May 19, 2005
[This occasional newsletter is sent to members of BookCrossing.com. See the bottom of this newsletter for simple removal instructions.]
Want to improve your Karma?
In The Karma is in the Giving (see member articles, this issue), kz4ufo gives us all some hints on how to improve that elusive "catch rate". We've got some helpful hints for you, too. Head on over to the Supply Store and check out our fabulous, exclusive Book Release Supplies, that'll help label and identify your book as a genuine BookCrossing book. Carry your soon-to-be-released books or recent catches in one of our stylish totes — denim, or black or yellow. And proudly proclaim you're a BookCrosser, by wearing one of our T-shirts! And wanna know the best part? Your purchase helps support BookCrossing. Talk about good karma!
An Author expounds on BookCrossing
 MartiP alerted us to a mention of BookCrossing by author, Nancy Malone, in Walking A Literary Labyrinth- A Spirituality Of Reading. Malone is a Roman Catholic nun, and examines reading as a spiritual pursuit in and of itself, akin to prayer or meditation, in that it takes us both out of ourselves and into our own hearts at once. The book is about how deeply reading affects us, and even changes us. We'll leave the rest of the telling to MartiP:
She was speaking of her hope that the love of books is seeing a resurgence in this electronic age, and speaks of growing book clubs, and the "OneBook" programs that some cities have done. Then...TADA!!! She says this:
Even more wide-reaching is the global BookCrossing book lovers' community that a friend of mine found on the Internet. To become a member you register on its site the title of a "book that speaks to you, that touches your life....that you want to share...with someone else", along with your journal comments about it. You then receive a BookCrossing ID number, making you a participant in a worldwide community of discussion about your book and others. Finally, you are to write BC's website address (http://www.bookcrossing.com) and your BCID inside the covers of favorite books you want to "release", and "give them away, or leave them where someone will find them". This, says the website, is "a fascinating exercise in fate, karma, or whatever you want to call the chain of events that can occur between two or more lives and one piece of literature." Or a fascinating exercise in "book providence" and "book kinship" rolled into one.' We agree with MartiP...How cool is that! Here is a forum thread on the subject.
Wearing your love for BookCrossing
BookCrosser SiDiC did a wonderful job promoting BookCrossing recently. Rather than restate his words, we'll snitch them directly from the Announcements forum, which also includes some links to the specifics in the story. Thank you SiDiC!
I was one of the library staff organizing and running the Lincoln City Libraries' 2nd annual "Turning the Pages of Romance Conference" yesterday at the Holiday Inn in downtown Lincoln, Nebraska. On Friday night, there was a pre-conference shindig sponsored by the Nebraska Romance Writers (a chapter of the national RWA) to which the conference author guests and library staff were invited. On both Friday night and Saturday, I wore my BookCrossing lapel pin- — one of my favorite BookCrossing promotional tools! — and it caught several peoples' attention. I talked up BookCrossing with one author and one reader on Friday night, and with two more authors and about 8 to 10 readers at the conference. All the readers were enthusiastically in support of the concept. Only one author had reservations about how booksharing might impact on her sales, but once I explained how it might actually improve her sales by having her books land in the hands of readers who might like her stuff enough to follow through with future purchases, even she sounded like she liked the idea. All in all, it sounded as if at least three new people had scads of books at home they had been looking for ways to get rid of, so another mission accomplished!
So....head on over to the Supply Store and join the throng wearing their love for BookCrossing on their lapel!
Someone's in the kitchen with...CookCrossing!
 If you were in Chit-Chat a while back, you may recall a discussion about making a cookbook with recipes contributed by various BookCrossers. Well, with the help of some members of the BookCrossing Community, rubyjules has done just that! All profits are to be donated to BookCrossing. Thank you rubyjules! That's very sweet (and savory, and roasted, marinated, baked, fried...oh you get the idea) of you. If you click on over to www.lulu.com/rubyjules, you can read more about and it get a copy for yourself. After all, as the description says:
BookCrossers love to share things. It really doesn't matter what. For example, on any given day you will be able to find a BookCrosser sharing their feelings, vibes, books, personal belongings, whatever is needed. This book is about sharing a love of cooking. It is a cookbook full of recipes from BookCrossers. It is For BookCrossers, by BookCrossers! Enjoy!
