Sunday, April 8, 2007

BookMooch update

I'm loving this BookMooch thing, and I haven't even gotten books from them yet. Earlier, I posted about BookMooch, a book swappin' service where you can get rid of your old books and get some new ones, and it's all designed on a fairly straightforward point system (kinda like my local babysitting co-op).

Iliana at bookgirl's nightstand said she loves it, so I signed on up. And lo and behold, about 5 minutes after I listed a bunch of books I was willing to give away, I got two emails from people who wanted my stuff. I'm loving this! I've packed up my books and am about to send.

Now, it's not easy for me to part with my books. Even the ones I don't like, I usually hang onto. I always think I'm going to reread things (yeah, right) or I'll find the perfect charity to give them to. But the first book someone wanted to mooch from me was one of my least favorite genre, the "funny gift book". You know the type of thing, the kind of book people give your husband for his birthday because they think he'll love it, he's got such a "wacky" sense of humor. So we get the one-second guffaw when we open the present, and then they're cluttering up our bookshelves forever. (Not to mention the fact that these books are always glossy hardbacks that cost somebody at least $15.95. What a racket.)

So I'm listing every funny gift book I ever got on BookMooch -- sorry friends. And we'll see if I get any more takers!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hurrah for BookMooch. I'm so glad you are enjoying it. I have to say it's my latest obsession as I check in almost daily to look for books.

Gentle Reader said...

Iliana, it's my latest obsession too--3 more people mooched from me today. I'm busy wrapping and sending stuff, trying not to disappoint my moochers! Now I'm going to browse and see what I can mooch...

Anonymous said...

Yay! I resisted BookMooch for a very long time. Then joined a few months ago. It's so much fun!

Gentle Reader said...

stefanie--isn't it fun? I'm amazed at how many people are giving away great books! I'm also interested in the charity aspect...

Anonymous said...

For those of you that have received books from BookMooch, what's the condition of the books been like? Are they in pretty good condition, or well used (damaged), or does it vary a lot. This is my biggest fear, getting a book that has been thrashed, I'm kind of anal like that:) Anyone else feel that way?

Anonymous said...

I've been pretty lucky with all of my mooches. Only one book was kind of beat up but in all fairness they had listed the condition and I just didn't read it. I try to list the condition of my books (I've had a couple of people tell me they look new!) but sometimes I forget. You could always send the person an email and ask.

Gentle Reader said...

Matt--to be honest, haven't received any books yet, only sent them. I'll let you know when I get them :)

I forgot to list the condition of the books I sent, too, Iliana. But I only sent really nice copies. I hope my moochers appreciate them :)