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Will have to up my game to keep up with fortnightly! Have been reading Suite Francaise for over a month now... but then it took me ages to get into it, and then there were all those more exciting Christmas books to read instead....
Coco, good point about time for other books... Stick with a month? It seems to be working for other swap circles.
I'm going to stick with SF for now - I'm over halfway through, and it is interesting, but just not really enjoyable. "improving" literature rather than fun.
well, the idea is you choose a book you really enjoyed reading and forward it to the next mumsnetter on the list (which I will compile from you lot)
Then, on a given date (once monthly???) you send it on the next person on your list. You will always be sending to the same next person. It will cost you around £1.70 a month to post 2nd class in the UK.
Please only say you're interested if a) You're a reasonably quick reader (you have 1 month) b) You are not so precious about your books that you insist you get 'your' book back. Hopefully you will but I cannot gurantee it 3) You are hopeless at sending stuff.
This will only work if you are fairly committed. But it means you will have a new book to read every month for less than £2. You will get a wide range of fiction and may find some new gems
If you send a book in a very scratty condition, it will most, likely fall to bits after it has been round a few people. But if you drop someone's book in a bath or the dog eats it etc, it might be nice if you 'fessed up.
Last time, we had a little review section going of each book in the circle which we prefixed Book Swap.
I will endeavour to coordinate from this end. Unless anyone else wants to (I am crap at coordinating but I loved gettting a new book each month so...
We each choose just one book that we have read and enjoyed to send, and that book works it's way round the book circle. After 12 months, theoretically, you get your original (now splattered wth old food, with bath-water soaked pages and child's doodles on) book back.
So I guess choose a book to send that you have really enjoyed, but which is not a family heirloom or prized treasure.
No chick lit.
I will get DH to tell me how to set up an e-mail address for book circle members who can't CAT. (I'm a technophobe.) Don't really want to post my normal e-mail address on the thread, as it is my real full name.
missing, if you have a look at the blue bar at the top you'll see 'Contact a Mumsnetter', you have to sign up for it (£5 for the year I think) and then you can CAT other people!
I just need to renew mine & then I'll be in touch!
Can we have some guidance on what book to choose? I see no chicklit is mentioned....but can we have a run through of what people actually like to read so we don't all choose something we all hate?
Cracked spines, wine stains, doodled on, food splatters and steamed from the bath....oh my god....what are we all going to end up with? I can't wait. !!!!
lmao - NOT the cracked spine one... that one we are considering if it looks new enough to be returned in place of the wine stained one (she bought the book... i already had it at my house for our set - we share a set is that odd?... she planned to return and then carelessly let Psychogirl2 pour wine over it... you can work out the rest)
I did not let psychogirl2 pour wine on it....she tried to look at the pretty label and caused the wine to fall out of the bottle.....all over my as yet unread and brand new book, AND my carpet.....<thud>!
Yes please rosmerta, that's a good idea. Didn't think of that!
Re stained books, I think we will all try obviously TRY not to damage each others books, but if 12 people are reading them it'd probably be too much to hope that they'll return in entirely pristine condition!
Now i need to think of a book to send...
And double check whether I've heard from everyone, and we actually do have 12...
Guidelines about choice of books are there are no real guidelines, just no chick lit, and must be fiction. I'm tempted to ask for no classics eg pre-1900, as it feels a bit like school, but then again maybe I need to have my prejudices challenged! What do you reckon?
Coco - I don't know if you got the gist there, but please can Psychomum be passing her books to me. If she is to be relied on to post somethign it won't happen, so if she is giving to me I can just pick them up from her house
no prob flame. means psychomum benefits from no postal costs!
Maybe I should match everyone up with the person closest to them so that if books are posted late we can just drive to their house and doorstep them until they hand over the goods.
I won't be ....flame and i are sharing costs, and i will be buying our books to start with anyway!
problem with my brain is that I forget to post, or am often in hospital with one or tother of me/kiddies so if I am indisposed, I still get tot read, and flame is my remembererer person
I'm pondering getting a new version of one of the books I love, that way I get to send the book I want, but I don't worry about it being a precious one.
the missing three people don't seem to have been around much over the weekend... shall we give them till Tuesday morning and then re-open their places on the list??
mehdismum, I've accidently deleted your email. Can you send it me again? really sorry.
rosmerta, if you've got 3 books that you like equally, then maybe post the shortest? That's what I'm probably going to do, but I've still not entirely decided what to go for.
once I've got all 12 addresses, I'll post who's posting to who, and circulate addresses. IYKWIM.
I've spent the weekend sifting through my books trying to decide which one to send! It'd be handy if we could collate what everyone likes/dislikes and do a list please! I don't mind compiling it, if that helps.
