Megen at On the Thames shares this whimsical, new idea: BookCrossing.
What is that, you wonder? Well, here:
bookcrossing
n. the practice of leaving a book in a public place to be picked up and read by others, who then do likewise.
Megen describes it for us’un:
Here’s what it is in a nutshell: People leave books all over the place for others to enjoy. There two roles- Releasers and Finders. A Releaser registers a book, stamps or labels it inside that it is a BookCrossing book, and then “releases it into the wild”. Anywhere, although you note on the site where-about you released it.
Then you wait. Until a Finder finds it and goes online to note it’s been found. A Finder probably isn’t a BookCrosser, but someone who just stumbled upon it (and is able to follow directions to log on and keep the fun going). A BookCrosser can also “go hunting” by checking on local cities where books were released.
I went virtual hunting in CA. There was a book left in the surgery waiting room at Mission Hospital, in the lobby of the Ritz Carlton in Dana Point, and in the pay phone in front of Mervyns off Alicia Parkway. Here in England, most are left on trains. And they show up all over the world! English language books that started in Canada end up in South Africa.
Sounds fun! All right, peeps. Go to the BookCrossing website linked above for more details. And let’s start planning to release some creativity back into the wild!
H/T: Jeannine
MF and I already do this with magazines. EARLY ADOPTERS UNITE! This seems a much cooler idea though. Shared books tend to tie our consciousnesses and affections together more tightly. I could go on and on for hours with a friend about “A Tree Grows In Brooklyn”, but rarely with the latest installment of “National Review”.
So glad that more and more people are hearing about bookcrossing- just increases our odds of find one ourselves! And wouldn’t that the greatest?!? Happy hunting!
Yes, thanks for sharing this grand idea, Megen!
I love this. In my case, I’ll print blog posts I don’t have time to read properly at work, and bring them on the Metro-North New Haven Line, which I ride daily, and leave them for others to discover.
I do it with columnists as well. For example, I’ll print the day’s TownHall.com columns and just leave them on the seat.
Hey, if I can passively enlighten someone, that’s great.
As for actual BookCrossing, I’ve never done it, but the Fairfield, CT public library has a rack in the train station loaded with paperbacks of different vintage, where you can take and leave books at your leisure for reading on your ride into the city or wherever.
I have never heard of it before. It sounds fun.
Just me again. I was hesitant to comment the first time because I’m scared of naked worshippers. I ran into one once and thought he was a regular Christian, and nope, he was a ‘Worship Naked’ kind of guy. Kind of caught me by surprise. I just read the page about your beliefs and I’m glad I came by!
Yes, I do understand. The name of this blog has been known to cause problems from time to time. 😉 Thanks for coming by!