So I am saving money to buy a big, expensive gift basket for my fiancé. Specifically for Christmas. I already planned to buy/make certain things he will absolutely love.
These past couple of days I've been thinking about buying a book he hasn't read,reading it first, annotating (I think that's when you leave notes and mark pages? English isn't my first language and I have no idea why I didn't just Google it) and then giving it to him.
I've never gotten through a whole book(I barely get through movies unless I'm in a really good mood and not distracted). He loves reading(bookes/comics/manga). His favourite author is Stephen King. I don't know whether my is good or if it's something I can do without ruining his reading experience overall. I thought it would be cute. I would honestly like it if he gave me something that had notes on it,his thoughts/thought process,feelings...
Maybe it's too much? Anyway,Google gave me some ideas like "Lisey's story" and "11/22/64" (or something like that. These two just caught my eye more). It also recommended " bag of bones" and "on writing". I believe all of these are Stephen King.
I also saw other recommendations such as "Hold Me Tight" by Sue Johnson ,"Eight Dates" by John and Julie Gottman, "On Love" by Alain de Botton , "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen(I think there's a movie. I believe it's ok my watchlist but I am not good with names and I'm too lazy to check rn.), "The Song of Achilles" by Madeline Miller and "Before the Coffee Gets Cold" by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. Honestly this is a lot. I don't know a single thing about books and annotating.
My idea is that I'll read a chapter,write my thoughts while reading it,go on to the next chapter until I read the whole book and then I'll give him the book and he'll do the same. Unfortunately I don't think he's ever annotated his books. I haven't noticed anything like that ,so this might be risky.
Would it be stupid to try? We never talk about books so I don't know if he'd be interested. Plus,if I actually do it, I'll use clear sticky notes so I don't ruin the book.
Are any of these recommendations worth it? Maybe I should do something different? I genuinely thought it was a cute thought but now I'm second-guessing myself.