Bookcrossing

[dhm]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned or of how commonly known the movement is in the states (it's still relatively new in Aust) but I thought I'd plug it here.

Many of you may be aware of this but there is a new movement towards "freeing" books called "bookcrossing. Basically it involves leaving a copy of a book you enjoyed somewhere for a passerby to pick up, read and pass on. This is known as releasing the book. The books should identified as a bookcrossing book and can be given an indivdual number (online) so it can be identified and can be tracked via the website. The aim is to foster a love of books. How exciting would it be to find a great book in such a romantic way!?!

Check out more at the address below. You can order release kits online consisting of stickers etc to stick in the book you release (money goes to supporting the website) but you could do it yourself provided you include the relevant info in the released book. I have just signed up (as dhm). There is an offer on at the moment where you get an obligation free copy of a soon to be released book if you join up now.

Is there anyone out there who has already found or released a book that can share their experience? http://www.bookcrossing.com/home

[Jay]

I found one from... Oklahoma I think, it had a date written in it, it was from 1997. I found it in our library. It was 'Chicken soup for the soul', if they're already more of the volumes (they were talking about getting some more of those), it was the first one. A book from Oklahoma found in a Czech library... dhm, was this what you were looking for? There wasn't written anything about bookcrossing though. It was something along the lines "I enjoyed reading this book, please, read and give to someone". Well, couldn't do that because the book was registred in the library.

Just wait till Den's here ;).

[emily655321]

Oh GOD *groan* There are soooo many Chicken Soup for the Soul books....and greeting cards....and calendars....and in any other printable form. My grandmother gave me a Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul for one of my birthdays, and I can tell you the spine has not been cracked.

But anyway, aside from that rant, :p I've heard of a couple of instances where people have done that, just left a book for someone to find,, but mostly Bibles in motel rooms. I've never heard of an organized movement as such. That's pretty awesome. I'm so selfish, but my first thought was, "but I don't want to give someone else my books!" LOL it reminds me of an Ardal O'Hanlan stand-up routine, where he says something like "I never give people my old books, even if I know I'm not going to use them again. Because I put time and effort into gaining that knowledge, just so that I will know something they don't. I mean, I'll give them crap books. 'Here's Angela's Ashes for you, there, you can have that.'" :D

That's not my reason, I love talking to people about books -- I always try to convince them to read the ones I've read. But not MY books. :p Once I finish a book it's all dog-eared and has finger prints on the pages, but it's like an old friend. I don't even like to lend them, I don't like to have them out of my possession, it's almost pathelogical. Anyone else like that?

I might buy a cheap copy to pass along though. I really like the idea.

[Sancho]

What a great idea. I've got just a very few books that I can never part with, but for the most part, I give them away to someone with the request that when they finish they pass it along to someone else.

[Sancho]

"Good morning Campers!" Love that status Jay.

Jay, one of the books I can never part with is an English translation of the Czech Author Jaroslav Hasek, "The Good Soldier Scweik," This book ebbs and flows in the US. It was very popular in the Thirties and then again in the Seventies (and is popular today.) I've always wondered if people in the Czech-Republic still read it.

[Jay]

Yeah Sancho, they do, it's just me that never got to reading it ;).
And that status, it's a quote from Stargate SG-1 ;):D:p

[crisaor]

It's a great idea. Sadly, it can only be carried out in advanced countries (i.e. rich countries or countries whose mentality is at least not ignorant). So, no bookcrossing for me. :(

[dhm]

But you could leave a book crisaor. There must be others like you out there. Be a social leader!!!

I totally relate to everyone elses comments about not wanting to give away your own books once you have read them. Some of them are a like a favourite blanket. Like Emily I'm going to buy an extra copy of one or two of my favourites to pass on- not angela's ashes though!!

As for your library Jay- sheesh- talk about subverting the goal! Maybe that was one of the early books before the movement was organized.

