Mooching Around
Oh boy! I can't remember the last time I was so excited about a web site. (Maybe it was 43 Things.)Thanks to Claire - I have fallen in love with BookMooch. It's a book trading site wherein you create an inventory, gaining 1/10 of a point for each book you include. Then you get points (3 if you're sending internationally) for books you agree to send out. You are deducted 2 points for each book you have sent to you. Simple, but effective.
The best part is that you're not excluded if you don't happen to live in the States. This afternoon, I off-loaded the disappointing Charmed Thirds to a girl in Hamburg and sent the unspeakably creepy The Killer Inside Me to a guy in Chicago. I'm waiting to get a book about German Shepherds from a person in Nevada and a memoir called Self-Made Man (about a woman who does an anthropological study by passing herself off as a man) from somebody in the UK.
You can make a wishlist and search for books you want to mooch. The site design looks good and works pretty well (although it's a bit slow at times).
It's the perfect site for someone like me who loves books, isn't fussy about used books, and doesn't mind trading in books. Check it out. (You can see my wishlist here - if you promise not to judge me.)
posted by -Ann @ 8:04 p.m.
6 Comments:
that's a great idea--a book exchange!
you like anna quindlen? i'm not judging you, i promise. i already like you tons. but .... i hate anna quindlen. with a roaring passion.
your other books looks excellent, though, at least the ones i recognize. TC Boyle, bill bryson, jon katz, cormac mccarthy. (doug read mccarthy's latest--i think it's the one you want--when we were in paris. it's deeply depressing.)
now i must go gather myself and get over the fact that you are more excited over that blog than you are my dogblog. this will take some doing.
Hey. I have the Traveling Pants book you want. If you send me your address I'll send it to you.
Have you ever read the Emily Giffin books? They are getting a lot of notice here lately.
--Col
Laurie - I've never read Anna Quindlen. I heard an interview with her about her new book on one of my favourite podcasts ("This Is Audible") and the book sounded interesting. Why do you hate her? I am always fascinated by such passions, especially when the hater is a writerly type.
And really, a better gauge of my reading taste (or lack there of) is probably my inventory. In my defence, some of the books were things I picked up on the book-swap shelf at my last job and never actually read.
Col - That would be fantastic. I've emailed you the address.
i read one or two of her early novels. i thought they were extremely simplistic and formulaic--like they were written in the secret hope that they would be made into a Lifetime Network Made for TV Movie.
one was about a mother and daughter's complicated relationship while the mother was dying. but it really wasn't complicated; it was very pat and simple.
she has always struck me as someone who has had a very easy, comfortable life, and yet she wants to write about troubles--even though she has no first-hand understanding of them.
It sounds pretty interesting. I'll have to investigate further.
Ann, isn't it brilliant?! I am well and truly addicted now having started to receive my mooches in the post. I have five new books waiting to be read and another 2 on the way. I love going down to the post office and sending my packages off to Serbia or Cyprus or Singapore.
I almost put Cormac McCarthy's book on my wishlist but wasn't sure if it would be just too bleak. If you manage to get it and read it I'd love to hear your opinion.
Post a Comment
<< Home