Summer Book Swap?

[KeithLeMonde]

Following on from the chat about blind dates with books, speak up here if you fancy doing a book swap.

[tobee]

Me!

[tobee]

Do people do a review or anything? Or not because of anonymity presumably?

[KeithLeMonde]

In our last group, people wrote their MN username inside the book. That meant that we could discuss each others' books without knowing anyone's real name apart from the person to whom we were posting :)

[falgelednl]

Can I join in please?

[BadTasteFlump]

Ooh yes count me in please

[KeithLeMonde]

Welcome :)

[tobee]

Ooh, can we re-advertise this elsewhere as well, please? I don't think to look on this board very often and only did coz of the link.

[KeithLeMonde]

Yes of course :) I was meaning to put it onto the 50 book thread but feel free to mention elsewhere. I'll wait a few days for people to express interest then get the ball rolling :)

[KeithLeMonde]

Here's what I posted on the other thread about how it works:

Basically, someone offers to organise it. They recruit a number of others. Everyone sends their real name and address to the organiser who has to submit a GDPR compliant privacy notice who obviously has to be discreet and decent enough never to share. The group agree a few ground rules - no misery lit was one I remember from our last swap.

Organiser shuffles the names about at random and PMs each person to tell them who they will be sending to. Each person chooses a book that they love/find interesting/want to get rid of and posts it off on a designated day (usually once a month). If the group choose, they may also include a small bar of chocolate smile When swap day comes around again, you send on the book that's in your possession to the next person until everyone's read everything.

It takes a bit of admin but if it works then you get a parcel every month containing a random book endorsed by a fellow MN-er - often something interesting and quite different to what you might have picked up yourself. And we have a thread on the Book Swap page so we can talk about the books.

[diamantegal]

Count me in - I want to read most of the books recommended on the 50 books thread so hopefully some of those will be sent round!

[RosehipHoney]

I'm in!

[Fizzywinegum]

Can I join please? Think this is a lovely idea - what do I need to do?

[iloveredwine]

me too please I was on the last one

[justcheese]

Count me in please!! Lovely idea!

[KeithLeMonde]

OK so far I have

@tobee
@falgelednl
@BadTasteFlump
@diamantegal
@rosehiphoney
@fizzywinegum
@iloveredwine
@justcheese

Anyone else want to join before I embark on the admin of getting the group going? :)

[diamantegal]

Hmm, now the pressure of deciding which book to send round, knowing that I will be forever judged by my poor literary choices....

[Heismyopendoor]

Yes I’d be up for this :)

[BadTasteFlump]

Well I'm (still) in please - I just wanted to check if it matters if none of my books are very - how to put it - 'high brow'?

[diamantegal]

BadTaste (and maybe the name says it all!) I'm fine with whatever. I guess the idea is to get a mix and if every book is a literary classic it'll just be too much hard work. I'm happy to read whatever I'm sent - can't guarantee I like it, but it'll be interesting to try something I wouldn't normally choose.

[iloveredwine]

sounds good!

[KeithLeMonde]

@heismyopendoor welcome :)

And yes, choice of book is up to you. Can I ask if anyone wants to absolutely veto any particular type of book? It seems to work best if we're open minded (so I don't normally read fantasy, for example, but if someone sends one my way it would be interesting to give it a try) but if anyone has reasons to want to avoid any particular content (I am thinking misery memoirs for example, or books that contain abuse scenes) then please do speak up - I think that's entirely reasonable. Feel free to PM me if you would prefer and I can post here on your behalf.

The only other thing I would suggest is that we avoid books that others are likely to have read, so either real classics like Pride and Prejudice or super-popular books like Gone Girl. Other than that, choose something interesting, funny, quirky, thought-provoking, whatever really :)

Oh, and one other thing - please can you post below and vote yes or no as to whether we should include a small bar of chocolate (or similar) when sending the books to one another?

[CherryBlossom23]

Can I just double check before signing up - we each send a book once a month, not just as a once off? And then read and discuss during the month?

[justcheese]

Yes to chocolate!

[KeithLeMonde]

Hi Cherry. We each choose one book. On the first month you send your book to the next person, and receive a book from the person before you. On month two, you send on the book that you received, and get another one. So we're passing them round in a circle . Hope that makes sense!

[Chewbecca]

Is it too late to add one more please? Love being prompted to read something different/new.
and love an excuse to eat chocolate