[crisaor]

Originally posted by dhm
But you could leave a book crisaor. There must be others like you out there. Be a social leader!!!
Thanks for your support dhm, but it wouldn't happen. If I left a book on the street, it's very likely that it would end up being sold for nothing (and without being read either). I'd be better off by giving it to a friend or donating it to an institution.

Originally posted by dhm
I totally relate to everyone elses comments about not wanting to give away your own books once you have read them. Some of them are a like a favourite blanket. Like Emily I'm going to buy an extra copy of one or two of my favourites to pass on- not angela's ashes though!!
That's a good point. Bookcrossing is probably meant for books you don't liked that much to keep them (or don't need to keep them anymore, specially if you go to a university). Anyway, that goes only if you're planning to start a chain, otherwise, just read the one you got and leave it after you've finished it.

[IWilKikU]

I think bookcrossing is awsome, and I've been hoping to find one for so long. But I can't bear to part with any of my own books, the one's I can part with go on the free-for-all table in my dorm's lobby. But if I ever find one, I'll read it and pass it on. I promise!

[dhm]

Good on you Den! I am so impressed; what a great story! Take heart though the other books would have been found, ppl probably just didn't log on to tell you. Think of the lives you have touched! I'm forever trying to get friends to read books I've loved so this concept is very exciting to me (I'm easily pleased). If the goal is to increase the love of literature you have to release certain types of books though don't you? Really good ones that most ppl would like. There are some heavy books that the average person wouldn't pick up if they found let alone read, which hardly spreads the love. On the other hand how happy would someone on this board be to get a bookcrossing copy of some of the greats?!

IWilKikU (can I shorten this name somehow?) the dorm table is NOT good enough! How can you expect to receive if you do not give? Join in! The dorm table can do without one book once or buy a cheap 2nd hand copy at the campus store. It would be so much more fun for another student to find a bookcrossing copy than to find it at the free dorm table. Do it today!!!

Okay I'll stop now....

[amuse]

Originally posted by dhm
not angela's ashes though!!
:confused: i don't get this, could you clarify? i left that book in a san francisco hotel room the morning i took a plane back to philly because i liked it so much.

[dhm]

Now I'm confused! Did you leave it in the room on purpose to be a blessing or are you being scarastic and saying you left it in city then deliberately flew away from it on purpose? I assume the former but it's hard to tell without context.

I was just extending on a joke someone else made about getting rid of the books they don't like via bookcrossing citing Angela's Ashes. For some reason I didn't like the book though; Sorry!

[emily655321]

My mom loved Angela's Ashes, but after a couple other Roddy Doyle ones, she was like "enough!" I think it's just become so cliche, so so many funny-poor-Irish-immigrant-kid stories of childhood and triumph floating around now. Just sappy, I guess, is the main criticism.

[Koa]

I can't stand the idea of leaving a book somewhere... only if i really really hated it... but i usually keep even the ones i dont like much...
Though I used to sell my old schoolbooks to get money to buy the new ones... I haven't sold many of my uni books cos I like to keep most of them (or they were second or third hand anyway :D)

[papayahed]

This is a great idea, I'm always trying to get my friends to read books, now I can push my favorites on an unsuspecting public. I can see myself as a "Johnny Appleseed" spreading books throughout the countryside........

I'm wondering though can I consider this a chairtable contribution on my taxes?

[amuse]

ah...loved the Johnny Appleseed movie in grade school. we watched it more times in class.

dhm, angela's ashes was a gift; i got 'tis years later for myself. i picked up a's ashes after reading the sequel, enjoyed it but not like before - realized i'd never finish it again, and wanted to pass it on. so i read until the morning of the flight, and left it for someone else. what did you think of the sequel? so-so, no go?

[dhm]

Good move amuse. I hope someone found it and loved it. I didn't like either one much which was disappointing as I'd heard such good things about it. Nevermind.

Can't wait to get my release pack. Might do release s'thing this weekend at the coast.