When we visited Matlock Bath at the end of June, I popped into a couple of charity shops. In one of them I picked up Ruth Jones', of Gavin and Stacey, debut novel, Never Greener. I paid my pound for it and when I got home I noticed that it had a Bookcrossing sticker on it.
I've heard of Bookcrossing but have never signed up.
Inside the cover is a label...
"I am not lost!
This book was left here to find a new reader!
Who left the book?
Who will read it after you?
Who liked it and who hated it?
You now have the possibility to find out. This book is registered at BookCrossing.com, a world-wide community of voluntary and non-commercial book sharing, where its previous reader already looks forward to a message about its whereabouts."
I was intrigued so I went onto the Bookcrossing site and entered the ID number written on the label. It turns out that this book was set on its travels just under a year ago and nothing has been registered since. Someone must have picked it up as it was left in a public place eight miles away from the charity shop where I bought it.
You can leave an entry on Bookcrossing to say that you've found a book without having to register but it looks like a good site so I'm going to do so. I might even release some books into the wild and watch to see if anyone records that they find them.
What a fun scheme.
Love it, what a great scheme, I share all my books with a group, we swap, so each book is read 5 times before it gets taken to a charity shop.
ReplyDeleteOh, Bookcrossing brings back memories! I didn't realise it was still going. I was a Bookcrossing member years ago (I possibly still am one!).
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of this, how fun! I wish you had some idea where the book has been in the last year, that would be fun to know. Happy reading.
ReplyDeleteWell, I've not come across this scheme before, sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
I've never heard of Bookcrossing Jo, it does sound interesting, I might have to check it out. I have heard of people leaving books in random places for others to pick up and have even left one or two myself but it would be interesting to see how far a book had travelled.
ReplyDeleteI first heard about Bookcrossing 13 years ago, I found a book on a lakeside bench in Malcesine, Italy, and was quite surprised to find it was an English one. It had a cross pencilled on the inside front page and someone in the hotel said it could be in the Bookcrossing scheme. I started reading it and enjoyed it so much I've since bought every book the author has written. I've never really thought about joining the scheme but I might just give it a go :)
ReplyDeleteThat does sound a lot of fun. What a shame your book hadn't had many published travels up and down the country. Perhaps it was such a good book whoever found it decided to keep it on their bookshelf.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see you posting about about Bookcrossing, which has been around for a long time but sadly rarely gets a mention. xx
ReplyDeleteI have a friend in Essex who was signed up to Bookcrossing and she was doing that quite a few years ago, not sure if she still does it. It's a very good scheme.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of that but it sounds like fun especially if everyone who reads the book says where it's been. Enjoy your weekend. xx
ReplyDeleteI've never seen it around here and when I looked into it, realized that it started 20 years ago - it's such a great idea, I'm surprised it's not better known. Certainly something I would be interested in doing.
ReplyDeleteI'd not heard of book crossing, what a terrific idea.
ReplyDeleteJean