The Book Issue

I read the Big Issue and I find interesting articles in this magazine which is sold all over the world by people who are finding it hard to make ends meet. My supplier is my lovely NZ man and when we spoke in the New Year he was very excited because he is down for a bariatric ring in March which hopefully will mean that he can start losing his excessive weight. I wished him well and I am sure I will keep up with him in the months to come.

My reason for writing however is a different one - and I am going to call it the BOOK ISSUE.

Having just returned from a Literature Festival in India I was conscious that there is SO much that I want to read, limited space on my book shelf and I need to make more - but I am also keen to spread the word, literally, and so a while back I picked out lots of books that I had finished reading and put them on a table in my front yard. Then I emailed all my neighbours, left the gate open and asked them to help themselves to books. They were thrilled and I was able to make more room on my bookshelves.

So when I read an article in the Big Issue called an Open Book by Michelle Mclaren I knew I was on the right track and one which I was keen to share. 

She says" To most bookish types the thought of giving their favourite books away is enough to summon sweaty palm dream. But all over the world, generous book lovers are releasing their books into the wild to find new readers, often with surprising results."

She then goes on to tell us about the Little Free Libraries popping up all over Australia. The movement was started in 2009 by Todd Bol who designed a wooden box, shaped like a school house, filled it with books and set it up on his front lawn. The rules are - take a book and leave a book.

There are 32,000 registered Little Free Libraries now in 70 countries.

See http://littlefreelibrary.org

Then there is BookCrossing - You tag the book you want to give away, leave it in a public space, someone picks it up, finds the number, heads to the web site and registers it. So books end up travelling far or just round the corner.

So how about spreading the word where you are. See how far they can travel.

And finally as the perfect cross between where I have just come from there was this : 

http://homegrown.co.in/duo-sets-off-across-india-to-promote-reading-with-4000-books-a-van/