Sunday 5 December 2010

5 reasons why I .....BookCross


As you can see from yesterdays post I won't be finishing a book for a while so I thought I'd go for a different type of post.

I joined Bookcrossing in 2007 and have loved and participated in it ever since religiously. I thought I'd give a quick 5 reasons why I bookcross for anyone who has ever considered participating.

1. I'm a romantic - I love the idea of my books travelling person to person across the globe.
2. Bookrings - a bookring is when when one book gets passed from person to person, each person makes a jounal entry about their thoughts on the book. These allow me to here other readers views, and to try books very cheaply (I sent two bookrings onto the next person yesterday, costing me less than the price of my Burger King meal).
3. Chelmsford Bookcrossing Meet-Up - I've meet fellow book readers in the local area who I would never have met, although these women are vastly different from me in age - I'm the youngest by a good 15 years - its great to meet up with people who have a similar reading taste to you, and also just to have a chat with a different bunch of people once a month.
4. RABCKs/Random Acts of Bookcrossing Kindness - these are books that people send to you without expecting anything in return. Sometimes you've been offered a book off of your wishlist, requested a book or just arrive home to find a mysterious parcel with a book a fellow bookcrosser thinks you'll enjoy - either way getting a parcel is lovely, and opens up a new world of books.
5. Wildreleasing - wild releasing is when you leave books in public places for strangers to find. I've left many books that I've never heard back from - yes they may now be in a dustbin, but I hope they are in someones home. Some of the books I have left have been found read and then wild released. The strange thing is hearing where the person found the book as its often no where near where you left it. My most random discovery was a book left in London, found about 5 miles away on top of one of those short lamp posts, the lady then went and left it in Spain.

Yes its not for everyone, and actually many people choose not to use bookrings ect because of their personal preferences - I personally prefer to bookring or RABCK my book as I know they'll be going to a reader - but this is a great way to recycle books, keep your bookshelves lighter, and share your favourite reads.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I did bookcrossing for a year or so and had some fun with it. It sounds like they have added lots of activities to it since then. I should give it another look.

PatriotPaul said...

What a wonderful endeavor. It's much like a public library and built entirely on trust. One little tip though for those not aware. Do not ever use "post its" in books as the acid on the sticky side eventually destroys the book's pages.

Paul Harris
Author, "Diary From the Dome, Reflections on Fear and Privilege During Katrina"

serendipity_viv said...

I am really pleased that you wrote this post as I have been curious for the last two years about how this worked. I shall go and investigate.

katrina said...

Yay Vivienne, hope your investigation went well x

Anonymous said...

Hi, Katrina. Nice post! I've been a bookcrosser since 2004, sometimes more than others, depending on work and travels and other stuff. I was thinking of doing a blog post about it myself, so was delighted to come across yours here :=) BC enriched my life, brought me intelligent companionship when I needed it initially, which led to real friendships in the long term. You won't find me so much in the fora these days, although that was fun for a while when I was in a deadend job! But I just love BC.

katrina said...

I'm glad that other BCers approve of the post. I only use the forums for odd bits, as I'd rather spend my time reading than just chatting about it x