Showing posts with label Bookcrossing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bookcrossing. Show all posts
Thursday, December 18, 2014
BOOK REVIEW: Upon A Midnight Clear: Queer Christmas Tales, edited by Greg Herren
This was a fun collection of gay themed Christmas stories. The cover is misleading in that it brings to mind a collection of erotic stories, but these are not erotica. It is a typical short story collection in that some stories are far better than others. Overall, I enjoyed everything and am glad to have spent time with the stories.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
"This book.. I was chosen by it."
Got a GREAT journal entry yesterday for The Year of Living Biblically that was just too cool not to share here! Released the book last week at a grocery store, and turns out this person got it yesterday! Yet again, BC serendipity in action!
*** Note to self, be careful when releasing at this particular store, note the journal comment about how the store was going to throw the book away!
*** Note to self, be careful when releasing at this particular store, note the journal comment about how the store was going to throw the book away!
Viva la Bookcrossing!
2014 releases to date: 4
Total Books Released: 3256
Total Releases Journaled: 207
Catch rate: 6.38%
Total Releases Journaled: 207
Catch rate: 6.38%
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Pridefest Book Checks In
Five years ago, I led a project with the Albuquerque Bookcrossers where we ran a Bookcrossing table at Albuquerque Pridefest. We saved up books, and had some donated from Bookcrossers around the world for this event, many of which were LGBT themed. It was a smashing success! We gave away 173 books that day. It was so much fun talking to book lovers all day, as well as watching the reactions of those who simply couldn't grasp the concept of us giving books away for free!
Today I had a little bit of BC serendipity (something that honestly happens to us BCers so much that, while always cool, it is not all so shocking). I started reading a David Sedaris book that was a leftover from that very same Pridefest. As I started reading it, I was reminiscing about all of the books we gave away, and the amazingly fun time we had that day. Tonight, after dinner, I got an email alerting me of a journal entry on a book. The book, A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines, was one that was given away that day! Great to have a book check in, as always. Great also to have one related to this project that I had just been thinking about this morning. Also great that it was one given to me by my dear friend Firegirl!
Viva la Bookcrossing!
2013 Releases To Date: 82
Today I had a little bit of BC serendipity (something that honestly happens to us BCers so much that, while always cool, it is not all so shocking). I started reading a David Sedaris book that was a leftover from that very same Pridefest. As I started reading it, I was reminiscing about all of the books we gave away, and the amazingly fun time we had that day. Tonight, after dinner, I got an email alerting me of a journal entry on a book. The book, A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines, was one that was given away that day! Great to have a book check in, as always. Great also to have one related to this project that I had just been thinking about this morning. Also great that it was one given to me by my dear friend Firegirl!
Viva la Bookcrossing!
2013 Releases To Date: 82
Total Books Released: 3233
Total Releases Journaled: 206
Catch rate: 6.37%
Total Releases Journaled: 206
Catch rate: 6.37%
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Challenging releases!
Another aspect of Bookcrossing that I just love, one that is completely controlled by membership and the creativity in the "challenges" is an amazingly fun thing to experience! So what is a release challenge? It is, in a way, a game where Bookcrossers challenge one another to release books under certain perameters: Books with red covers, release at public events, books made into movies, etc. An entire forum has been created at Bookcrossing for the challenges.
So, with my renewed activity in Bookcrossing, and my personal goal this year of 250 releases, I decided to participate in some challenges. I'm taking part in the "3 Every Week Challenge", challenging people to release an average of 3 books each week: "The Ultimate Challenge", in which you gain points based on books you read and release, and extra points if they meet the monthly theme: the "Never Judge A Book By Its Cover Challenge", where participants are encouraged to release books whose covers fit certain weekly themes (for instance, last week was books with images of water on the cover): the "2013 Movie Release Challenge" where, you guessed it, we release books that are based on, or have been made into movies.
The real challenge here is finding books that fit into as many challenges at once as you can! Makes for crazy thought patterns, let me tell you. The closest I have come would be The Third Option, which fit the theme for the Ultimate Challenge as well as the Never Judge A Book Challenge!
You might think, "wow, that's a lot of books, where do you get them all?" Good question! Honestly, you don't have to spend a fortune to amass a large quantity of books. Most public libraries will have big sales of used books where you can get books for fifty cents, or in some cases, massive clearance sales where you fill a paper bag for just a couple bucks! Thrift shops often sell paperbacks fairly cheap. Sometimes, used book stores will have sales as well. I go to Book Worm Used books in Riverview, FL, where they have an entire back room full of clearance books... 5 books for a dollar! Give me 30 minutes in that room, I will emerge with 15-20 books that somehow fit my upcoming releasing needs! So for just a few bucks, I have a ton of books to set free, and I'm doing several things: feeding my hobby thus engaging in self-care; supporting the local economy; leaving books in random places for people to find, often brightening someone's day, hence spreading random acts of kindness and joy!
Viva la Bookcrossing!
2013 Releases To Date: 15
So, with my renewed activity in Bookcrossing, and my personal goal this year of 250 releases, I decided to participate in some challenges. I'm taking part in the "3 Every Week Challenge", challenging people to release an average of 3 books each week: "The Ultimate Challenge", in which you gain points based on books you read and release, and extra points if they meet the monthly theme: the "Never Judge A Book By Its Cover Challenge", where participants are encouraged to release books whose covers fit certain weekly themes (for instance, last week was books with images of water on the cover): the "2013 Movie Release Challenge" where, you guessed it, we release books that are based on, or have been made into movies.
The real challenge here is finding books that fit into as many challenges at once as you can! Makes for crazy thought patterns, let me tell you. The closest I have come would be The Third Option, which fit the theme for the Ultimate Challenge as well as the Never Judge A Book Challenge!
