As previously discussed on the board, I have got well into this whole bookcrossing business. Today I went out and left 13 books around in my neighbourhood and guess what, somebody caught one! When I got back I went to make the release notes and someone had already beaten me to it. This is the most fun way to encourage reading and commmunity spirit I have heard of. OOOH, I'm tickled pink I am. Check it out @ www.bookcrossing.com . I'm sharing my id ( isn' it perfect the way that abbreviation has lost it's capitals )with my partner so I'm panheaduk not dodyskin.

Hey, cool. I'm flying into Manchester next week so I'll keep an I out for your books.

The idea sounds nice and I admit that if I found a book with an I.D. I'd certainly go an register it BUT I don't think I could purposefully leave a book I loved reading.

What if it gets thrown away or broken. The idea really makes me sad. Books are rather precious.

Initially, I was a bit worried about the high proportion of books that are never heard of again, however, having discovered the book skips outside the back of a charity bookshop to which I have often donated ( and been a customer) I figured you can never be sure that a book you give away will ever be read again so why not have a little fun with it, and give a stranger a world for free. I live near a bus depot and I plan to ride the buses between two stops for an hour or so, leaving a book on each one. Some of these books are pretty bad in my opinion but we bought them and read them so it is a safe bet that someone will appreciate them, if only for the duration of a rush hour traffic jam, on the bus on the way to work. Of course, if you are uncomfortable with the idea of just random distribution, you can set up book rings and then you definitely know that someone who wants the book has it. Also, I read a hell of a lot and live in a small house so practicalities of space have definitely stoked my enthusiasm for this project.

I read a hell of a lot and live in a small house so practicalities of space have definitely stoked my enthusiasm for this project.

There is no such thing as too many bookcases. I think this is in the Bible. At least I tell my wife it is.

In our first house, we made the mistake of mounting bookcases on a non-load bearing wall.

we ended up installing lolly columns in the basement a few years later, (we used a hydralic jack to first jack the floor jousts up to level)

Now, i too, like dodyskin believe in giving books away.

Ah-ha, can I quote you to my hubby Father Steve? Does your wife buy it??

At last count I had some 700 books, and my hubby seems to think this is too many. Once he reads a book he wants to chuck it - something I would never dream of doing.

I tried to explain that as we get older, our mind goes, so I'll probably forget and have to re-read books, but then he call me on the fact that I keep buying more

>>I think you can have too many bookcases.

I dunno. We're big book borrowers/lenders in my family.

When the family is over, it is the norm to have Dad, brothers or sister be bringing back books they've borrowed to switch for some they haven't read yet.

They also drop off books they've bought and read. This adds to the communal pool.

(Mom doesn't borrow books since she reads French and all my books - save one or two - are English)

Plus, having all those books around when my son was young encouraged him to read (I never said no to buying books). His being an avid reader helped him tremendously in school.

"I have always imagined that paradise will be a kind of library." ~ Jorge Luis Borges, writer (1899-1986)

...a kind of library

yeahbut®

Which kind?

Cardigan Library is the sort where there's no reliable index, most of the books are trashy romantic novels or in Welsh or both, and if there is sumptin' worth reading some other bugger's already got it out on extended loan...

Cardigan Library is the sort where ...

Little may reasonably be expected from a library named after a sweater, eh?

named after a sweater

could've kept that one close to your vest, Father...

>>...a kind of library

>yeahbut® Which kind?

A visual one.

"He who loves language most would do well to hold ritual book burnings from time to time. Typography is not sacred - language is."
- some bloke, Sept. 2003

I started releasing books into the wild a year or so ago - then discovered a place that was thirsting for books : the Veterans Hospital, especially "guy" books - action, mystery, westerns, etc.
My local library has a rack of used paperbacks that may be purchased for 25 cents each and I raid that when I have a few bucks extra. The Red Cross and Salvation Army also can find new homes for books. If you know someone serving in Armed Foces of your country, a box of books is always welcome.

If you know someone serving in Armed Foces of your country, a box of books is always welcome.

Yes, I had the pleasure of recommending Joseph Conrad to a Coastguardsman the other day who was looking for some "good classic literature"...he took Lord Jim.

>>"He who loves language most would do well to hold ritual book burnings from time to time. Typography is not sacred - language is."
- some bloke, Sept. 2003

Ack - book burning. - just goes to show you that not all sayings are sane.

Burning a book does not make language more sacred, nor does keeping a book deminish language in any way.

Ah books, our compendiums of printed symbolism stuffed safely under the stairs; hoarded for peace of mind, or as piece of mind, eh. These fusions of composition and publication do when euphuistically scorched almost hurt, despite being inert, don't they. But if cut, they do not bleed :-). One wonders if Gutenberg revelled in the authority and materiality that the printed word purveys. As the addictions to, and even casual preoccupation with this historic medium wane though, it's interesting to see this quasi-anchoret culture scurry in free fall to grasp their reading-glasses and rocking chair from where they viewed the world. Anyway, pardon me, by all means read on and I'll look on.

A donkey laden with books is neither an intellectual nor a wise man, for it is said that however much one studies one cannot know without action!

A donkey laden with books is neither an intellectual nor a wise man, for it is said that however much one studies one cannot know without action!
Well, here is another example of the "harmonic convergence" etaoin mentioned that I seem to be having. Within the past week, I have had discussions with two different friends about experience. With one, I was discussing the fact that there are some things that cannot be imparted by words: they have to be lived through, to achieve understanding. From the other, I learned that German has a different word for each of these 3 uses of just one English word: experience things through life, listing your work experience on your résumé, and to experience a peculiar sensation.