To Trade Books?

Photo courtesy of bookmooch.com

Have you ever heard of a swap meet? Have you ever heard of a swap meet for books?

I just learned about a new website, called BookMooch where people can trade books that they don't want anymore for books that they do want, which another user has posted. Apparently the website is free to sign up for, and all a person needs to pay for is shipping.

How does the website work? People can search for books in a variety of ways: by genre, by recently added, by country (yes! the website is International), by language, by title/author, by topic, etc. Then, once a person finds a book they want, they can swap a book of their own with that user.

Skeptical? Intrigued? Would you be willing to swap your books for "new" ones?

~Kristen

To e-read?

This Christmas I was turned into a hypocrite.

Since the advent of the e-reader, I've been a fierce opponent. Nothing compares to holding a book; it's weight, it's smell, it's texture. I demonstrate my love for literature by demolishing books. I fold pages, highlight, write myself notes, write "witty" remarks that I hope someone someday sees. And the Kindle? The iPad? The Nook? Where is the new book smell? It's replaced by cold, clean, computer screens. Sure, it's "green," but in this case, I shut out the pleas of the sprouting resident Loraxes and acquire books like an addiction. Sorry, trees.

Materialism and book sniffing aside, the e-readers have always frightened me as an aspiring writer. What does this new technology mean for writers? Is it good or bad? What will happen to bookstores? The only bookstore in my town, an Annie's Book Stop, recently went out of business. I'm devastated. Is this just a prelude of what's to come? Will there be a time when bookstores will be completely extinct?

I received a Kindle for Christmas.

Though I am still terrified for the future of bookstores, though I prefer print above all technological advances, I'm afraid I've been won over. Here's how I am choosing to justify myself: I am not replacing my beloved books. The Kindle is merely allowing me to mobilize my addiction. I can be a nerd everywhere and instantly, download the classics for free (it is unbelievable how many books are free), listen to a book while I'm driving, play electronic Scrabble and read the newspaper on a train. I can even write notes and highlight passages.

I will still buy print books. There are certain authors' work of which I need the physical representation. I don't foresee that ever changing. It's my perhaps naive hope that there are enough people who share my "archaic" need for paper. Hopefully they will be enough to save bookstores (and newspapers for that matter). I'm hoping that the e-reader will remain a supplement to print, rather than render it obsolete. Again, I know it's naive. For the time being, however, I'm enjoying the coexistence of the two.

-Katie Brenzel