FAQs, or email me directly at kate@librarything.com.

I'm so excited! I realized I had some money in my paypal that i never got around to transferring, enough to participate. yay!!!

Last year's Santa found the most perfect book based on my request, and it has basically driven 90% of my reading this year. Not to raise too high of a bar for whomever my Santa is this year, lol.

WOO! I'm so excited!! :D

Hello! Just noticed the donations thread link isn't working.

>3 shimmermarie: Just fixed this. Thanks for letting us know!

>2 keristars: That is the best possible outcome of SantaThing!

I can't believe it's come around again already!

Always fun!

Hooray! Last year was my first SantaThing and whoever chose my books did an amazing job. I already signed up. Really looking forward to this and the card exchange. :)

I think I was being a bit of a dork in last years Santa Thing thread, I'm still very sorry about that.

I did this for the first time last year and loved it. I think I enjoy the opportunity of strewing about suggestions for others even more than getting surprise books myself...

>10 Edward528: Same here :D Best part about signing up is that I get to be a secret santa for somebody else!

>10 Edward528: agreed! I loved my santee's request last year, because it gave me an opportunity to discover all sorts of interesting books while trying to find a really good one for them. :)

It's neat when the matching algo pairs you with someone with similar but not exactly the same interests. I've read/added a lot of more obscure books added this year, so I'm curious to see who I get paired with. :)

(oh, this reminds me to add another obscurish book i just got... "The Best of All-Story Love: 1929" - a collection of pulp magazine romance stories. I think I'm the only one to add it so far, so that won't help the algo any though, lol)

>10 Edward528: Honestly, one of my favorite parts.

I'm in again. One of my favorite holiday traditions.

>14 Helenoel: Yay!

Oh my gosh, I haven't looked at the page recently, but the list of participants. Are we really at 200+?!

>16 keristars: We sure are!

>17 katemcangus: it's always exciting to see the list of participants bloom as the month goes on. :)

Given that more participants means a lot more work for staff, and that picking is the hardest/longest task for us users, might it not make more sense to have a shorter sig-up time, and a longer picking slot??

It's currently only 1 week at the start of the xmas rush, which doesn't leave a lot of time for careful consideration of libraries/wishlists/availability/budget - somehow I doubt we're all on LT every day .

>19 reading_fox: I like to start looking through the list about now and make recommendations for the participant, which may help the Santa (or any backup pickers if the Santa forgets to do it in time).

I think it's a nice way to reduce the pressure for that week, and I always enjoy seeing what else was recommended (if there were any!) both as Santa and Santee.

Look, I don't want to be the GrinchThing here, but I think I participated in SantaThing once. I know I got the Book Depocalypse Medal for 2010.

That was 15 years ago though. There ought to be a way of opting out of the sign-up messages and emails. Because "…you participated in the past" is too broad and long-term.

I wish all the very best of fun to all the Santas and may all the Santees receive exactly the book of their dreams (whether they knew it in advance or not), but it just isn't for me any more.

>19 reading_fox: I think it is precisely because people aren't on the site every day that it is best to allow a healthy time period during which people can sign up. A short time period means more people who want to participate will accidentally be unable to sign up.

Once you do see the post, you can take note of all the deadlines and plan accordingly.

>22 Capybara_99: >19 reading_fox: That's exactly why we allow so much time for folks to sign up! We know the turn around time for making picks is quick, but we made it so to (hopefully) ensure books arrive by the 25th.

This is my first time participating in Secret Santa, and I'm so excited! I can't wait to pick out books for my Santee, and receiving books from some lovely person on LibraryThing!

>24 andbirds: I hope you have THE MOST fun! If you've got time, you can also click on any entry right now and make suggestions for picks in the comments!

Making suggestions is my favorite thing this time of year.

NPR's Best Books of 2025 came out today!

https://apps.npr.org/best-books/#view=covers&year=2025

In case anyone is looking to make suggestions...

Update: we've extended sign-up by 26 hours. Be sure to register if you want to participate!

Registration closed an hour ago and Tim is in the processing of matching folks. Stay tuned!

Santas and Santees have been matched! Check your messages to see who you'll be picking for! And if you need any help choosing books or if you'd like to help others, head on over to the Help Picking thread in Talk.

>30 katemcangus: I've been matched with someone I picked for last year or the year before. It's not a good fit, so if someone wants to swap or there's a late entry, I'd appreciate it. If not, I'll try to snag an orphan. Thanks, and happy picking everyone!

