Of course, you may swap books with other travellers you meet, but they may not always have good books you like to read.
Do you trash them? Or just give them away? Or do you keep reading and re-reading them and lug all those books with you while traveling?
Reply to this All of the above! apart from trash them. We try and swap with other travellers or in a hostel book swap. Sometimes we have found a book we dont want to give away and have carried it for months!😱 Most books we take travelling are ones we are happy to give away / swap. These all get Book Crossing numbers, not that anyone has logged a book we have left anywhere yet 😞 We have also been places where we couldnt swap any books, and have read what we had over and over and over again.
Reply to this Never just throw them away!! Would leave them in a hostel or donate them somewhere rather than trash a book.
Like Karen and Colin, most of the ones I take are ones I intend to swap or not bring back.
Love the Book Crossing idea - just Googled it, is this the site?
bookcrossing.com Reply to this yup, was going to post link to site, but can never remember what links we can include and what will get deleted! Will have to read the instructions. We've left a few books for people to find, but mainly we try and swap them. We have a shelf of "swaps" here if anyone is out of reading material!
Reply to this Anything of use, on topic etc is fine. We only snip spam postings, things off-topic etc.
Reply to this I've passed on book crossing books I've found. If I take books travelling with me they either make it all the way and come home again or get left somewhere else. I've used second hand bookshops a lot as many of them will do a part exchange part buy and are used to travellers dropping in to swap books. If I'm at the end of my travels I leave books in the hostel 'library'. I've never yet stayed anywhere that didn't have a shelf or two where previous travellers have left their old books.
Reply to this Without bookswaps at hostels I'd be truly lost! Although i have found that more and more these days places ask for two of yours for one of theirs, most places used to be straight swaps. Also, even at 2nd hand bookshops, paperbacks are often way more expensive to buy when away than they are 2nd hand at home. Without swaps I'd end up spending a great deal more each week as I consume so many books when on the road (mostly on coaches).
Bookcrossing is a great idea but like twotravelbugs my books have not been logged. Think there is an excellent novel called secret rendevous in a cupboard at the quite lovely and cheap "beach Lodge" guesthouse, Kota Kinabalu, Borneo!! Anyone??
Reply to this we were in KK a couple of months ago...if we'd known... ;o)
Reply to this We just swapped books as we went either with fellow travellers directly or at hostel book swaps. I love hostel book swaps and whilst we were away made great use of them, although I always felt the 2 for 1 versions were a bit cheeky, how quickly you'd run out! I live in fear of having nothing to read on a long bus/train journey so would always carry about 4 books with me - in my mind it was worth the extra weight in the backpack! I never kept any books as we were away for over 2 years and that would have been a long time to carry something around and also would have taken space away from new books to read.
Book swaps are a great way of making yourself read books you never normally would and it certainly widened my taste when there was occasionally only one or two books in English so I'd have to pick them no matter what the genre!
I keep meaning to put a proper book crossing book out there but it seems like not many people log their finds which would be a little disappointing I think! Has anyone had any success with this?
Reply to this No one has logged any of our book crossing books yet! One day maybe...
Reply to this I have used book crossings and have sent some books back home.
Reply to this I give mine away, or exchange them for others at hostel book exchanges.
Mel
Reply to this I am a serious book lover - I essentially collect them. If I love them I'll keep them or send them home (I know this is seriously stupid and drives Al insane) and I keep a list of all the books I've read along the way. I generally swap them or give them away. I'd never throw one out - I love them far too much! Lara
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