I found a new thing and I am so very excited about it!   It is a “read and release” program of sorts and it is something that I felt compelled to share with my bloggy audience!

BookCrossing.com is my new love.  I haven’t given up on my husband of almost 31 years but I have found a new way to share the joy of reading and the love of good books.   Book Crossing is the ultimate World Library.  The concept is simple—label a book, leave it in a public place for someone to pick up and then track it online to watch where it ends up.  Simple, right?  But it took some wise people to get this social networking library to work and now that I have found it I feel compelled to act and to share.

According to their website the goal is simply  to “connect people through books”.  What a great mission statement and one that almost every one can embrace, don’t you think?

A little bit of background info taken from their awesome website:

What is BookCrossing?

It’s the World’s Library. It’s a smart social networking site. It’s a celebration of literature and a place where books get new life. BookCrossing is the act of giving a book a unique identity so, as the book is passed from reader to reader, it can be tracked and thus connecting its readers. There are currently 1,964,960 BookCrossers and 9,801,699 books travelling throughout132 countries. Our community is changing the world and touching lives one book at a time.

How do we do it?

Label. Share. Follow. Breath new life into books instead of letting your old favorites collect dust – pass them along to another reader. Our online archival and tracking system allows members to connect with other readers, journal and review literature and trade and follow their books as lives are changed through “reading and releasing”. Users are able to tag and track their individual books by marking them with BCIDs (BookCrossing Identity Numbers). Each BCID is unique to each book – once it’s registered on our site, the book can then be followed and journaled forever. BookCrossing is free to join and free to play. So don’t be ‘shelf’ish with your books – read and release!

When and how did it start?

Although there were websites tracking things such as dollar bills and pictures, business partner Ron Hornbaker noted that nothing existed for tracking books. After all, books were more than just tangible objects, rather they possessed elements of emotional attachment and strong opinion; books were not only items collected and revered, but were intrinsically shared. This was the nidus that began our journey. With the help of Ron’s wife, Kaori, and cofounders Bruce & Heather Pedersen, the site was launched on April 21, 2001. The site remains a fun way to track and share books while connecting people at deeper levels using books as the architecture and glue to facilitate the Great Conversation.

I have officially signed up, have already printed some labels and generated BCID numbers and am ready to start releasing my books into the wild. With a vacation coming up I am looking forward to finding some great places to leave some fabulous books and help them to begin their journey.  I would love for each of my reader friends who love books like I do to join in!  I can send you a special invite if you leave me a comment in the comment section below that you would like more info.  It would be a great way for us to form a “network” and we could all be on our own little team.  Or you can just join on your own.  It’s all good!

My first book to be released will be one of my favorites to give as a gift:  The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha.  What would your first book be to pass on to the world???

(I released my first book on July 10th at the local Target.  I can’t wait to release more books and see if anyone follows up !)