A Day in the Park
How two BCers hand out books to strangers
by JoziiSeptember 23, 2008
About a week ago, a fellow BookCrosser and I agreed to meet in a crowded park. We had never before met but knew each other from the website. I, a male teen, she, a 60+ woman. What a pair, huh? So what were we going to do? Release books, of course!
This park – a large one in the middle of Gothenburg, Sweden – was particularly crowded on this day due to a concert taking place. A perfect place for BookCrossing! With us we’d brought around 30 books. We’d planned to hand them out to people passing by, explaining BookCrossing to those interested. If we had any books left, we were going to leave them in the wild. It never got to that, though.
The reactions of people were surprising in many ways. Some strictly turned around and wouldn’t want to hear another word as soon as they heard we would like to give them a free book. Some comments were “What’s the catch?” and “There’s no such thing as something free.”
Most people, however, were quite positive. Most would gladly pick a free book, and many were genuinely interested in hearing about BookCrossing. Especially two foreign women and the one woman’s child stood out from the crowd. We talked for about 15 minutes, and their joy was overwhelming! Three books less in our bags, but also more smiles that made us happy.
One thing that surprised me in particular was the number of people who actually knew about BookCrossing. “Want a free book?” you’d ask, and they’d just shake their heads and keep walking. “Ever heard of BookCrossing?” you’d ask them before they got too far, and on more than one occasion people would then turn around with an “Oh, yes I have! Is that what you’re doing?” Suddenly, they were more than interested in a free book!
But not everything went as planned. On one occasion, a genuinely interested older woman was asking questions about BookCrossing, which we gladly answered. The problem? She was sitting at a café and when the owner saw us presenting books to this woman, she came up and yelled at us. “You can’t sell stuff here!” She did this very loudly in front of all her customers.
Before I realized she was the owner (I didn’t get this at first, she took me by surprise), I asked “Do you work here?” She then shouted at me telling me to leave. Unfortunately for her, the previously mentioned two foreign women were some of her customers – and they took our side immediately: “If they’re leaving, so are we!” That’s when she realized she’d made a mistake, acting too quickly. She said something and went inside the café. We never saw her again.
Before we left the area, we heard the two foreign women talking to each other. “We’re never coming back here again.” That made my day.
But despite all this, the real beauty of the day was releasing books as well as meeting a fellow BookCrosser. Two great experiences! The smiles on peoples’ faces, the possible BookCrossers-to-be we’ve found and the generally nice feeling of knowing a book has gotten a new home are all things I’m glad to have experienced and achieved on this sunny day.
Releasing books by handing them to strangers scared me at first. But I quickly got the hang of it, and we were soon talking to people all the time! We barely had time to get to know each other, but still both were having a great time. I hope others will give this a shot! You’re bound to get a lot of good memories out of a day like this one.
Add to all this the fact that our chosen location turned out perfect. I’m sure I’ll be doing this again some day, and I’m fairly certain my newly found friend will join me. BookCrossing sure made this day a special one!
This park – a large one in the middle of Gothenburg, Sweden – was particularly crowded on this day due to a concert taking place. A perfect place for BookCrossing! With us we’d brought around 30 books. We’d planned to hand them out to people passing by, explaining BookCrossing to those interested. If we had any books left, we were going to leave them in the wild. It never got to that, though.
The reactions of people were surprising in many ways. Some strictly turned around and wouldn’t want to hear another word as soon as they heard we would like to give them a free book. Some comments were “What’s the catch?” and “There’s no such thing as something free.”
Most people, however, were quite positive. Most would gladly pick a free book, and many were genuinely interested in hearing about BookCrossing. Especially two foreign women and the one woman’s child stood out from the crowd. We talked for about 15 minutes, and their joy was overwhelming! Three books less in our bags, but also more smiles that made us happy.
One thing that surprised me in particular was the number of people who actually knew about BookCrossing. “Want a free book?” you’d ask, and they’d just shake their heads and keep walking. “Ever heard of BookCrossing?” you’d ask them before they got too far, and on more than one occasion people would then turn around with an “Oh, yes I have! Is that what you’re doing?” Suddenly, they were more than interested in a free book!
But not everything went as planned. On one occasion, a genuinely interested older woman was asking questions about BookCrossing, which we gladly answered. The problem? She was sitting at a café and when the owner saw us presenting books to this woman, she came up and yelled at us. “You can’t sell stuff here!” She did this very loudly in front of all her customers.
Before I realized she was the owner (I didn’t get this at first, she took me by surprise), I asked “Do you work here?” She then shouted at me telling me to leave. Unfortunately for her, the previously mentioned two foreign women were some of her customers – and they took our side immediately: “If they’re leaving, so are we!” That’s when she realized she’d made a mistake, acting too quickly. She said something and went inside the café. We never saw her again.
Before we left the area, we heard the two foreign women talking to each other. “We’re never coming back here again.” That made my day.
But despite all this, the real beauty of the day was releasing books as well as meeting a fellow BookCrosser. Two great experiences! The smiles on peoples’ faces, the possible BookCrossers-to-be we’ve found and the generally nice feeling of knowing a book has gotten a new home are all things I’m glad to have experienced and achieved on this sunny day.
Releasing books by handing them to strangers scared me at first. But I quickly got the hang of it, and we were soon talking to people all the time! We barely had time to get to know each other, but still both were having a great time. I hope others will give this a shot! You’re bound to get a lot of good memories out of a day like this one.
Add to all this the fact that our chosen location turned out perfect. I’m sure I’ll be doing this again some day, and I’m fairly certain my newly found friend will join me. BookCrossing sure made this day a special one!
