Visit the BookCrossing.com site...

August 11, 2005
[This occasional newsletter is sent to members of BookCrossing.com. See the bottom of this newsletter for simple removal instructions.]


IN THIS ISSUE...



BOOKCROSSING NEWS

BookCrossing in the Park in Ottawa

Mass releases by BookCrossers always catch our eye, but this one is kind of unique. It's a mass release of books, but only from one BookCrosser! On August 11, ottawabill is releasing about 120 hard and paperback science fiction and fantasy books in the Confederation Park at Elgin and Laurier Streets, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. We hope lots of folks make it to the park, and bring their own books to keep his company!


Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

For those of you looking for BookCrossing help in languages besides English, please be sure to check "international sites" box on the right side of the screen. In that one small box, you'll find links to many of the sites set up by our wonderful BookCrossing Community around the globe. Our newest addition is the Mexican Mirror, joining the Spanish, European, German, Dutch, French and Italian sites. There are others out there as well. Be sure to check out these sites, even if you are an English-speaking BookCrosser. They are beautiful and have a wealth of wonderful links from our international BookCrossing family.

P.S. Sorry for posting in English, but the editors have an "incomplete" in their foreign language studies. For some translations of this, done by some of our wonderful BookCrossers around the world, click here.


Attention Shopaholics! Save at the Store!

Now is the time to save at our BookCrossing Supply Store, because come September 1, our prices are changing. We're not talking drastic amounts, but there will be an increase in some of our products. The costs of running the Store (which is the prime revenue source for the site) have gone up, and we've held off making changes as long as we could.

So, consider the month of August a big SALE and shop till you drop. Stock up on your favorite apparel and release supplies. (After all, Christmas is only 5 months away!) As always, we thank you for your support.


Bonjour

While we can't welcome each individual new member that joins the BookCrossing family, we would like to to say "Bienvenue mes amies!" to BNF, also known as the National Library of France. Cool, oui? Even cooler is the planned mass release this month (August) in Paris. They have recruited 6 of their employees to work on this project and are even being assisted by some of our wonderful Paris BookCrossers. Wow! We hope someone will write in to tell us how it goes! (And Ballycumber was sent to Paris courtesy of SpedBug, who did the drawings on our new BC postcards in the Supply Store.)


In The News

We've made the British papers yet again, and our numbers are rising accordingly. You folks in Blighty are busy! Here's the latest from Birmingham, recent host to the UnConvention. And then PrestonToday gave us a mention as well. Thanks to BookCrosser flajol for telling us about that one! The Times delighted us — "Lobbing a sinister-looking black package into a fountain in Trafalgar Square, 20ft or so from a scary knot of armed policemen, it occurs to me that Goebbels and Joe McCarthy may have had a point; a book can be a dangerous thing." Read the entire article here.

One of our favorite websites, Bookslut also gave BookCrossing a plug in a recent online review of Garbage Land: On the Secret Trail of Trash by Elizabeth Royte.

Members have also let us know about other sightings of BookCrossing in print and online. Buffra found us in Bookmarks Magazine, fatheroffour in Tagzania and torborg in a Norwegian paper (Adresseavisen). Thanks all!

And though we've been given an extra "s" in our url, and the concept isn't quite correct, the Miami Herald referenced our site. The full text is reprinted in our own Announcements forum, for those who do not subscribe to the online verson.




NEW BOOKCROSSING ARTICLES

FULL OF BEANS IN THE BULK AISLE
Captured book inspires exchange between grocery store clerks
by WiltedLotus

It was one of my first releases, and it seemed to be a good place; the bulk department of my favorite local grocery store. Still feeling high over a reported catch from my second-ever release at the local video store last week, I felt I was on a roll....

[read it all at http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1874]


BOOKCROSSING TAKES OFF IN BIRMINGHAM!
Our first local media exposure, and several active BCers are mentioned
by LyzzyBee

BookCrossing and BookCrossers are getting more and more active in Birmingham, England recently. Not only have we played host to the UNConvention, but we've got a successful meetup group running and we meet once a month in our lovely OBCZ location, Hudson's Coffee House, aka Hudsons-Bham. I'm happy to see release alerts popping up nearly every day now. And then, today it happened... fame at last!...

[read it all at http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1891]


GOING- GOING- SOLD!
About 900 books find new homes with Dutch BookCrossers
by yvonnep & E-mile (yvonnep)

On July 20, a BookCrosser spotted a peculiar offer on the Dutch eBay. Someone wanted to get rid of around 900 books. Not specified. Just books. 21 banana boxes full of books. The Dutch BookCrossing community couldn�t resist it....

[read it all at http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1905]


WALK TO WORK WITH AF

by peggysmum

Since the untimely demise of my car a month ago, there have been even more opportunities to wild release, and, as it happens, opportunities to meet AF*....

[read it all at http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1909]


MIRROR, MIRROR, CONTINUED!
Gettng our news across in other languages
by Various bilingual BookCrossers around the globe (BCSupportTeam)

Thanks to BookCrossing volunteers, we can bring you the text of our recent article on the Mirror sites in several languages. Still awaiting other volunteers to check in with their respective languages! Listed in the order received:


...