>31 libraryperilous: I was matched with my own kid. I would love to swap.

>30 katemcangus: I hope my autistic self isn't sending you this too many times in too many different places, but I was matched up with my own kid. Can I please swap with that person who needs to swap... or any person to swap with? Thanks.

>30 katemcangus: Actually, it's worse. My daughter matched up with me, as well. So now I'm supposed to get books for her and she's supposed to get books for me. :( Can we please figure out a way to swap both? This is not the nature of LibaryThing SantaThing.

>32 sahra: Oof! I'm happy to swap with you however LT wants to handle this. 😊

>33 sahra: >31 libraryperilous: I would be willing to swap with you, too. I was matched with someone who asked for a genre i don't enjoy, I'm happy to try to pick something, but I'd worry that I chose poorly.

>36 keristars: Thank you! I completely understand. The last time I picked for my current Santee I felt I chose poorly.

>32 sahra: sahra, we're in the midst of switching Santees for you. We'll let you know when we're done.

>31 libraryperilous: >36 keristars: If y'all want to swap who you're picking for we can make that happen, but you can also just work together to make picks, or even take your questions to the Help Picking thread on Talk.

>38 katemcangus: Politely, Kate: I will not be picking for my Santee because it's a bad match for them. That isn't fair to them. I already picked for them recently, and that is how I know it's a bad match.

I understand how SantaThing works. I wouldn't ask to swap if it were only an ill fit. Someone who will enjoy picking for this person deserves to do it. And, frankly, I should also get the fun of picking for someone else.

Tim should consider updating the algorithm so you aren't matched with the same participants more than once every five years or so.

>39 libraryperilous: >36 keristars: I understand. We'll switch your Santees. I'll be in touch when it's done.

>39 libraryperilous: >36 keristars: Your Santees have been switched! Let me know if there's anything else we can do.

>40 katemcangus:, >41 katemcangus: Thank you, Kate. I know this caused extra work for you. I appreciate the fix! And I know there were fewer entries this year for the matching process :(

Edited: numbering

>32 sahra: Santees have been switched! Let me know if you have any questions/concerns moving forward.

>42 libraryperilous: I hope this is a better fit for both of you!

It's been a hard year for a lot of folks. We're hoping that SantaThing will bring some joy to those participating.

>39 libraryperilous: I hope the new Santee is better for you! If nothing else, less stressful for not being a previous (mis)match. Funny enough, I had been thinking the original one would be a decent match for me, when I saw the request a few days ago.

>45 keristars: Your picks for my old one are great! 😀

I don't read the new one's genre, but I dont mind a mismatch—as long as it's not a recently previous one!

>46 libraryperilous: Yeah, I was definitely going to try my best with the genre, but I'm glad I could help you out! :)

I noticed that Powell's has a Black Friday sale, that unfortunately only goes until the 2nd. I know this would make organization that much more difficult for the organizers, but if they were willing to pull the trigger earlier, I could definitely have the books early.

>48 EerierIdyllMeme: Arghhh, I wish we could process orders during the sale! Unfortunately, we've given folks until the 4th to make (and potentionally edit) their picks.

This is my first year, I've filled out the Purchasing Details Identifier (ISBN/ASIN), Title and Author, and Price (USD) hit Add gift and got a green tag saying gift added. Do I need to do anything else? Also, I'm .95 cents USD over.

>50 StarryRiver: That's all you need to do! And anything under $1 over is fine -- LT can cover that.

@katemcangus if we wanted to pick a book that was out of price range but were willing to cover the difference, is that an option? Or does that make things too difficult?

>51 katemcangus: thanks. I feel bad about the .95 cents. I'd be glad to give Library Thing .95 cents if it would help and I knew how to do it.

>52 avanders: Absolutely, you can do that! I'll DM you with instructions.

>53 StarryRiver: Please don't feel bad! Think about it this way: some folks go over ~ $1 and some folks go under ~ $1 when choosing books, so it all evens out in the end.

I'm a first time participant and just wanted to say that this was a blast! I had so much fun shopping for a fellow Thingamabrarian. Happy holidays everyone!

>54 katemcangus: Yay! Thank you!!

>56 trav: That's wonderful to hear! Happy holidays!

I enjoyed choosing books too. The types of books my giftee likes to read are ones I generally don't appreciate to the fullest. It was a lot of fun reading about this genre and finding books I wanted to read, too.

>49 katemcangus: If it's possible to process just my picks for my Santee during the sale, I'm ready--I know it doesn't make sense to change everyone else's deadline. But I understand that processing one order early is probably a hassle too.

