drabley Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I read constantly. Between work and home, some days it feels like I truly never stop reading until I fall asleep. I saw a thread a while back about a big box of junk people ship around to each other and it gave me an idea: what if some of the avid readers on the board did something similar with a book? Someone buy the initial copy (I volunteer for that) read it, then ship it to the next person in line. In the front everyone should sign their name and list their location so as to document the travels of said book. There could also be a few loose leaf pages to document any impressions or comments -- like a discussion of sorts. Ultimately, the person that bought the book should receive it back. Thoughts on this idea? If supported, a vote should be had on the initial title to buy. I don't stick to any genre. I like a good mix of fiction and non-fiction -- typically memoirs. The last three books I read are: The English Major: Jim Harrison The Wasted Vigil: Nadeem Aslam Sea of Poppies: Amitav Ghosh I almost exclusively buy hard cover books since I like to keep them for my personal library. Nothing wrong with paperbacks -- just a preference. Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 NERD ALERT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drabley Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 Fuck. Wrong board. Mod -- can one of you move? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drabley Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 NERD ALERT Illiteracy alert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooterist136 Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I'm down. The only problem with my participating in this is that I read very slowly...painfully slow. Would there be a time limit for each person to have the book? Like 1 month per person so a book could go to potentially 12 people a year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murakami Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 i would be in for something like this, but would adapt it to say we should have a few books in circulation. sometimes it takes me a little longer to find the time to read and i dont know if i would want to wait for the X number of people ahead of me maybe get 5-10 person "circles" and each buys person a book and the process repeats until everyone in the circle has finished each book Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drabley Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 i would be in for something like this, but would adapt it to say we should have a few books in circulation. sometimes it takes me a little longer to find the time to read and i dont know if i would want to wait for the X number of people ahead of memaybe get 5-10 person "circles" and each buys person a book and the process repeats until everyone in the circle has finished each book This is what I envisioned, actually. Everyone's schedules are different and this would help alleviate some lag time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drabley Posted July 13, 2009 Author Share Posted July 13, 2009 I'm down. The only problem with my participating in this is that I read very slowly...painfully slow. Would there be a time limit for each person to have the book? Like 1 month per person so a book could go to potentially 12 people a year? Like murakami suggests, it might be best to have multiple going at the same time. No fault in absorbing a good book. I typically read about 30 pages in a night before bed, so the average book takes me a little less than 2 weeks to read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murakami Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 plus with multiple books, its could be a great chance to spread the word on a book that you love and want to push on to other people as well! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cosmonaut Posted July 13, 2009 Share Posted July 13, 2009 I love this idea. Count me in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex13 Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 if anybody collects books like easton press kinda stuff, I have a signed Slaughterhouse Five I'm looking to unload. It was initially a gift to a girl that I had to take back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salparadise Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 if anybody collects books like easton press kinda stuff, I have a signed Slaughterhouse Five I'm looking to unload. It was initially a gift to a girl that I had to take back. i might be interested. i don't know what this stuff goes for and vonnegut is far from my favorite writer, but i figure that having a shitty cliche slaughterhouse five tattoo warrants that i should own a better copy of this than the one that i have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
salparadise Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 also pretty into this idea. i'm sort of shitty about reading, so the sharing one copy thing works nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casey Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I was the first person to send out the box o junk, and I put two books in it. Vonnegut--Mother Night and Dave Eggers--What is the What. I'd be down for a box of books. The last book I really want to impress on people is Perforated Heart by Eric Bogosian. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Another Tom Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I would be up for this if people don't mind shipping to the UK. I am always trying to force people to read the books i like! I like the idea of the book swap/circle thing. That way everyone is reading at the same time, rather than one person reads while loads of people wait. I think paperbacks, just because they are cheaper and cheaper to ship. But i wouldn't be put off by hardbacks. Also i think everyone picks the book they want to send regardless of what the collective wants, that way we will be forced to read stuff we might usually not. Life is all about variety. We will need a list of books involved so we don't end up with multiples of the same book in circulation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murakami Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 i also like the idea of the signing of the cover and what not. i think that everyone should try and get their original book back so they have the copy that has a story behind it. i think paperbacks have to be the way to go, otherwise we could be limited in the selection. many of my favorites that i would consider spreading around are a little older and OOP on hardback. as for the UK, i am not against the idea of sending stuff over the pond depending on cost. the US rate would probably be about 3-4$ a mailing via media - if one book was 8-10 to ship the world wouldnt end. kinda getting excited about this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirbypuckett Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Maybe someone could go to a used book store place and see if they have a lot of something cheap. There's a ton of Half Priced Books in Pittsburgh w/ generally decent selections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dietrich Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 good idea, i am interested as well. There is a used book store in my town, but it is hard to know what will be there and what won't. If someone has suggestions for a book I can go there and check though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcm1610 Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I'd be fairly interested. Worst that could happen is my schedule is too busy in a few months and I just get it and pass it on (or simply remove myself from the list somehow). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest vito Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I'm in although in the same boat as mcm. I think this is a great idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drabley Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 So it looks like there are a fair amount of people interested -- great! joshpsmsc murakami josh sal paradise casey's playhouse tom fraj mcm1610 vito and myself. That makes 9 participants. I'm going to keep bumping this until Friday to see if there are any more that want to join in. We'll need to collectively decide on a few things, like whether or not we wish to completely ban hardback books from circulation (I obviously vote no on this) and the rotation of who is sending what to whom. I'm excited about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirbypuckett Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 I think I'm in. I'm weird about reading. I'll read about 3 books really quick, then I won't read for a few months. I just don't want my laziness to get in the way, but I am in the mood to read something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casey Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 So it looks like there are a fair amount of people interested -- great!joshpsmsc murakami josh sal paradise casey's playhouse tom fraj mcm1610 vito and myself. That makes 9 participants. I'm going to keep bumping this until Friday to see if there are any more that want to join in. We'll need to collectively decide on a few things, like whether or not we wish to completely ban hardback books from circulation (I obviously vote no on this) and the rotation of who is sending what to whom. I'm excited about this. If we can get an even number of people, then we can just do a one-on-one swap. Then after those two people are done, they can jump back into the loop and get re-paired with someone else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drabley Posted July 14, 2009 Author Share Posted July 14, 2009 The pairing idea could work and may help get more books into the hands of the speedier readers faster. It's worth considering. I have three books on my short list to read and I am purchasing two of them at lunch today: Road Dogs: Elmore Leonard (hard) I am Not Sidney Poitier: Percival Everett (soft) The Help: Kathryn Stockett (hard) I will read one which will then be the book that I send along. I had envisioned everyone reading / re-reading their own book prior to sending it along, but this is open to debate. I have several books in mind that I've already read that I would send. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casey Posted July 14, 2009 Share Posted July 14, 2009 Let's just get the proverbial show on the road. Don't overthink it. Get to matchin', drabs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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