There are cookies and then there are COOKIES!
 The German forum was all a-buzz with sweet delight. Some months ago, modmadl had organized a bookring for the book Springerles-Back-Lust (A "Springerle" is a kind of stamped cookie which is typical in Southwest of Germany). HH58 took the book's message to heart and produced the most scrumptious tribute to BookCrossing yet!
A model that HH58 made for the embossing and its preliminary stage can be found here.
BOOKS FOR CHILDREN
May 1 Party in Dresden
by Galion
I live in a small comfortable part of the city of Dresden, Germany. Four months ago a neighbour told me that some people here wanted to prepare a children�s party on May 1. My first thought was: BookCrossing! ...
[read it all at http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1767]
WHAT GOES AROUND, COMES AROUND
or, How To Weave a Tapestry Out of Books and Friends...
by jessibud
You know how we all live for great journal entries? And wonderful book-travelling stories? And amazing circles of serendipity? Well, sit back and get ready, because here comes another one! This is the kind of story that could only happen at BookCrossing.
...
[read it all at http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1774]
MEET-UP 2005 BASEL
Over 50 BookCrossers met in Basel!!!
by Lightdancer
 The International Meet-up 2005 in Basel, Switzerland started on the 5th of May. Organizers Wildspitz, urpfi, Imoen, Archtintis and Sunneschii had been quite busy to provide a successful Meet-up!
On the first day, they started with a pick-up service and greeted sanne2, toefte, enitsirhc, je-lirai, Wyando, elhamisabel, GirlFromIpanema, krimtango and lambrusco27 at the train station....
[read it all at http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1788]
THE KARMA IS IN THE GIVING
Yet those Catches sure are nice!
by Holly (kz4ufo)
The goal of BookCrossing is to make the entire world a library, by releasing free books throughout the world. By freeing the books, we hope to encourage people to read. In return, we just ask that the Finder passes on the book. We believe the karma is in the giving....
[read it all at http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1765]
OPUS MEETS BALLYCUMBER
Booklovers Never Go To Bed Alone
by Linda Coble (SilvaGrad)
Sunday mornings are for reading the Comics and guess what, BookCrossers, we made the funny papers. Is Berkeley Breathed a BookCrosser?...
[read it all at http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1768]
CALL FOR WRITERS
Want to write for BookCrossing? If your article is accepted, you could see it featured here in the next newsletter. What topics do we need? Anything about books, reading, or BookCrossing — tutorials, release and catch stories, well-traveled book stories, funny BookCrossing experience stories — you get the idea. Write it up, then submit it here:
http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/submit
Top 10 Countries All-Time
| USA |  170,207 (47%) |
| UNITED KINGDOM | 28,245 (8%) |
| CANADA | 26,768 (7%) |
| GERMANY | 23,041 (6%) |
| SPAIN | 17,528 (5%) |
| AUSTRALIA | 16,339 (5%) |
| ITALY | 12,787 (4%) |
| FRANCE | 5,747 (2%) |
| PORTUGAL | 4,727 (1%) |
| NETHERLANDS | 4,526 (1%) |
Top 10 Countries Last Week
| USA | 707 (33%) |
| UNITED KINGDOM | 295 (14%) |
| GERMANY | 153 (7%) |
| CANADA | 115 (5%) |
| SPAIN | 89 (4%) |
| AUSTRALIA | 87 (4%) |
| FRANCE | 63 (3%) |
| GREECE | 61 (3%) |
| MEXICO | 58 (3%) |
| NETHERLANDS | 54 (3%) |
Wild books released by our members are being caught all over the world, every day! Our site watch forum is where members post news of great wild book catches. Here are some of the best from the last few days...
 Who says ....