You might think, "wow, that's a lot of books, where do you get them all?" Good question! Honestly, you don't have to spend a fortune to amass a large quantity of books. Most public libraries will have big sales of used books where you can get books for fifty cents, or in some cases, massive clearance sales where you fill a paper bag for just a couple bucks! Thrift shops often sell paperbacks fairly cheap. Sometimes, used book stores will have sales as well. I go to Book Worm Used books in Riverview, FL, where they have an entire back room full of clearance books... 5 books for a dollar! Give me 30 minutes in that room, I will emerge with 15-20 books that somehow fit my upcoming releasing needs! So for just a few bucks, I have a ton of books to set free, and I'm doing several things: feeding my hobby thus engaging in self-care; supporting the local economy; leaving books in random places for people to find, often brightening someone's day, hence spreading random acts of kindness and joy!
Viva la Bookcrossing!
2013 Releases To Date: 15
Total Books Released: 3166
Total Releases Journaled: 199
Catch rate: 6.28%
Total Releases Journaled: 199
Catch rate: 6.28%
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Sometimes you have to just laugh
Sometimes you get great journal entries on books you release in the wild. We've seen those from people who were having the proverbial "worst day ever" and happened upon the perfect Bookcrossing book in the unlikeliest of places. Good stuff! Then there are the not so nice ones that will tell us not to leave books at a certain business, or that it is stupid to do what we do, or that *gasp* the book has been destroyed! Once in a while you get those super bizarre ones that just have you rolling on the floor, literally!
This book, Lady Of The Knight, was one of those. It was a Harlequin Historical romance I had released in, I believe, a Target parking lot (I sure wish BC tech could finish retrieving all the missing release entries on older books). The response of the person who caught the book was bizarre yet hillarious!
This book, Lady Of The Knight, was one of those. It was a Harlequin Historical romance I had released in, I believe, a Target parking lot (I sure wish BC tech could finish retrieving all the missing release entries on older books). The response of the person who caught the book was bizarre yet hillarious!
It made happiness bleed out my anus.
My nipples are still tingling. I am going to take this book to Argentina to spread the love.
Hmm... yeah, to each his or her own, I guess, huh?
Viva la Bookcrossing!
Total Books Released: 3126
Total Releases Journaled: 198
Catch rate: 6.33%
Total Releases Journaled: 198
Catch rate: 6.33%
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
A recent catch
So one thing I will be doing a lot of on this blog will be talking about releases and catches.
For those of you not in the know, a release is a book registered at Bookcrossing.com and labeled with it's own BCID (or Bookcrossing identification) number. We Bookcrossers will often take said book and "release" it out in the world, or as we say, "in the wild". We'll leave them on park benches, on periodical racks in entryways to restaurants, newspaper machines, bus stops, in waiting rooms, you name it! Then, we make release notes on the website to show that the book is released, where, etc. Eventually, the hope is that someone whose life crosses paths with the book, will take the time to go online and enter that BCID and leave a few comments about the book and where it is. I believe the site has an average "catch" rate for wild releases of about 10 percent. I personally sit at just under 6.5 percent.
So last Saturday, I released a copy of Blood Moon at a local library. Left it on the pamphlet rack in the foyer so as not to have confusion with the library's books (plus, I always clearly label the outside of my books so it is obvious they are freebies). A few days later I got a catch! This one copied the text of my release note, and added that it was a good book... so looks like this person joined (not a requirement) the site, then read the book and left it in the same place I had.
As any Bookcrosser can tell you, the thrill of getting that email saying your book has a journal entry (aka was caught) is immeasurable!
Viva la Bookcrossing!
For those of you not in the know, a release is a book registered at Bookcrossing.com and labeled with it's own BCID (or Bookcrossing identification) number. We Bookcrossers will often take said book and "release" it out in the world, or as we say, "in the wild". We'll leave them on park benches, on periodical racks in entryways to restaurants, newspaper machines, bus stops, in waiting rooms, you name it! Then, we make release notes on the website to show that the book is released, where, etc. Eventually, the hope is that someone whose life crosses paths with the book, will take the time to go online and enter that BCID and leave a few comments about the book and where it is. I believe the site has an average "catch" rate for wild releases of about 10 percent. I personally sit at just under 6.5 percent.
So last Saturday, I released a copy of Blood Moon at a local library. Left it on the pamphlet rack in the foyer so as not to have confusion with the library's books (plus, I always clearly label the outside of my books so it is obvious they are freebies). A few days later I got a catch! This one copied the text of my release note, and added that it was a good book... so looks like this person joined (not a requirement) the site, then read the book and left it in the same place I had.
As any Bookcrosser can tell you, the thrill of getting that email saying your book has a journal entry (aka was caught) is immeasurable!
Viva la Bookcrossing!
Intro
Here we go! So, just a little intro info about me. I'm a bookcrossing addict, have been since joining the site in 2003. I have spent the last year busy with many other things in my life, yet I have still managed to do some releasing of books. My activity has toned way down from where it used to be, but I have a feeling that will be changing soon enough! On Bookcrossing, I'm listed as Jare.
This will be a blog about the ins and outs of my Bookcrossing activity, past and present. I hope you stay a while and read what I have to say. I hope you enjoy it. Even more so, I hope you interact with me in the comments on this blog. There is plenty more to come, but for now, I will leave.
Viva la Bookcrossing!
This will be a blog about the ins and outs of my Bookcrossing activity, past and present. I hope you stay a while and read what I have to say. I hope you enjoy it. Even more so, I hope you interact with me in the comments on this blog. There is plenty more to come, but for now, I will leave.
Viva la Bookcrossing!
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