 The Cycle of Books I am an active participant in my local Freecycle group. The group’s goal is to keep unnecessary things out of landfills. It serves several needs: helping to keep things that don’t have to be thrown away from being thrown away; letting someone else have something that is still good and usable for free; and getting something you may need to another person no longer needs. It’s all grassroots and nonprofit, though each group—4,834 to date—is run separately under the Freecycle umbrella. Since I tend to be a minimalist who doesn’t collect stuff, most of what I give away are books that have come in that I am not keeping. These are proving very popular. I like the fact that it saves me postage, and that the books are going to people who want them. The only caveat I put in every post is that it is one book per person. (The first time I posted a list I was astonished at those who said “I’ll take them all!” because the books varied so widely in subject matter—a history of a special unit in the Korean War, a chick lit novel, a Lebanese cookbook, a self-published mystery—it was obvious which responders were just looking for merchandise to sell on eBay or CraigsList rather than books to read. I didn’t like that, hence the restriction.) Since then I’ve given away around fifteen batches of books, most batches averaging four or five books each. And unlike donating them to my local Planned Parenthood annual fundraiser or the library for its sales, I actually get to see the people and hear their stories about why they asked for a particular books. Serena is one of the most consistent responders, so much so that although she is very appreciative of the books she’s received I’ve had to choose others just to make sure the books are spread around. She’s around forty years of age, vivacious, a passionate reader who loves fiction, both commercial and literary, though she occasionally reads uplifting nonfiction. Patty, who I met for the first time yesterday, isn’t a passionate reader but when I offered up a memoir/New Age book she responded. Unfortunately, she was only one of a half-dozen who requested it. I chose someone else, but as happens that person never showed up at the scheduled time nor did she call. I remembered Patty’s email and let her know it was available, and was she interested? Was she? When she arrived yesterday morning, she bounded out of her car, her eyes glistening. Patty had met the author about six months before when they were both speakers at a women’s conference at our university. Her face was lighted up with memories, warmth, and a genuine connection. That book was not just saved from the landfill. It was going home. Another freecycler, Parkie, is an older, retired man who has taken several books over the last couple of years off my hands. He favors nonfiction, but his wife enjoys fiction so they have received both. The first time they came out, their granddaughter was with them, and he handed the books over to her to hold on their ride home. I could see from the way she handled them—one was about dogs, and she mentioned that the cover looked just like her dog—that she was following in their footsteps as a reader. Probably the funniest story for me revolves around the L. Ron Hubbard audio books. I was actually getting rid of these for a friend who had received them as part of her book designing judging role this year. These were massive audio collections, six massive plastic boxes of them shrink wrapped, each one containing about a dozen CDs. They were brightly colored in reds, oranges and blacks with plenty of bright lights highlighting the oversized text. There was so much plastic that I didn’t want to see her dump it in the garbage so I told her I’d put them up on Freecycle. She asked if they would be taken. I had no idea. But I did—and was surprised at the response. Half a dozen people enthusiastically responded. After arranging a pick-up at my workplace I put them in my trunk. And waited. A day went by. Then another one. By the end of the third day I was seriously annoyed so when another freecycler showed up to collect a gorgeous book on Hawaiian woodworking—her husband was a woodworker—she noticed them. And asked about them. Her brother often traveled on business and he liked Hubbard so she thought he would love those. I made an impromptu decision at that point. I wanted them out of my trunk and out of my life. I handed them over, and she, nice person that she was, handed me a small but lovely live flowering plant she had picked up for me. (I know I got the better deal.) The original requester, who blithely turned up two days after that expecting the CDs to still be waiting for her, was not happy. But I was. My trunk was no longer flashing me every time I opened it. And just yesterday the last of the current ones that were waiting for new homes found them. My home still has hundreds, maybe thousands, of pounds of books, but they are all ones I want. The others have found new homes where they are wanted, and all feels right in “book-land.” Or at least in Freecycle-land. Upcoming Book Festivals: The Vermont Summer Book Fair will take place in Brattleboro on Sunday, August 15, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Living Memorial Parkís Withington Skating Rink. You will find antiquarian booksellers from all over New England the Northeast offering rare and out of print books, maps, prints, postcards and related ephemera. The Pub House: Who hasn’t been trapped in an airport at some time and begun to wonder about other travelers? Few of us, which is why Airport by Wingo Perseus, a collection of short stories about people arriving and departing an airport, is a tempting read for an airport wait. As hours pass and the observer Luis becomes more “invisible” he begins to see, hear and sense his fellow passengers and their stories. Where are they going? And where in the world do they belong? This book is one of Gemma’s Open Door Series originally begun in Ireland with the intent of enhancing adult literacy there. The idea is that “a story doesn’t have to be big to change our world.” This innovative series is now expanding to North America where both best-selling and emerging authors contribute. Imaging Books & Reading: Of Interest: Emdashes is having one of their occasional contests so here is your opportunity to have a little fun with punctuation marks. Your choice. All you have to do to enter is write a letter to your favorite punctuation mark or one you find elusive, insufficiently loved, or sound but overexposed. Tell it anything you want: your fears, your frustrations, your innermost desires. Don’t mail the letter; just post it in the comments section by August 15. You may be the winner of a short story collection that is getting a lot of notice: What He’s Poised to Do by Ben Greenman. The letters are flying fast and furiously and most of them are hilarious. Be sure to get yours in. And then bookmark the blog for some superb reading. Until next week, read well, read often and read on!
|