Yeah, so I can see the question marks pop up over your heads: What’s so special about it?
Well, I should have said: I read again. FINALLY.
For this to understand and to understand why this is such a big deal to me, you have to know something about me: Ever since I learned how to read, there was practically a book glued to my hands at all times. I wouldn’t go anywhere without some sort of reading material on me and at family gatherings, I would hide in a corner or on the couch and read until I fell asleep.
In the last year or so, I didn’t get to read much AT ALL. Very frustrating, because reading is not only a nice hobby, but also a relaxant for me. Not being able to read means not relaxing as much as I should sometimes. Bad!
Well, it looks like I got my reading mojo back though. I’ve read a total of three books since January (which I think is not a bad average considering that I don’t get much “me-time” these days) and the best thing is that I happened to find this website where you can trade your unwanted paperbacks for books that you would like to read.
This is so cool!
The basic idea is quite simple:
1. You type in books you want to give away
2. Your receive requests from others for your books
3. You mail your books and receive points
4. You can ask for books you want from others with your points
Signing up is completely free, the only thing you pay is the postage to send off your books to someone. The books you receive are free (as the sender will pay for the postage). Sending books by media mail only cost you $2-3, which is a pretty good deal compared to the option of buying a new book. It’s still a better deal than getting a used book from Amazon’s Marketplace ;) And a plus: You get something in the mail from a “real” person! :)
Since I don’t have many books right now which I could give away (many of my books are in Germany for obvious reasons), I spontaneously went to the local thrift store last weekend and bought a whole bunch of paperbacks for $1/each. Now I have some reading material for the next few weeks and ultimately some books that I can exchange through the website (oh, it’s called “bookmooch“, by the way, and there is also a German site of it, if anyone is interested).
As for me, I am hooked!
