Read and Release
Saturday June 24, 2006
Those of you who get my newsletter know that I recently left for a road trip, embarking on two weeks of literary adventures only to return after five days with a scratched cornea. The day of the fateful scratch, I ended up in La Crosse, Wisconsin, (right) in a bar/cafe with a couple grungy couches and a coffee table on one side. On the table were a few books, all with a URL written on the sides with black marker. Picking one up, I realized I'd come across a project I'd first read about in the Utne Reader four years ago.The brainchild of a group of computer programmers in Kansas City, BookCrossing is "Part book club, part behavioral study, part note-in-a-bottle type exercise." You may go to their website to sign up and register a book for release, or wait to stumble across a book to read, as I did (I recommend the former). I registered my book, "The Red Tent," online, leaving a message so that the original owner can see that it's made it all the way to New York. When I've read it, I'll set it free -- there's a window ledge in Soho that seems to be popular. While I'm at it, maybe I'll get out my own magic marker, drop a few other books around the city, and wait to see where they end up.
One of the volunteers at the Toronto Reference Library, Kathleen, is a Bookcrossingite. They had a convention in Toronto and she showed them around the library, including my section, the Arthur Conan Doyle Room.
I like the idea. So many of my books get lost on the subway and never make it to the lost and found. It would be nice to know if those who pick them up enjoy them.