So, maybe all you complete literary geeks and book freaks know about this already. If so, why didn't you tell me? I'm always the last to know. Sigh. Anyway, it's about Bookcrossing.com: "...a global community of booklovers and book releasers." I learned about this via an email from a friend in Maine who has just joined and released her first book. Members of Bookcrossing mark books with a code which will enable BC to track it wherever it goes around the world. That is, if whoever finds the book plays along and reports "catching" it. I find this a fascinating idea and a great way to pass along books for which one has no room left on the shelves. I bought two books day before yesterday and found myself standing in front of my main wall of shelves despairly searching for places to put them. Bookshelves in every room, and not an empty space anywhere. (The books were: Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi and Sisters of the Earth, Women's Prose and Poetry about Nature, ed. by Lorraine Anderson, in case you're wondering.)
To my amazement there are almost 300 BC members here in DE and over 2000 in nearby MD. After I come home from class this afternoon I'm going to browse those groaning shelves for my first book to release into "the wild." It's time for The Biblio Philes to join Bookcrossing. Way past time.
6 comments:
I think this is such an interesting concept. Thanks for putting it out there. My only problem is that I HATE parting with any of my books. I too have all my rooms teeming with books but can't think of one I want to get rid of. I have always dreamed of having the libraries that you see on television where you need a ladder to go across from shelf to shelf to find your books. I have definitely bookmarked this though and plan to read more on it. Can't wait to hear your experience with it.
~RC~
Because I just thought being the lit geek you are, you've known about it all along. I've heard of this for years, but I really don't have many books to part with. I did a major purging a couple of years ago during a move, and most of the loot went to my local library. Nowadays I only buy books that I've already read and consider must-haves and those are always hardcovers.
Give up a book!!! That's heresy. They're mine - all mine! So what if I have to put them in a box in the closet. Okay, some of the cheesy paperbacks that I've been given as gifts make their way to Goodwill but I'd never pass them along out of fear of ridicule. I'm off to check out the site anyhow. :-) ---Robbie
An interesting concept. I usually just pass them around to friends and family, then try to get them back. Sounds like fodder for several journal entries...which books did you pick, what comments did you make about them, where did you release them, did you ever hear back about them, etc. I may give this a try if I can find a couple to part with.
I used to hoard books too. What is this all about? "Whoever dies with the most books WINS?" Now I give lots of books away. My give-aways reached saturation point. BookCrossing is taking up the slack. I've released 5 books, & had one reported as "caught." Yesterday I left a Nevada Barr mystery in the doc's waiting room, & had the secret pleasure of watching the next patient find it &start reading! Doesn't take much to amuse me, & think of all the good kharma!
I read about this in Utne Reader and thought, "What a great idea," not that I can bare to part with my books, of course! And now that I'm seeing this first-hand, I'm really digging it, but I'm still having trouble with the idea of letting my 'babies' go...what if they are abused? What if they are not appreciated? Oh my, this is too much. I will need to think hard and long about this one....
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