Not supplying a wish list - rude?

[Garden Goblin]

For books and movies, wish lists are awesome.  I mean, my family knows I like to read, but they don't always have a clue what books I am currently wanting.

On my wish list (aka - the stuff I intend to get me list but occasionally let folks look over if it's a gift giving occasion) there tends to be lots of academic books.  They are a case where yes, it does have to be that specific text/edition or the money spent was wasted.  So, wish lists are awesome so folks can refer back to it instead of trusting to memory.  And I'm picky about clothes and the like.  Other stuff, it doesn't matter so much - I collect 'potion bottles' and antique silver, and it doesn't matter at all if I get a duplicate or something wildly different from the rest.

But one of my fellow book-o-philes occasionally looks over my fiction list and gives me something not on it, but that she thinks I'll like based on current list.  I love this, as it often introduces me to authors I was not yet familiar with.

Wish lists are useful tools, but shouldn't be straitjackets.

[Tea Drinker]

I don't have a wish list because I have trouble thinking of non-trivial yet still reasonable things I want: I wouldn't be upset at a $3 chocolate bar, but it seems odd to ask for it. Conversely, I not only wouldn't ask for a week's vacation in Paris, it would feel inappropriately large if someone tried to buy me that without my asking. It's not that there aren't things I want: it's largely a combination of having a really good public library, and not being sufficiently patient to wait several months for a book I want to own. (Yes, I realize I'm fortunate to be able to afford the books I want, but given that I can, I'm not going to defer my own pleasure so someone else can buy me something.)

If asked, yes, I'm always happy with chocolate, and will even discuss the kinds of things I like (not "you must go to this shop in Greenwich Village and buy these truffles," but "I like candied ginger and not peanut butter, and prefer dark chocolate"), but I tend to think of wish lists as being for items I don't already have.

[rashea]

I don't have a wish list because I have trouble thinking of non-trivial yet still reasonable things I want: I wouldn't be upset at a $3 chocolate bar, but it seems odd to ask for it. Conversely, I not only wouldn't ask for a week's vacation in Paris, it would feel inappropriately large if someone tried to buy me that without my asking. It's not that there aren't things I want: it's largely a combination of having a really good public library, and not being sufficiently patient to wait several months for a book I want to own. (Yes, I realize I'm fortunate to be able to afford the books I want, but given that I can, I'm not going to defer my own pleasure so someone else can buy me something.)

If asked, yes, I'm always happy with chocolate, and will even discuss the kinds of things I like (not "you must go to this shop in Greenwich Village and buy these truffles," but "I like candied ginger and not peanut butter, and prefer dark chocolate"), but I tend to think of wish lists as being for items I don't already have.

This is why I try to make a list through the year. Because putting me on the spot at this time of year just doesn't work. So I try to think of things as I go. Including a wish list of things for my house.