The other day the old “Have you read…?” “You should read…” “Let me loan you…” conversation started up at a friend’s barbeque, when our gracious host announced that she never loans books, she simply gives them away. Another friend then piped up that there was a website in existence that fostered exactly that road to good karma: Paperback Swap.
The site takes the conventional conversation of “Have you read…”, puts it on the Internet, and expands the number of participants in the conversation exponentially. You pay for the postage of the books that you send out and, in return, when you have books sent to you, the sender pays the postage. For each book you send out, you get a credit towards a book that can be sent to you at some point in the future. Say you read Eat, Pray, Love, hated it and see no reason why it should still be on your bookshelf; put it on Paperback Swap, send it out, and then order yourself a book you really want for your bookshelf! There’s no room for schlock ‘round these parts!
It’s not a particularly pretty site. In fact, the graphics remind me of those Scholastic book order forms circa 1988, but it’s user-friendly and does the job without much fuss. I’m not complaining; I’m just looking for something to complain about.