FlossieT is in, thank you!, so just two missing now.
whispywhisp, a list of like and dislikes, you mean, rather than a list of books being sent out?
I think we've concluded:
no chick lit no poetry/non-fiction no pre-1900
a couple of people like crime, someone said they don't like sci-fi.
I'm not into "boy" books, eg westerns, fantasy. On the whole I don't read sci-fi, but having said that, I've read a couple of amazing books that I suppose are sci-fi: really enjoyed Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake", for example.
I imagine we don't want guide-lines to be too strict, or people will never get out of their comfort zone, and surely part of the point of this is to surprise each other with great books we might not otherwise have chosen or come across?
Hi dinny, v. pleased you are def doing the Book Circle (note caps - is V. important).
Rosmerta suggested that everyone tell me what book they are sending out so I can let anyone intending to send a duplicate know. I don't mind going all with that idea.
Musr stop MNing while officiating over teatime. DD1 just fell out of her chair rather spectacularly .
whispywhisp I'm a bit stressed about being the person whose book everyone rubbishes, but I guess we just go for it.
I've also been worried I might send a book everyone's already read - but at the same time don't want to feel the need to post something weirdly obscure!
If everyone tells me the name of their book before posting it, then i can make sure there are no duplicates. Just tell me the title, then I still get some element of surprise!
Argh this thread is doing that thing it does sometimes for me where it won't show me the last page. grr.
Sorry to have been so quiet, was offline for a few days over (hideous) weekend.
Just to say I'm also very keen to read stuff I might not otherwise pick up. I like just about anything apart from the already-banned chicklit, and horror.
Should I make a note to avoid posting on anything I've picked up off a table in Waterstone's/Borders/a.n.other large bookshop??
FlossieT, sorry to hear your weekend was awful. Thanks for your CAT today. Other people are welcome to e-mail me your book title suggestions if you've decided on them .
Re short stories, I'm not usually that keen, but am happy to give them a go. Especially if someone's found some really good ones!
Am not totally averse to bestsellers and the kind that appear in the 3 for 2s, quite a few are bestsellers for a reason!, but there is a risk lots of people will have read them already. This is not necessarily a disadvantage I suppose, it takes the pressure of reading a book circle book that month!
cocodebear posting to dinny posting to swampster posting to missingtheaction posting to mehdismummy posting to psychomum posting to flame posting to whispywhisp posting to themadhouse posting to lunavix posting to FlossieT posting to rosmerta posting to see top!
Tomorrow I will send an e-mail to everyone containing everyone else's names and addresses. This means that if someone drops out, the whole thing won't collapse - we can just send to the next one on the list.
Obviously, it'd be nice if everyone stayed in for the year, but we need contingencies!
Can everyone be ready to send out their book by Monday 28th? Then we'll stick to the 28th for subsequent months. That means everyone should have their book by the 1st of the month.
Let me have your titles, so we can rule out duplicates (CAT or e-mail).
Re letting me know book titles, you don't HAVE to do this, but if you're worried someone else might be sending the same book (because it's a bestseller or whatever) then feel free to do so. Then I can at least let you know whether it's one of the titles I know about.
Psycho is asking if she can do a hardback? It isn't a huge hardback - tis up to you lot with whether you want to pay the slightly extra postage (assuming it will be slightly higher, haven't gotten round to weighing it yet).
Can we do a new thread for when we have the books? Can it be in the book swap section? Can we have a "title"? (I get oddly overexcited by nicely organised things)
I'm happy with a hardback. Right I'll send this fantasy book out. People please bear in mind it might not be everyone's cup of tea, I was sceptical when I originally read it, but it's somewhat addictive and as part of a large series it needs to be lol. The following books are more subtle too, incidentally If anyone does enjoy it, I can send out subsequent books
I have not received any emails regarding the book swap list etc.....
I know I am in theory not posting and just handing to flame, but what if for any reason I am to be in charge one month???? (say for instance, flame goes on hols or is away in london on the post day??).
Rosmerta, isn't my address at the top of the e-mail i sent out? <confused>.
mehdismummy, Jilly Cooper is definitely not allowed. Jackie Collins probably IS chick lit, but I'd be prepared to let her in on a technicality because she's so OTT and I am nostalgic for my late teens. Is that allowed?
psychomum, can you let everyone know your e-mail address once flame has finally got round to forwarding you my message .
If you dispense with the jiffy bag and post in a heavy envelope, unless you've picked a particularly thick book you can usually post it as a large letter rather than a parcel (much cheaper!).
but then it took me ages to get into it, and then there were all those more exciting Christmas books to read instead.... 
, AND my carpet.....<thud>!
