Crossed Books

I seem to be updating this blog one time a month. Go me!

Anyways. I’m currently sorting through my books to select a fair few to be Bookcrossed. For those who think Bookcrossed is a silly made up word – well it kind of is.

Bookcrossing is a movement that launched in 2001. The idea is you take a book (one you own, please) and register it on the website. You are then given a unique BCID number (Book Crossing ID) to write in the book, along with a note to explain what the number is for and what to do with it. You then either leave the book in a public place (called a Wild Release) or you pass it on to someone else (which is a Controlled Release).

Anyway, I need shelf space and I do have a ton of books I will never read again. I am, actually, a chronic re-reader. I’ve got books in there I’ve read a hundred times. Some of them I can even recite chunks from off by heart.  Picking out books to pass on is pretty easy, anything I’ve read and don’t want to read again, anything I bought for a hobby, craft or interest that I’m no longer interested in, things I’ve ended up with two copies of. Easy peasy.

Then there’s the books I simply MUST keep, and what an odd little collection that’s turning out to be. There’s the Snugglepot and Cuddlepie boxed set my Step Grandmother bought for me after Poppa died, picturebooks my Aunt had signed for me when authors visited her school, books that were gifts from my parents or friends that I won’t part with.

There’s the Clue storybook of the movie, the labyrinth picture book. A well work copy of “Eric the Wild Car” which was my absolute fave when I was a little tacker. Roald Dahl, Terry Pratchett and Douglas Adams will all stay where they are because not having them accessible to me at all times is an impossible idea.  There’s a section of witchcraft books from my time of interest in Wicca, which I shall keep because I still think Wicca is a pretty nifty idea actually – I even have a copy of the Malleus Maleficarum. I’m just that awesome.

For anything borderline, there’s the chapter one test. I read chapter one, decide if I can be bothered going through the whole story again, and then either reshelve it or toss it in the Bookcrossing pile.

You should totally join Bookcrossing – you can find it at www.bookcrossing.com and tell em Frogglin sent you.  It’s a mad kind of random fun, very much a brilliant way to add some whimsy to the world.