One option here could be to lend books instead. Some advantages:
Implies that when you’re done reading the book you don’t need it anymore, as opposed to a religious text which you keep and reference.
While the distributors won’t get all the books back (and that’s fine) the books they do get back they can lend out again.
Less lavish, both in appearance and in reality.
This is what we do at our meetups in Boston.
It’s also a nice nudge for people to read the books (I remember reading Doing Good Better in a couple of weeks because a friend/​organiser had lent it to me and I didn’t want to keep him waiting).
One option here could be to lend books instead. Some advantages:
Implies that when you’re done reading the book you don’t need it anymore, as opposed to a religious text which you keep and reference.
While the distributors won’t get all the books back (and that’s fine) the books they do get back they can lend out again.
Less lavish, both in appearance and in reality.
This is what we do at our meetups in Boston.
It’s also a nice nudge for people to read the books (I remember reading Doing Good Better in a couple of weeks because a friend/​organiser had lent it to me and I didn’t want to keep him waiting).