May 26, 2005
[This occasional newsletter is sent to members of BookCrossing.com. See the bottom of this newsletter for simple removal instructions.]
And you think it's been a long time since you had a catch?!
Check out this catch for Fireman! He released In the Skin of a Lion (by Michael Ondaatje) in June of 2002 in Vancouver, Canada. Not a peep, not a word from the book for 35 months! Lost book? Nope! Just travelling — all the way to Mumbai (Bombay), India, where it found a home with new member madli. Welcome to BookCrossing madli! And thanks for "calling home", In the Skin of a Lion!
Friends, Romans, BookCrossers! Lend us your ears!
Want to add a little glamor in your life? Our Supply Store now has just the thing: Ballycumber earrings! Inspired by the creativity of BookCrossers (as featured in an earlier Newsletter article), we now proudly offer this new item. Each pair of handcrafted earrings feature our exclusive BookCrossing charm dangling at the end of gold-toned pierced earring hooks. Don't be late! Be ahead of the crowd and get yours today!
Just in time for Winter Down Under! Long-Sleeved Tees now in the Supply Store!
 BookCrossers around the world have been asking for them! Now you can add another style of BookCrossing T-shirt and some new colors to your
wardrobe! From Old Navy, these stitch-trim, Women's crew neck shirts are made
of soft, lightweight, 100% cotton, and come in three great colors.
They are long-sleeved, and completely washable.  Choose from an array
of colors: gorgeous mistletoe green, a soft bubble blue and the
ever-popular, ever-versatile basic black, all featuring Ballycumber, the
BookCrossing logo, of course! Now we've got you covered in all temperatures! (Sorry Blokes — we don't have them in men's sizes yet. But this gives you an excuse to find someone to snuggle with!)
BookCrossing Postcards are Coming!
Attention all artists (and clever BookCrossers!)! Full color BookCrossing-themed postcards are in the works. Who better to come up with the funny or amusing content for our new product line of postcards than our very own BookCrossing community? We are now accepting entries for our new Supply Store product line. Design a cartoon (or cartoon strip) for BookCrossing characterizing the site's inherent activities (i.e., site-relevant characteristics, serendipity, reading, releasing, book hunting, reverse shoplifting, etc. ), and you could win a $75 gift certificate for anything in our BC Supply Store! The contest is open to everyone, entry is free and the deadline for submissions is at midnight (BookCrossing time) on June 24, 2005. Winners will be announced in the following Newsletter. Rules are as follows:
- All entries must be submitted in electronic form with an attached jpeg
file at least 900 pixels wide and 600 pixels high.
- The original cartoon (single image or strip) must not be bigger than
the 4x6 inches white postcard on which it will be exhibited.
- Send all entries to [email protected].
- Be sure to include your screen name in your email.
- Use the name of your work for easy identification in the Subject
Line.
- Copy and paste the following disclaimer in your email as proof of your willingness to grant BC full rights to use and market your contest submission.
I hereby certify that the art and/or idea that I am about
to submit is my original work and has never been copyrighted or, if
copyrighted, that I am the sole copyright owner. I am entering this art
and/or idea for art as an honest and true effort of my personal
creativity and unique artistic vision. I release all claims for
compensation other than contest winnings and understand that my art may
be printed, reprinted, published or reproduced in any way or context as
BookCrossing wishes in limitless quantity for BookCrossing profit as my
original work and under my own copyright. Although this contest is intended to procure cartoons of hand-drawn or
computerized images for postcards, photographs may be considered for
future projects and be awarded as per the terms of this contest. Finally, if you can't draw but still have a good idea and vision for a
BookCrossing Postcard, send it along! If we end up able to "execute"
your idea, we'll wing you for a month. Get busy creating and have fun designing a BookCrossing Postcard!!
