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MN book swap clubs

Join our Book Swap forum to share and exchange your favourite books.

Original poster

Anyone fancy joining me in a new swap club?

932 replies

artifarti · 30/04/2009 09:24

I love reading and now that DS can entertain himself for a while trashing my lounge is 8 mo I am finally getting back into the swing of things. But I always read the same kind of books and so would love to have something different sprung on me!

Here's the basics of how it works (thank you Flamesparrow)

How it works

[ Arti sits back and waits for the flood of recruits, hoping that she doesn't end up looking like a no-mates...]

OP posts:
muddleduck · 30/04/2009 14:53

thanks arti - just let me know either way.

pooter · 30/04/2009 15:41

oooh im really excited!!
thanks aristo for putting me on the list!
The list of rules suits me down to the ground. My favourite type of books are ones where little actually happens!

So...which to choose....oooooh i dont know! Should it be one that I havent read either? sorry i will go and read flamesparrows info so i know what's going on.

Any date will suit me.

MrsMuddle · 30/04/2009 16:10

Pooter, I love ones when nothing really happens too! I thought I was the only person.

I'm not sure I understand the mechanics, but II'll just do what artifarti says!

LadyBee · 30/04/2009 17:21

oh poo, I've missed another bookswap club

Can I be no.2 reserve?

Or can I persuade you to start adding in more people..I promise to put chocolate bars in with my book...go on. poke. go on. poke. go on..

poke.

Original poster
artifarti · 30/04/2009 18:13

Hmmm. Well. Seeing as Arti is a sucker for emoticons and chocolate bribes it's such a beautiful day, I am going to fly in the face of the book swap rules and let muddleduck and LadyBee join. Who says you have to have twelve anyway? Let's live crazy!

But by the time I have put DS to bed, the doors are closing...

OP posts:
Original poster
artifarti · 30/04/2009 20:06

Ladies and gentlemen, last orders please! The doors are about to close on Arti's Exciting Book Swap Club opportunity...

Last chance, I say, last chance...

OP posts:
aristocat · 30/04/2009 20:08

hi pooter
youre welcome - the more the merrier

want to thank arti too, youre a gem
this is going to be gr8
also love the idea of a book & chocolate in the same parcel !

poshwellies · 30/04/2009 20:39

Oooh chocolate too?

Fab idea!

humptyNdumpy · 30/04/2009 21:25

Did someone say chocolate!!

I am very confused - but I do follow orders well

I am quite nervous about picking a book - is anyone else?

poshwellies · 30/04/2009 21:30

Yes,I am but I'm just going to go with a favourite of mine (and hope none of you have read it already and hated it)

Original poster
artifarti · 30/04/2009 21:31

Well, looks like we have ourselves a Book Swap Club! We are:

artifarti
aristocat
Dysgu
humptyNdumpty
poshwellies
whinegums
stickylittlefingers
MrsMuddle
LolaLadybird
Itsjustafleshwound
pooter
muddleduck
LadyBee
Fly ingMonkey - to be confirmed

Rules:
No chicklit
No abuse memoir type stuff
No horror
No hardbacks

Need to decide:
First posting date - 1 June to fit in around all the hols? (Will probably take us that long to get organised TBH.)

I have thought of a way to make sure we don't duplicate. When you email me your details, tell me the initials of the book and author you have chosen (e.g. if it's Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy, put JTO by TH) and I can crosscheck initials but I still get a surprise each month too, hurray!

Tune in tomorrow for the next exciting step! (Don't worry, it's simpler than I am making it sound...)

Night, night.

OP posts:
aristocat · 30/04/2009 21:36

yes humpty
i love books but i love chocolate even more

when i read ladybee's post i imagined the book arriving with a bar of chocolate; perhaps that not what she meant

still thinking about what book to send, do we have to have read it ourself?

also, anyone else with holidays - let us know so we can set a start date [me 16-27 may]

LadyBee · 30/04/2009 21:47

hoorah!!! I knew the chocolate would swing it.

Right, am going to study the 'how this thing works' link and put my thinking head on. There must be a way to combine chocolate posting with books -

poshwellies · 30/04/2009 21:49

I'm ok with a june start.

I think the bar of chocolate and a book is a grand idea,would bubble wrap help?

humptyNdumpy · 30/04/2009 21:56

A bar of chocolate and a good book arriving through the door at once .. sounds like a great idea to me

aristocat · 30/04/2009 22:03

great
going now, will check in tomorrow for more

see you soon !!!

