Every spring, I rediscover BookCrossing, only because it once again becomes fun to run about outside, leaving books hither and yon with notes urging people to take them home.
The only thing is, the books disappear all right, but people rarely journal them, and that can be unsatisfying... even though I tell myself that for all I know they're being thoroughly enjoyed. After all, last year I left a copy of Ken Mikolowski's poetry collection Big Enigmas at the now-closed Oslo sushi bar and club in Detroit. I actually watched a group of people discover it, gather around it, and even read aloud from it (Ken's poems are good for that!), and later I saw it in someone's pocket. They never journalled it on BookCrossing.com, but so what? I know it was enjoyed!
Still, when people do journal a book I've released into the wild, it makes my day. In the heady warmth of yesterday's early spring evening, I dropped off four novels around Depot Town, expecting the usual zero response rate, but feeling good about it anyway. This morning, I discovered the following journal entry for one of them:
I have not read it yet, but am planning on reading it. I saw you drop the book as I was eating at Aubrees. It caught my attention and I told my friend who I was eating with that I read on PostSecret last week about how you leave books for others to read. I was like I wonder if they are doing the same thing. The book as still there when we went out. I was like, "oh my gosh it is." This is too weird. I only read about this on Saturday, and I found a book. I am planning on reading it this weekend when I go home (which is in another state). If I finish, I will leave it somewhere there. It looks really good, I am so excited to read it.
Wheee! Someone who knew about BookCrossing already and was genuinely excited to "catch" a book that had been released into the wild!
Oh, hurrah. It's every BookCrosser's dream.
Now I want to release dozens of them!
