Share the wealth

Some months ago, I discovered (probably from someone's blog) paperbackswap.com. This neat little site is an internet book swap in which no money changes hands, only books. Unfortunately for me, you can only participate from within the United States, so the discovery did me little good.

Then a few months later, I learned about bookmooch.com. This is a very similar program but--oh joy--anyone can join and trade. No one absolutely has to send books overseas if they don't want to (remember, no money changes hands, so you pay when you send a book), but there is at least the possibility that generous-hearted readers will be willing to share books with literature-hungry pals who live in other countries. The system actually "pays" the sender more points for sending a book to a foreign country.

I didn't have much time when I discovered Bookmooch, but I did set up an account and list one book in my inventory, that I was willing to give away. Other things consumed my time; I was not desperate for reading material, and I forgot about it almost entirely.

Until one morning I had an email with a request to "mooch" that single book from me, and was I willing to send the book to Belgium? First, I had to locate the book! Once that was accomplished, however, I was happy to send it off to Belgium (a paperback copy of Funeral Games by Mary Renault--a fictional book involving Alexander the Great that I never could get interested in).

Reminded of the existence of Bookmooch, and now sporting credits that entitle me to "mooch" books from someone else, I added a few more books to my inventory and began contemplating which titles on my wish list I should ask for...

Really, if the internet weren't good for anything else, it would be worthwhile just for this!