Get a head start on Black Friday shopping

You’re killing time on Thanksgiving before the games start. Why not spend a little money?

Not in the fruitless way (i.e., betting on the games). Get something tangible. Something that will endure. Something that will help you fulfill the annoying obligation of buying gifts for a bunch of people whose needs and tastes you don’t know and don’t have the time or inclination to find out.

Buy them a good book. It’s something that can be read and enjoyed before taking up space on a shelf, or being used as a doorstop.

I’ve got three. They’re all inexpensive, as books go. Father of Mine and Son of Mine are $14.99 each on Amazon. On Our Way Home, a Christmas/ghost story that has been well received and surprisingly well reviewed, is just $9.99.

That’s as cheap as a new book gets. For less than a hundred bucks, you can strike 10 names off your Christmas list.

And for $2.99, you can download it onto your phone and start reading it immediately. After you finish, you might decide to get another 10. And another.

It’ll put you in the holiday spirit. It might inspire you to fix a broken relationship. It could help you find closure for a broken relationship that can never be repaired.