Anyway, the books I have down for my Santee right now are the ones I'd pick at the sale prices, and I'll switch them out if this isn't possible.

(My Santee was well chosen and easy to shop for, and with the sale I can get them two books and come in less than a dollar under budget!)

>60 EerierIdyllMeme: Unfortunately, no, we can't order your Santee's books now. I'm so sorry.

Hello All, I need your help! My Santee has $30 for books, and I picked a great book for $16.95. However, with $6 for shipping, that means I only have $7 left. I can't find any books I think they would like for such a low price. What should I do??

>62 andbirds: Perhaps try a classic within their preferred genre? If possible, that is.

>62 andbirds: that price-point is a struggle for sure! If you want to send me a private message w/ the name of your santee, I'm happy to look and see if I can find any suggestions?

Only $4.01 left at Longfellow Books. All I could find was a could kids' books. What should I do?

>65 gentlespirit512: Maybe it wouldn't help, but you can sort books by price, lowest to highest, on the Longfellow's site.

>54 katemcangus: Can you please DM with those instructions? I'm over $2.94, and I can pay for that. Thank you!!

>63 katemcangus: I looked and looked and I couldn't find ANY books for $7. Thank you for your help, regardless.

>67 andbirds: On it! Check your messages for a note from me.

>66 Capybara_99: I have never been able to find this... where is it?

>68 andbirds: I'm sending you a message shortly... so so so hard to find, but I think I might have?

I'm in a similar situation to a lot of the recent posters--I have about $4 left, but Powell's doesn't have anything for that sort of price, even older books. If anyone has an idea of how to use a few remaining dollars from Powell's, let me know.

>70 avanders: For me, not on mobile. On the books page to the left is a drop down menu under sort, which includes an ability to sort by price. There is also a place to check for books under $10.

Are we going to be able to pick up the Santees who were never filled? I'd be happy to do a few of those. :)

We've opened up picking for folks who have no picks yet: https://www.librarything.com/santathing.php. Please jump in, claim someone, and pick out some books for them!

I'm experiencing some issues going over by $2-$3 when almost every book is around $11-$12 and I've only got $30 to work with. Any suggestions?

EDIT: Like LibraryCin below, I've got one situation with a book someone else selected I'd like to delete and replace with one of my own. That's created one of my $2-$3-over situations, actually.

>75 katemcangus: Help! I picked up someone. But they already have one book selected, but it wasn't enough.

I want to delete that one to add in my suggestions (I put their title in a comment to preserve it), but it's not letting me delete it so I can add the ones I want to add. I thought I'd deleted it and added one of my two and it's now way over and it won't let me delete.

What do I do? Thanks!

>75 katemcangus: ... I need to get offline and I might not be back until this evening. Maybe I'll just pop back over every once in a while to see what I should do. Thank you.

ETA: It let me keep adding so I've got the two books I want listed there, but there is a 3rd I'm trying to delete. I'm getting offline now. Kate, the most expensive of the three (also mentioned in the comment I made) is the one I'm trying to delete (if you are able to change it). I will still try to pop in periodically throughout today (except I'll be out for a few hours later and I won't be doing anything online at that point.)

>78 LibraryCin: Hi LibraryCin! If a Santa has already chosen a book, you're not able to delete it. We try to honor their choices. Why don't you message me directly tonight and we can look at the entry together. Thanks!

>73 Capybara_99: I need to go back and look at that! Thanks! :)

And it looks like we're done, folks! Thanks once again for all of your help this year! Now on to ordering the books...

Id love it if the comments on our page were unblocked once we received our secret santa gifts so we can check out what suggestions were made

>82 RachaelCo: That’s the way it works. You can see the comments for you beginning Dec 25.

>83 Capybara_99: I love that. Im so excited

All physical book orders have been submitted! Here's hoping everyone's books arrive soon!

>85 katemcangus: yay!! Thanks to you all for hosting this & for all your hard work! 🎄♥️

Well done!

>86 avanders: >87 Petroglyph: SantaThing is such a treat to organize each year. Thank y'all for participating!!

Folks, don't forget to report the arrival of your SantaThing packages so that we can map them!

>89 katemcangus: Kate, I've sent you a pm about a SantaThing entry where I think the wrong book has been ordered, but I don't know if you've seen it... Probably too late to change now when orders are already being delivered, but it's #225 and one of the added gifts is a book with the same title but a different author from the one suggested in the comments (trying not to give anything away here in case the recipient is reading along, details in my earlier message).

