Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Pick up any Good Books Lately?

Way back in the early years of my Internet surfing, I came across a site that suggested leaving books you have finished reading lying around for complete strangers to find. I can’t even remember exactly where on the net I was, but the free-book-mystery premise has stayed with me and ever since I have been dropping off books in places like hotel lobbies for others to find and enjoy.

I only seem to find time to read when we travel. Usually DH drives and I read in the car. If we are on a weekend trip, I can usually be found reading in the hotel lobby for at least an hour or so in the late afternoon. If I finish the book there, I just leave it on the table in hopes that someone else will find it and perhaps enjoy it during their stay or on their drive home.

I made up some bookmarks that I leave in the book so whomever finds it will know it’s not lost (I remember something about doing this from the site whose concept this is). I think they have some sort of system where they even track where the book is, but I don't bother with any of that.

I just leave the book behind with this special bookmark on top.


I make these on my computer, print them out and keep a few in my suitcase.

Without the bookmark, people would just think the book was lost and may turn it in to the front desk. I want to make sure they are instantly aware that the book is for whomever happens upon it with the interest to read it.

So if you ever happen to come across a book with this bookmark, now you know who put it there!

11 comments:

  1. Zoey,

    That is such a great idea! I've done that with magazines that I am finished reading, will leave at Dr. office or some where people have to sit and wait, I'm going to pass on your idea..

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this idea. I do it with magazines quite often and have left paperbacks on cruise ships for their library. This bookmark idea is wonderful :)
    xo

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fantastic idea Zoey..I have left books at an exchange library in a resort but I will start leaving them in other places too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Zoey, that's awesome! What an exciting thing to happen upon! Pick me! I'll have to start doing that...but usually books I buy I want to keep to reread over and over...otherwise I don't buy, I just get those ones from the library. But if I have a book to pass along, I definitely would use this idea.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That's a wonderful idea!
    I always buy books in the clearance section at "Half-price books "for a few dollars. They will buy them back when you're done with them for a fraction of the cost, and then I buy more books!
    But this is a better idea, sort of the "pay it forward" concept!

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a great idea!!! I am going to go through some of the thousands of books we have laying around and start leaving them places so someone else can enjoy it. :)
    Great great FYI!!!
    dawn

    ReplyDelete
  7. That is so nice of you! My mom and I swap books when I get in the reading mode that is.
    A dentist's office near where I got to the dentist leaves free magazines in a basket which are fairly new, I think that's neat too.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Zoe, you are such a sweetheart. What a great thing to do!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you all for your comments. I hope you all start to do the same and that I find some of your books! :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi,

    I have just done a google on this topic and I came across your site. After a bit more googling I found: www.bookcrossing.com

    Is this what you were talking about??

    I think I will start doing this now too! There is going to be a sudden abundance of books laying around Helsinki!

    Happy reading :)

    ReplyDelete

I appreciate you taking the time and effort to leave a comment. I will try to answer any questions you have. Please note due to Blogger changing word verification so almost nobody can read it, I have had to change to no word verification and only allow registered users to comment.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...