Unconvention Update
Just a reminder: for those of you hoping to make it to the BCUK Unconvention in Birmingham, time and space is growing shorter. Registration information can be found at our Convention Info page here. Many wonderful happenings are planned for the July 1-3 event. Convention planners let us know that this year BookCrossers will have the pleasure of the company of author Kate Harrison who will speak on Saturday afternoon. She is the author of two books, Old School Ties, which was published last year, and The Starter Marriage which came out in April in the UK, and is due out July 2005 in the US. She is currently in the process of writing her third novel, the trials and tribulations of which she is documenting in a weblog with a wonderful name: chicklitworkinprogress.blogspot.com. Kate has also kindly agreed to run a small workshop for budding writers on the specifics of writing a novel and getting published. (Please see the full information at the Unconvention website for more specific details.) 
Head to Hay for 10 days of celebrating Books!
 BookCrossing has learned about a literary festival that's taking place
in the UK from 27 May — 5 June: The Hay Festival. It takes place in a tiny market town in the Black Mountains of the Welch Marshes. Why Hay? Well for starters, this town of 1300 people has 39 bookshops. Now that sounds like our kind of place!
For ten days a year, 80,000 people from the UK, Europe and America come to Hay to celebrate books and reading. And if that's not glorious enough, our buddies from Book Aid International are going to be there! BAI is going to build a 'hay stack' of books from donated African-authored/published material,that will then be sent on to Africa.
Culturally relevant books are always very highly in demand, but rarely donated by publishers. Have a look at this article to find out more. If you're planning to be at Hay, be sure to stop by and say "Hey!" to the BAI folks!
And now a brief word of thanks from Book Aid
 We received the nicest thank you from Madeleine Langford-Allen of Book
Aid International the other day. In a note to our co-founder, Heather, she wrote,
I
very much wanted to write and thank you again for the help and
enthusiasm — from you and what seems like BookCrossers everywhere! We've
been completely blown away by the genuine kindness and willingness to
help, thank you. It means a great deal. Many of the authors we approached
got really excited by BookCrossing — I wouldn't be surprised if several
of them have joined and started BookCrossing on a regular basis!
It's brilliant that we were able to capture their imaginations with BC
and Book Aid International. And we here at the "home office" of
BookCrossing thank all involved, too! You're the best!
In the News
 Do you recall back in April when we mentioned moldovagirl and her planned trip to Moldova? Well, she has written to her loyal friends and fans via the Herald Dispatch. The article is an interesting slice of her life and in the sidebar acknowledgements, she gives thanks to all the BookCrossers who sent her books to distribute there. We look forward to more tales of her trip. Who knows? Maybe there is a book in the future with her name literally on it!
If you're looking for something fun to do over the next few months, C-SPAN has a lovely list of book fairs and festivals in the US for the rest of 2005. Wouldn't it be great to hit them all?
WHY KEEP BOOKCROSSING?
... a brief explanation
by zz-neena
Ron* has called BookCrossing his software company�s �Labor of Love�. It occurs to me that BookCrossing is a labor of love for all of us....
[read it all at http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1795]
DUBLIN TO GALWAY IN ONE DAY
Dublin Bookcrossers visit Galway for a day of books and food
by Deirdre Thornton (wyvernfriend)
Early in the morning on Saturday the 30th of April, several books were abandoned in the Heuston Railway station. This was because several members of the Dublin (and surrounding counties) BookCrossing group had decided that a field trip to Galway was warranted....
[read it all at http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1779]
A PASSING THOUGHT ON PASSING BOOKS
The gift that keeps on giving
by Carl Palmer (carlpalmer)
I'm passing a gift...
[read it all at http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1787]
THE BIGGEST EUROPEAN MASS RELEASE
The Austrian Bookfair in Vienna
by Diamondlucy
Now it�s done. The biggest European mass release is history. But here's the full story....
[read it all at http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1789]
ARE BOOKS AFRAID OF THE DARK?
I'm worried
by nancyluvsbooks
The real estate agent said, "You need to remove some things to open up rooms and make them look bigger before showing the house."...