Thanks for making all this happen!

>90 Edward528: I'm responding to you via DM right now! Check your messages in a few.

Just curious when do kindle books get released?

We'll sent the notifications for download next week. Keep an eye out for a message!

>1 katemcangus: I received my book from my Secret Santa yesterday - I am You! Very excited- have really wanted to read it!

Thank you to Santa for fantastic choices and the goodwill with which they were chosen.
May your holidays be filled with joy and pleasant plot lines.

>94 emfstreit: Wonderful news! Enjoy!

I received a box today in Charlottesville, VA, from Powells. I'm not going to open it until Christmas. Don't know how many books it contains. Changed my mind and opened the box; it contains 3 books. Two are by favorite authors of mine. I'm looking forward to reading the books.

Many thanks to my Secret Santa and to the LibraryThing staff who work so hard on SantaThing.

All ebook orders are in, which means that SantaThing ordering is DONE! Kindle retrieval messages will be sent shortly. Happy reading, y'all!

What a fantastic selection of topics my Santa found for me!

• Continental Reckoning: The American West in the Age of Expansion, Elliott West
• Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America, Ann Braude
• Sacred Liberty: America's Long, Bloody, and Ongoing Struggle for Religious Freedom, Steven Waldman

They're absolutely the kind of book I was hoping for. Especially the Ann Braude - just yesterday I saw someone talk about the Shakers and feminism re: "The Testament of Ann Lee" and thought yes, I need to get more scholarship on that topic, and here one is!

I can't wait to finish my current book (America, América: A New History of the New World) so i can start on them!

>98 katemcangus: have all the kindle messages been sent out?

The comments aren’t open for me. Is that a problem on my end, or just hasn’t happened yet?

I also expected the comments to be opened by now (6:53 p.m. Eastern time (U.S.))

Same here

I never got my kindle books either I asked a few days ago. Anyone else not receive theirs?

>104 RachaelCo: I've messaged/emailed you with that information. Let me know if you have any trouble!

>101 Capybara_99: >102 sallylou61: >103 Cfraser: We hope to have them open soon. Sorry for the delay, y'all.

Oh, how nice! There's a comment about prices changing, so one of the books selected for me was left out. But i just looked and it went on promo for $2.99 right after the orders were made. 😁 How convenient for me! (A Shopkeeper's Millennium, btw)

big thanks to @foolsgoldboots127 for the wonderful selections (despite my complex wishlist) and to @LibraryPerilous for further fantastic suggestions!

My secret Santa did a great job, thank you very much! I’m not sure how to find out who my Santa was!

>108 AfroFogey: My Santa did a great job, too! I was able to go to the original page and click on my name. It looks like all the Santas are revealed there. https://www.librarything.com/santathing.php

Help! PLEASE!!! I'm still waiting for my books from BookPeople
SantaThing Entry #47

My books came yesterday! I have already thanked my Secret Santa, but thanks, again @EvaW!

>110 mrsandersonut: You're not alone: the BookPeople deliveries are usually the last to arrive. I can assure you that they're on their way!

>112 katemcangus:. Thank you for your reply...I'll try to be patient but it's so hard!

My Santa sent me the first book in The Expanse series. I sat down that same day and gleefully read several chapters and finished it a few days ago. Great choice! Thank you!

Early this morning I had a package showing up in my USPS Informed Delivery as a media mail shipping label having been created yesterday in Austin, Texas although USPS was not yet in charge of the package. I don't have anything else coming in the mail so am guessing (hoping?) this means at some point next week I'll be reading something. Maybe there will be an estimated delivery date showing up later today or tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

>115 ILuvBookplates: This is my hope, too, ILuvBookplates. My USPS Informed Delivery now shows a USPS shipping label created in Austin, Texas in the system. It has to be my highly anticipated Santathing books. Now waiting for an ETA to become available and...hoping!

>116 mrsandersonut: USPS has my package and has estimated delivery by January 7.

>117 ILuvBookplates: Same! My package has an ETA of January 7, as well. In the 10 years I've been participating, I've never seen Santa's sleigh delayed this long, but I'll start reading whenever the USPS elves see fit! Better late than never! Ho ho ho!

>118 mrsandersonut: I think of it as BookPeople giving a little boost of cheer right when the January doldrums start settling in. :)

>119 keristars: "Hear, hear!" ;-D

>118 mrsandersonut: Nor have I! We'll definitely take all of this into consideration when choosing stores next year.

>119 keristars: This is a great way of looking at it!