LolaLadybird · 30/04/2009 23:06

I love the chocolate with book idea - our v own niche book swap club with a difference (reminds me of free gift giveaways)!!

Humpty - I am also slightly nervous about choosing a book. I'm worried about inadvertently falling foul of the 'rules' by mixing up my genres!

pooter · 30/04/2009 23:15

we need a chocolatey name for our book group any ideas?
chocolat?
brown teeth?
charlie's book group? (of chocolate factory fame)
of mice and malteasers?
the curious incident of the double decker in the night-time?

these are all dreadful!

Original poster
artifarti · 01/05/2009 08:34

Morning All. It's gearing up to be a cracker of a day here. Hope it's nice where you are too. Right, enough of the pleasantries . Let's get down to business...

pooter - love the suggestions! I'm always crap at that bit. "Of Mice and Maltesers" gets my vote!

Okay, here's how it goes to start with:

  1. Decide on your book

  2. Email the following details to me at: artifarti at hotmail dot co dot uk

a) Your Mumsnet name
b) The name and address you want the book sent to (your own, presumably)
c) The initials of the book title and author you have chosen e.g. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte becomes WH by EB

Don't worry, you don't have to do this today! We're not posting until 1 June, so you can think about it for a couple of weeks. I will start to nag though. Be warned.

  1. When I have everyone's details who wants to play, I will send an email to each of you with the details of the person you will post a book to each month. So, I will only send your details to one person on the list. I promise not to sell your details to Reader's Digest .

Clear so far? Any questions?
(Can you tell I'm a Project Manager in RL? I'm quite bossy, aren't I, in a passive-aggressive sort of way?)

OP posts:
Maria2007 · 01/05/2009 08:37

Artifacti. I'm in too. I didn't read everything you've written (just the OP and what it's all about) & I definitely want to get involved.

By the way. If any of you are in london, I'm really keen to organize a real-life book club too (and a friend of mine, another mumsnetter, is interested too).

But for now, yes, please put me on the list for the book exchange!

Original poster
artifarti · 01/05/2009 08:48

Hi Maria, long time, no see. Hope you are still getting lots of sleep in your dummy-free household. DS is a sleeping baby too at the moment which is blliissss.

I'm in London too but am always a bit scared of RL book clubs in case everyone is far more intellectual than me and I can't think of anything to say (shuddering flashback to university tutorials). Are you all very scarey and intellectual?

I'm letting Maria in too, if that's okay? List is:

artifarti
aristocat
Dysgu
humptyNdumpty
poshwellies
whinegums
stickylittlefingers
MrsMuddle
LolaLadybird
Itsjustafleshwound
pooter
muddleduck
LadyBee
Mar ia2007
FlyingMonkey - to be confirmed

OP posts:
Dysgu · 01/05/2009 08:50

Hi Arti.

Gosh this is exciting (obviously I need to get out more!) Now I am trying to decide on a book without coming up with something obvious that everyone will already have read.

Thanks for delaying the start time - we have to make the most of being able to go away during school time as I am on maternity leave. Doesn't look good when teachers take time off for holidays, apparently!

The 1st of the month should make it easy to remember to post too.

Did we decide that all books are fiction? I have read all the post but seem to have developed 'mummy brain'.

Well done for sorting all this out. I missed out on book swaps in January and was simply going to wait until the end of the year rather than come up with the fabulous idea of starting a new one! How novel (pun intended?)

Original poster
artifarti · 01/05/2009 08:55

Dysgu - I know! Ridiculously over-exciting, isn't it?!

We haven't specified no non-fiction yet. What do people think? I guess the trouble with non-fiction is that you could get anything from an autobiography of Ronnie Corbett to an examination of the enviro-political landscape of Guinea Bissau, which makes the chances of disappointment far higher than if we just stick to fiction. But, as ever, I am prepared to be democratic...

OP posts:
Dysgu · 01/05/2009 09:00

Now the autobiography (not of Ronnie Corbett perhaps) would be fine but I am less sure about your other option. However, whenever I pick up a book that DP is reading (invariably non fiction) I often become hooked and have to finish it.

So not voting for or against non-fiction myself; just interested to see what others think.

And anything aimed at anyone over the age of 2 is fine by me!

FlyingMonkey · 01/05/2009 09:45

Hi, sorry for the delay in confirming my interest. Count me in!

Do we keep the books or send them back when we've finished?

p.s. I love crime! Please don't ban it