books books books

BookCrossing seems like a perfect way to create some space on your book shelves, doesn't it? You register the ones that you don't want to keep and release them.
When I started being a BookCrosser 2 years ago, I was afraid I'd be out of books in no time. My collection has always been large, but there comes a point when even my shelves get empty, I thought.
Think again! With BookCrossing comes interaction with other book lovers and everyone is eager to share & give away.
Like some time ago, when I discovered I liked the Nicci French books. Buying them all, even 2nd hand, would be quite an expensive idea. So, I offered the books I had in my posession for a trade on the Dutch forum. Swapped the French's I already had for new ones and I also received French's as a RABCK (Random Act of BookCrossing Kindness).

There are meetings very often and most people bring loads of books along so others can choose new reading material. I don't think people come home empty handed from a meeting :)

And then, there's the fabulous Moem! She lives in a big place with a huge amount of books. You see, friends of hers have a second hand book shop for a charity project and that shop clears the shelves a few times a year. The remaining books are stored at Moem's place. Boxes and boxes full of books, just waiting to be registered and released! Every now and then, Moem organises "Dozendag", which can be translated as Boxing Day, because it sure feels like that! BookCrossers can come to her place at those days and take home as many books as they can carry.

Discovering a cheap place for second hand books doesn't help in reducing my collection either. Four books for 1,50 euro; can you imagine what a paradise that is for yours truly? :)

I still had a huge pile of books waiting to be registered and since the room is getting crowded, I decided to use this Sunday to prepare the books for registering. Putting labels inside on which I can write the BCID code once the books are registered and putting stickers on the covers to mark them as BookCrossing books.

Well, they're all ready for the next step now: filling out all the info needed on the BookCrossing site, browsing for reviews, getting a code and writing that code in the book. So, a a lot of work is waiting. Such nice work to do!
Some of the books I'll read before releasing them, a few of those will end up in my Permanent Collection and the rest will be set free!
Molotov was a big help by testing if the piles were stabile. Nope ;)
The post-it on his back says: I'm not lost, I'm on a journey. Hmmm, would CatCrossing work as well? ;)