Book swap

There is something about books that oozes comfort, particularly old, slightly bent at the edges books. I like the smell of a dusty old bookshop. It reminds me, I think, of the study in my parent's house, full of books and musical instruments, bits of computers and stacks of paper dating back to the year dot. There was always the aim to organise everything and behind the piles there are organised bookshelves which are now almost impossible to reach. There is usually a small zone somewhere not too far from the door and about a metre in diameter in which you can stand to survey the scene. Mum and Dad please don't take offence ... I love the room!

I have often, like so many ex-booksellers and bookworms, dreamt of having my own little bookshop where you can take a seat and grab a book and a coffee and wile away a few hours, a place where it is good to spend time, where you can get engrossed in the first few pages in a book and just have to take it home. Of course the range of massive book stores are wonderful but the more like a supermarket a bookshop becomes the less I want to go there, no matter how many books it stocks. I love little pokey places or rambling mazes of places, all shelves lined with spines of books, either second hand like Till's Bookshop near the Meadows in Edinburgh (it has a real fire inside) or new like Shakespeare and Company in Paris.

I also like to swap books with friends, share the experience of a fine book knowing it is in safe hands. I have just discovered the concept of book swapping with strangers and I am deciding if I like it or not.. Of course, it is nice passing on books and swapping them when you read something good. Also, with magazines, they can be so expensive but still girls like to look at fashion pictures or read yet more of the same articles about the same things .. make-up, men, fashion, recipes. These days I avoid fashion magazines on the whole.. they can make you feel bad. But still I do like the glamorous fashion shoots and the photography, the bright colours and the shiny pages.

Here there are less people who read books in English to swap with and I have just a few books in Icelandic .. maybe I can swap with the age ranges 5 to 12. I am enjoying trying to read one the Unfortunate Series of Events books translated into Icelandic. The next on the list after that is Hobbitinn, the Hobbit. If you live in Iceland and fancy being involved in a local english-language or multi-lingual bookswapping community get in touch with me here.

There is one café that I like which champions book swapping, and it doesn´t matter about the language of the book. Grái Kötturinn has shelves of books you can swap with .. so long as you replace the one you take with another of a similar colour and size! I have managed to go there once and found it to be a cosy little café with good hot chocolate. However, every other time I´ve passed it has had a gate across with a massive padlock keeping it locked. I´ve peered in once or twice hoping that the café of fine memories is still in business.. and yes, it looks like a normal cafe just shut for the day. So, unless everything was dropped at end of business one day and nobody has returned then I have to assume that it just has odd opening hours. There are no cobwebs or dusty windows after all. Don´t try there for an evening refreshment and book swap experiment though.

So, today I came across another the idea of internet-based book swapping sites. Two seem pretty good for English language readers.. Titletrader which is for books, DVDs and CDs and Readers United which is just books but I think looks much better and has a better range of titles. You lists books (or CDs and DVDs) that you want to swap and then you can requests others from another member. When someone requests one of your books and you send it to them you get awarded points to spend on other books on the sites. Titletrader allows you to buy points so it doesn´t matter so much if you don´t send of books, but then if you live in a town or city you could go to a secondhand book store and browse for hours instead which I think is more fun. Readers United awards you points for joining and listing books so you can request one book straight away. It seems to have a better postage system too.

However, can you really do this? Send your books off into the great big world unaccompanied? I love hoarding books and its only the thought of carrying them up another long set of stairs or moving them to another country (again) that tempts me to send them away on their adventure. And the tax on books in Iceland which makes them into a major investment. Book Crossing looks interesting .. a cross between geocaching and book swapping, you can track your swapped books around the world. I like this idea, it would keep me in contact with my dear books and i wouldn´t feel like I am sending them away into the unknown.

Well, anyone I am trying Titletrader for now and so far this week have received four requests for my books so when the post office opens on Tuesday after the Easter holidays I am going to be sending parcels to Bulgaria, Portugal, Quebec and England. Farewell dear books, I enjoyed your time with me.. find good homes now.