As I looked back on my previous WFMW posts, I realized that I had not posted one of my absolutely favorite things on the internet - Bookcrossing.com!
Bookcrossing is a wonderful site, especially for book lovers like me (and many of my blog readers ;-))! I’ll try to explain it as best I can, but you really should pop on over to the site and check it out yourself.
Let’s say I have a book (haha, understatement). I finished reading this book, and I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t completely earth-shattering, so I don’t necessarily want to keep it here on my bookshelf taking up precious real estate. I register the book on Bookcrossing.com. In doing this, the book is assigned a number (which I either write into the cover, or use a sticker to put it in - this seems more effective), and 
I write up my opinion of the book on the website, rating it with 1-10 stars. This book is now added to my virtual bookshelf. I can do several things with it. If I give it to a friend, then they can go online, see what I wrote, and make their own review. Now it’s on their bookshelf. Or, I could take the book and place it strategically on a table in Starbucks. By doing this, I’ve released the book into the wild, and whoever happens to pick it up becomes the new owner. Or I could go to an online trading site like PaperBackSwap.com and trade my book for another book, thereby passing my journaled book on to a new owner. There are tons of possibilities!
Why do this? Why not! You’re recycling books, and it’s really interesting to see where your books have gone. Some of my books are floating around in other countries, and I’m seeing lots of people with different opinions of the books that I read. I released a lot of books when we were on vacation in Europe, so that was really cool.
Bookcrossing also has a big community online. There are forums, groups, all sorts of ways to participate and communicate with other book lovers. There are lots of books that I have read that I never would have read had it not been for Bookcrossing, and I’ve found some great new authors!
I’m more than happy to answer any questions - I joined about a year before I actually started participating because it seemed like too much work, but once I got going, it has snowballed into something I have enjoyed so much.
Bookcrossing.com? Works for me!
I'm Lindsey, and thanks so much for stopping by Suspension of Disbelief. I love living in the South. Born and raised in Georgia, live in Florida, school in North Carolina – it just doesn't get better . . .