[read it all at http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1914]


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




GLOBAL BOOKCROSSING GROWTH CHARTS

Top 10 Countries All-Time
USA 179,712 (47%)
UNITED KINGDOM 33,025 (9%)
CANADA 28,163 (7%)
GERMANY 24,810 (6%)
SPAIN 18,225 (5%)
AUSTRALIA 17,526 (5%)
ITALY 13,202 (3%)
FRANCE 6,504 (2%)
PORTUGAL 5,460 (1%)
NETHERLANDS 5,172 (1%)

Top 10 Countries Last Week
UNITED KINGDOM 1,064 (35%)
USA 772 (26%)
GERMANY 177 (6%)
CANADA 134 (4%)
AUSTRALIA 92 (3%)
SPAIN 65 (2%)
IRELAND 57 (2%)
NETHERLANDS 56 (2%)
FRANCE 54 (2%)
FINLAND 38 (1%)



THE LATEST WILD BOOK CATCHES

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...

YAY!!!!!!! My first wild catch!!!!
http://bookcrossing.com/---/2923156

The reason why I keep editing is because this laptop keeps shifting, so I keep pressing the Enter key...
by dolphingirlie

My book is writing to me:
I'm so glad it has written home. I'd like a trip to France, too!

http://bookcrossing.com/---/2916511

Book Title: Whisky Appreciation and Tasting Guide
Author: Derek Cooper


Monday, August 08, 2005

I caught the plane from Aberdeen to Paris and on to Pau in France and
sitting now on the 'coffeetable'. 'They' still didn't look at all my pages,
but I hope I will be read soon and travel further.

CAUGHT IN ABERDEEN, AIRPORT ABERDEENSHIRE SCOTLAND

By AnonymousFinder from n/a, n/a n/a
Book Rating: 8 out of 10

by ScottishHoosier

2 years later - Wuthering Heights on Mount Washington summit
Over two years ago I released Wuthering Heights at the summit of Mount Washington. I was amazed and delighted to at last have a journal entry for it waiting for me when I logged on this morning, on my birthday. And what a lovely journal entry!

http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/836988
by Kernow8

Catch and a new member!
http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/
I got a catch and a new member!

by Sobergirl

2 fun catches from a country park!
I released 4 books yesterday in a beautiful country park & 2 have already been journaled! :-)

http://bookcrossing.com/---/2915725

http://bookcrossing.com/---/2901006


by Anne-Elliott

Crikey, my quickest catch ever!
Three hours from release to journal. If only they all were like that...

http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/3076701


by MoonDark

Handed to me by the taxi driver
"We got to talking and when I told him I'm an English Lit major he handed me this book. So far I've just read a few pages at the airport but I'm looking forward to finishing it up soon and passing on the spontaneous kindness!"
http://bookcrossing.com/---/2217949

What this book has been doing in the months since I left it at a tram stop in Christchurch in March, I'd love to know!

Pete, who likes the idea of books being chauffered around
by Skyring

BC serendipity at work, again and again
This morning, I was looking for a review of A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters by Julian Barnes. Stumbled over this amazing entry- see journal #16
http://bookcrossing.com/---/2308670

This reminded me of a journal entry I received several months ago on a book I'd previously read on a ring- serendipity at work again. See journal #15
http://bookcrossing.com/---/789522
by MaryZee

full circle
I picked this book up in Alexandria, VA, took it with me to PA, left it in Delaware and look where it wound up!
http://bookcrossing.com/---/3085027
by PrettyPoodle

The Museum Guard caught 2 new members who are Museum Guards!!!!
http://bookcrossing.com/---/1561735
by ILuvToRead2

Finding the CHEESE to be helpful...
http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/1411442

I believe that I've released this book also, but have never heard from it again.
by kiptrix

I couldn't hope for anything more!
I was upset with myself when I forgot to take the book with me after making the original release notes, but now I know it was just BookCrossing karma that caused me to release it when and where I did.

http://bookcrossing.com/---/1962313
by bethieb

Wow, a GREAT Hawaii catch, and a new member!
Well done fanclub and welcome scrybe
http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/2117952
by dolphingirlie

A great birthday gift!
How cool is this? The surprise birthday gift that keeps on giving lots of good reading and world-wide friends for the rest of his/her life:
http://bookcrossing.com/---/3014339
by bluenoser

Good entry!
http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/2931823

Short, sweet and to the point. Repetition for the sake of emphasis?
by inkognitoh





All of our newsletters, including this one, are archived on the web at http://www.bookcrossing.com/newsletterarchive.
This newsletter is sent only to members of BookCrossing.com. If you would prefer to not receive this newsletter in the future, you can change your newsletter preference anytime by visiting: http://www.bookcrossing.com/newsletterpref/.


Members
Total: 385,540
Last Week: 2,999

Books
Total: 2,269,781
Last Week: 20,409

Eye-catching Headline Goes Here
bc supply store Get our 12th-edition Bookplate Labels featuring artwork promoting Book Aid International in a Release Kit with everything you need to release 25, 50, or 100 books! Every purchase at our secure online store directly supports the BookCrossing website, and will earn your Wings.