The Book that Paddled its own Canoe
A transatlantic RABCK brings a fascinating harvest
by ruthwaterOctober 28, 2004
I joined BookCrossing about six weeks ago and decided to try a couple of RABCK's to get into this new community. So I checked out a few wish lists, did a search for books on my shelf and offered to send them out.
One possible recipient for an unwanted title lived in British Columbia, Canada. I'd recently finished a wonderful novel, "Voyageurs" by Margaret Elphinstone, which told of the life-changing journey undertaken by a Quaker farmer from the English Lake District, in the early 1800s when Canada and the infant USA were embroiled in border wars. In search of his sister, who has mysteriously gone missing, presumed dead, on the frontier, Mark Greenhow travels by canoe through the Great Lakes on a voyage which will challenge all his values and change his life.
When I looked at goatgrrl's profile and website, I had a hunch that she would enjoy "Voyageurs" very much, so I stuck my neck out and offered it to her. She warmed to the book at once, and, luckily for me, turned out to be the kind of person who needs to look everything up as she reads to see how accurate it is. Over the next few weeks, my reading of "Voyageurs" was greatly enriched by the annotated maps and links she added to the journal. Although I'd visited Canada, I felt that the experience I'd brought to my own reading of the book (I'm English) was the tip of a fascinating iceberg. It was thrilling to see photographs of the exact places passed through in the story, and to learn of the people, of varying nations, who live there today. I was especially interested by an on-line call to a tribe to register their hunting grounds. My stories of Wordsworth and Herdwick sheep didn't seem very exotic by comparison!
I chose to join goatgrrl's bookring for "Kiss of the Fur Queen" by Thomson Highway. This contemporary tale of two Cree brothers struggling to make their way in 20th century Winnipeg gave me rich insights into the kind of culture that Mark Greenhow was attempting to engage with. For me, this is what bookcrossing is all about - enriching each other's lives by sharing books you simply wouldn't come across elsewhere. It's so refreshing in these days of superstores filled with seemingly identical, heavily promoted titles.
When you love reading, it's so easy to get hooked on the "hardware" - that smell of freshly printed paper, and the solidity of uncut pages, even the weight of a couple of paperbacks in the carrier bag after another bookstore fix. To buy a book and let it languish unread on your shelves seems almost a betrayal of the writer, yet I do it all the time. BookCrossing has reminded me that it's the software that really counts, and it's worth nothing unless it's shared. A lot of people would like to make books a commodity, to render them harmless. This is a great way to fight back. What a challenge it would be to quit buying books for a year and see what serendipity brought into your life!
If you are interested, check out Voyageurs and you'll see a lovely example of BookCrossing at its best.
One possible recipient for an unwanted title lived in British Columbia, Canada. I'd recently finished a wonderful novel, "Voyageurs" by Margaret Elphinstone, which told of the life-changing journey undertaken by a Quaker farmer from the English Lake District, in the early 1800s when Canada and the infant USA were embroiled in border wars. In search of his sister, who has mysteriously gone missing, presumed dead, on the frontier, Mark Greenhow travels by canoe through the Great Lakes on a voyage which will challenge all his values and change his life.
When I looked at goatgrrl's profile and website, I had a hunch that she would enjoy "Voyageurs" very much, so I stuck my neck out and offered it to her. She warmed to the book at once, and, luckily for me, turned out to be the kind of person who needs to look everything up as she reads to see how accurate it is. Over the next few weeks, my reading of "Voyageurs" was greatly enriched by the annotated maps and links she added to the journal. Although I'd visited Canada, I felt that the experience I'd brought to my own reading of the book (I'm English) was the tip of a fascinating iceberg. It was thrilling to see photographs of the exact places passed through in the story, and to learn of the people, of varying nations, who live there today. I was especially interested by an on-line call to a tribe to register their hunting grounds. My stories of Wordsworth and Herdwick sheep didn't seem very exotic by comparison!
I chose to join goatgrrl's bookring for "Kiss of the Fur Queen" by Thomson Highway. This contemporary tale of two Cree brothers struggling to make their way in 20th century Winnipeg gave me rich insights into the kind of culture that Mark Greenhow was attempting to engage with. For me, this is what bookcrossing is all about - enriching each other's lives by sharing books you simply wouldn't come across elsewhere. It's so refreshing in these days of superstores filled with seemingly identical, heavily promoted titles.
When you love reading, it's so easy to get hooked on the "hardware" - that smell of freshly printed paper, and the solidity of uncut pages, even the weight of a couple of paperbacks in the carrier bag after another bookstore fix. To buy a book and let it languish unread on your shelves seems almost a betrayal of the writer, yet I do it all the time. BookCrossing has reminded me that it's the software that really counts, and it's worth nothing unless it's shared. A lot of people would like to make books a commodity, to render them harmless. This is a great way to fight back. What a challenge it would be to quit buying books for a year and see what serendipity brought into your life!
If you are interested, check out Voyageurs and you'll see a lovely example of BookCrossing at its best.