Hospitals make bad release locations?
http://bookcrossing.com/---/2589670 http://bookcrossing.com/---/2589695 http://bookcrossing.com/---/2597976 edited for spelling *blush*
by Karaokewife
Haha...my boyfriend learned how to replace the toilet paper....
http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/2729805
by DreamSE22
"A fortuitous find"
What excellent stats for Sky-reader- 1 release for 1 catch- and a new member as well.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/2825835
by meganh
"I love this stuff!"
I may have discovered a new technique to encourage journal entries: take release photos using film (not digital) cameras, such that the photos take some time to be developed. From my last roll of film I've had two releases journaled out of five, *before* I got the photos back; that's a much better catch-rate than usual! I loved the entry on this one, and am now dying to know who the helpful and encouraging passer-by was... http://bookcrossing.com/---/2676867
by GoryDetails
a catch, 2 journal entries and new member BRIGHTEN my dull day!
I released a few books in honour of Mother's day and got TWO journal entries for the same book today! AND they jined! :-) http://bookcrossing.com/---/2540334
by aussie-rose
One of my favorite pubs is a great release spot!
http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/book_-Talk-of-the-Town-OHanlon,Ardal I usually have good luck at this smashing pub,right opposite the British Museum!
by dagon
"I grabbed it immediately."
A train catch for caffcaff: "I saw a programme about book crossing a while ago and thought it would be good to find a book some time. Now I have." http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/1900592
by Skyring
Multiple-choice catch for servalan
"...while i was walking away fastly and questioning my honesty, i saw the BC label inside..." http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/2446125 Pete, who often feels this way when *releasing* a book!
by Skyring
My release travelled from Germany to Costa Rica!!!!
I released the book at the MBC in Strasbourg in December. It was caught by qualsevolnit who took it with him to Nicaragua and released it there and now someone in Costa Rica catched it and made a JE. And she joined! Yeah!
http://bookcrossing.com/---/2243289
If you are resigned to the fact that most of your books will never be found, such a catch makes your day! :-))
*mustgoandtellmyneighbour whogavemethebook inthefirstplace*
by elhamisabel
Cool librarians re-release book
http://bookcrossing.com/---/1849739 I'm so happy that the book is continuing its travels!
by calicocollie
My very first release just got caught!
I released this 2 days after I joined in 2002, and it just got journalled, in a different city (which should read "Guelph", not Guelp. :-) Yay! http://bookcrossing.com/---/268581 macdonv
by macdonv
"Interesting how a book can open doors to conversations"
I liked this one; nice catch for sandyr111: http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/2790927
by GoryDetails
My first wild catch - and it's gone all the way to Paris!
(a new member referral too...) http://bookcrossing.com/---/ Go me! (Or my friend Alan)
by bandaids
I got my first wild release caught!!!!!!
I have been trying to do more wild releasing rather than so much trading and I released this one yesterday morning!!!!!!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it!!! And if you look at the journal entry http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/1917290 You'll see it got caught by the PERFECT person!!!! p.s. I just dropped this book on the floor!!!! I will definitely do that again!
by sekach00
Serendipity or What? A sad journal. entry.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/
by Mastulela
My lucky pig & new favorite release site
I have found what is apperently a "lucky pig." I have left 2 books outside of a BBQ joint, and both of them were journalled. On a windy day about a month ago, I wedged a book under the front hoof of a pig statue so the book wouldn't blow away. It was journalled a few days ago. Here is that journal entry url. http://bookcrossing.com/---/2240287 Today I decided to go take a picture to include in the journal entry for that catch and on a whim wedged another book under the pig's foot. It was caught a few hours later. Here is that journal entry- http://bookcrossing.com/---/2804752
edited so many time so get the links right.
by guinaveve
ANZAC Day catch & a new member...
http://bookcrossing.com/---/1814596 It was a moving day & this just adds to it.
by servalan
"wondered if it was a drug pick-up ...
... and whether the Police would be on our doorstep as we arrived home" Lovely catch, re-release and new member for Yass' very own bookfairy65. http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/2747209
by peggysmum
Lovely catch of a well-traveled book...
http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/2252066 [This one caught my eye because I'd enjoyed the book very much myself( http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/2338845) , and was glad to see that this copy's traveled so far and amused so many readers.]
by GoryDetails
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