[read it all at http://www.bookcrossing.com/articles/1798]
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 |  170,934 (47%) |
| UNITED KINGDOM | 28,510 (8%) |
| CANADA | 26,866 (7%) |
| GERMANY | 23,160 (6%) |
| SPAIN | 17,600 (5%) |
| AUSTRALIA | 16,438 (5%) |
| ITALY | 12,865 (4%) |
| FRANCE | 5,819 (2%) |
| PORTUGAL | 4,758 (1%) |
| NETHERLANDS | 4,573 (1%) |
Top 10 Countries Last Week
| USA | 747 (36%) |
| UNITED KINGDOM | 268 (13%) |
| GERMANY | 120 (6%) |
| GREECE | 105 (5%) |
| AUSTRALIA | 96 (5%) |
| CANADA | 92 (4%) |
| SPAIN | 66 (3%) |
| MEXICO | 61 (3%) |
| ITALY | 52 (2%) |
| FRANCE | 49 (2%) |
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...
 One year nine months from release to journal entry
And a new member.
http://bookcrossing.com/---/
by thebiblioholic
3 new members....
http://bookcrossing.com/---/ Look how well this book is doing! I originally released it at the PowerHouse Museum in Sydney, Australia. The book has now generated 3 new members for BookCrossing. Go book!
by fushmush
Robinson Crusoe
Good catch! Robinson Crusoe will be travelling the high seas again, on his way to Egypt.
Edited to add the journal link: http://bookcrossing.com/---/
by bluenoser
UK to Sicily to UK!
Nice catch for Freyma! http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/
by Anne-Elliott
From Philadelphia, to Vermont, to Austria, in two years
http://bookcrossing.com/---/475881 I left The Canterbury Tails at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in Jan. 2003. It was found by someone from Vermont and finally journalled two years later. It was next found by someone from Maine, but in Austria, and released again at a university in Austria. Nice that one of my classic releases is making the rounds!
by FiddlerCrab
Go Little Book Go
This one is quite amazing, started by Fushmush this little books has now created 3 (yes count them 3) new members. http://bookcrossing.com/---/
by MadamMuck
My best journal entry/catch ever!
This book was caught not even 30 minutes after I released it and the journaler has a great sense of humor and seems enthusiastic too! http://bookcrossing.com/---/
by mepwave
mepwave gets a catch and we get a funny new member!
(sorry mepwave, I saw this and just had to post it)
http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/2850332 Our new member is a pretty humourous guy!
by HoserLauren
From London to Pennsylvania via Mallorca
Well, after a few releases, I finally have one that is caught. I would never have thought it would be the one I released on my vacation! I took it from London to Mallorca (Spain) and released it in a pub. http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/ The catcher has signed up and has now re-released the book in Pennsylvania!
by longfordmaine
"it was one of the most thrilling moments in my life"
Catch revivies a long-dormant BookCrosser! http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/2849292
by erulissenen
That was fast
http://bookcrossing.com/---/2822618 I released this book just before 2pm, and got the catch note about 7:30pm the same day.
About 5 and a half hours wait!! :o)
And a new member, who will enjoy re-reading the book by the sounds of it. I sat and watched the book for a while, but since nobody was even going near the seat I left to release my other books and go to the bank.
by rarsberry
Gone full circle
http://bookcrossing.com/---/1683753 I bought this book at the Regent booksale, released it late last year.
It then somehow has gone through one person that didn't journal it but instead donated it to the booksale.
It has then been bought and journalled by someone. :o)
by rarsberry
Catch & New Teenage Member!
Yay! A catch & an enthusiastic new member! http://bookcrossing.com/---/
by Anne-Elliott
I caught a wild release and I did not even have to leave my desk
Amusing little suprise for me at work. Read all about it here:
http://www.bookcrossing.com/---/
by libertine101
Never give up!
This is the first book I ever released. It took a few months, but brought a new member too! http://bookcrossing.com/---/2377662
by denny08
Caught in London UK...and on it's way to Cuba!
I was so pleased when this book was caught and journalled- went to see Kevin Spacey in Philadelphia Story, so just had to mark the occasion by releasing a book in the Old Vic theatre! http://bookcrossing.com/---/
by Molyneux
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