Have I ever told you about Paperback Swap? I feel like I must have but maybe I didn't. So here it is: Paperback Swap is another one of those niche on-line .....communities seem unnecessarily broad. It's a swap meet that specializes in books (yes, yes, it says paperback but really they will swap any book, paperback hardcover, audio, not e-books I don't think but when they figure out a way they probably will swap those, too).
It has a deliciously egalitarian quality: a book for a book. Unless it is an audio book, then I think it might be two books for an audio book. I don't know, I don't swap audio books. The truth is I don't much swap any books, I just drain them from the system.
Like all on-line communities (I'm sorry, I don't have a better word), there are users, abusers, good citizens & parasites. Guess which one I am. The system works when you add a book to your shelf, another swapper requests one of your books, you mail it to them (postage is on you, the sender) & once it arrives, a credit transfers from their account to yours. You can use these credits to get books sent to you OR if you are my mom you can periodically refresh my account so I can get stuff without posting anything much.
Now that I think of it, I owe mom A TON of postage reimbursement.
In addition to the shelf of books you have to swap, you can also create shelf of books you want. This means that when someone else adds the book to the system, you will get a notice (if you are number one on the list or if #1 declines & you are next & so forth). You are limited in the number of books you can put on your wish list as there used to be a problem with people putting thousands of books effectively on hold & then declining them when they became available (to what end I am really not sure) leaving the good citizens who cruise old library sales holding tons of unswappable books. As in most successful societies rules come into play when a few people make it hard on the majority...or whomever is doing the majority of the work. Or sitting on the majority of money. You know what, never mind about that.
I put Gwen Marston's Liberated Quiltmaking on my wish list more than a year ago. It might have been more than four years ago, I don't keep track. My local library district has one copy that I check out frequently & while I knew if I "lost" it I would only have to pay it's original cover cost less depreciation & not what it goes for on Amazon (just under $85 as of this typing) still it would be wrong to keep it. Wrong. I have to keep saying "it would be wrong".
Library books that I cannot buy & no one else seems to check out are the very definition of temptation for me. Lately Tintin in the Land of the Soviets has been burning a hole in my library card (those little pictures would make ideal redwork patterns & they are so...dated?odd?), especially since C****** told me they might be purging it even though it is checked out every couple months (guess how I know this), but I digress.
I started to list other books I have gotten through Paperback Swap that I never would have been able to put my hands on even with interlibrary loan, but then this post got way too long, so I will stop now. Except to say that if you want me to e-mail you the Recommend a Friend link let me know. You will start out with two extra credits & I will get one which I am happy to transfer to you.
& lastly: M****** remember that stack of books you purged? Well, somehow I ended up with a Laurel Burch one which is odd because as you know I find the Laurel Burch figures creepy & not in a good way. I am going to Paperback Swap it unless you would like it back, maybe to Paperback Swap it yourself (six people have it wish listed so it should go ASAP) or you would rather I gave it to the Friends of the Library which was our original conversation. I think. Oh & on another note, Paperback Swap is where I found that life on the Farming Today Yesterday's Way book B liked so much (would you believe Amazon is asking >$100 for an unused, brand new copy of that book? I swear some of those sellers are high). Soooo, I will just give Laurel Burch back to you at bookclub next week, yes?
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